THE EVER EVOLVING LANDSCAPE OF SYDNEY FOOTY

[Pekay]

Yeah, 10 hour saturday shift and stuff all to do, already been through most of bigfooty.com and the archives here. So thought I'd start a thread on new/extinct clubs in Senior footy. Even those with name changes over the years. These are the ones in my time.

NAME CHANGES

Baulkham Hills > East Coast Eagles > Sydney Hills Eagles

RAAF > Hawkesbury > Western Jets > Nor-West Jets

Southern Districts > Bankstown & Liverpool > South West Sydney > Moorebank Sports

Mac Uni Kookas > Mac Uni Warriors

Wollongong > Illawarra

Cronulla- Sutherland > Southern Sharks > Southern Power

Balmain Tigers > Balmain Dockers

St George Dragons/Crows/Dragons

Campbelltown Blues/Panthers/Kangaroos/Blues

North Shore Bears/Bombers

Camden Blues/Cats

CLUBS NOW GONE

St Clair Crows

Blacktown Kangaroos

Penshurst Panthers

Bargo Knights

Katoomba - Lithgow Mountain Lions

And a plethora of others around the time I was playing juniors, but I still remember seeing their names in old footy records - St Ives, Heathcote, Salasians (Where the hell were they based?) Northern Districts, Merrylands in the early 90s, Nirimba ( We fielded alot of these blokes at Seven Hills in the 80s/90s)

NEW/REFORMED/RETURNING/MERGED CLUBS

Auburn

Maroubra

UTS

Blacktown Magic

Gosford Wildcats (Nothing mentioned on their old site on bdafl.com.au , but you'd assume they're born out of the old Tigers)

Camden

UNSW merging with Easts

The Bankstown/Liverpool merge, creating SWS, now Moorebank


Plenty more that I can't name I'm certain. Not sure of the point of this thread really, just bored. I think Gosford joining is great for Sydney footy personally. Might encourage other teams not far out of Sydney (Lets face it, it takes us 90 plus minutes to get from Bensons to Gwawley or Weldon, what's an extra hour on a bus) to step up and have a crack, be it from the south (Wollondilly, Northern Districts) the north (Killarney Vale, Terrigal Avoca) or the west (Bathurst at a stretch) The divisions could be broken into conferences, east v west, north v south, creates opportunities for more rep games for the lower divisions. I dunno, just thinking out aloud. 10 minutes to knock off.

[snow leopard]

You could also try
Before Balmain Tigers--Balmain Mariners
Newton Angels

Yeah, 10 hour saturday shift and stuff all to do, already been through most of bigfooty.com and the archives here. So thought I'd start a thread on new/extinct clubs in Senior footy. Even those with name changes over the years. These are the ones in my time.

NAME CHANGES

Baulkham Hills > East Coast Eagles > Sydney Hills Eagles

RAAF > Hawkesbury > Western Jets > Nor-West Jets

Southern Districts > Bankstown & Liverpool > South West Sydney > Moorebank Sports

Mac Uni Kookas > Mac Uni Warriors

Wollongong > Illawarra

Cronulla- Sutherland > Southern Sharks > Southern Power

Balmain Tigers > Balmain Dockers

St George Dragons/Crows/Dragons

Campbelltown Blues/Panthers/Kangaroos/Blues

North Shore Bears/Bombers

Camden Blues/Cats

CLUBS NOW GONE

St Clair Crows

Blacktown Kangaroos

Penshurst Panthers

Bargo Knights

Katoomba - Lithgow Mountain Lions

And a plethora of others around the time I was playing juniors, but I still remember seeing their names in old footy records - St Ives, Heathcote, Salasians (Where the hell were they based?) Northern Districts, Merrylands in the early 90s, Nirimba ( We fielded alot of these blokes at Seven Hills in the 80s/90s)

NEW/REFORMED/RETURNING/MERGED CLUBS

Auburn

Maroubra

UTS

Blacktown Magic

Gosford Wildcats (Nothing mentioned on their old site on bdafl.com.au , but you'd assume they're born out of the old Tigers)

Camden

UNSW merging with Easts

The Bankstown/Liverpool merge, creating SWS, now Moorebank


Plenty more that I can't name I'm certain. Not sure of the point of this thread really, just bored. I think Gosford joining is great for Sydney footy personally. Might encourage other teams not far out of Sydney (Lets face it, it takes us 90 plus minutes to get from Bensons to Gwawley or Weldon, what's an extra hour on a bus) to step up and have a crack, be it from the south (Wollondilly, Northern Districts) the north (Killarney Vale, Terrigal Avoca) or the west (Bathurst at a stretch) The divisions could be broken into conferences, east v west, north v south, creates opportunities for more rep games for the lower divisions. I dunno, just thinking out aloud. 10 minutes to knock off.

[Norris Lurker]

CLUBS NOW GONE


Katoomba - Lithgow Mountain Lions

IIRC, Katoomba-Lithgow Mountain Lions were never in the Sydney comp - I think they were planning to go into the Central West league.

Whatever happened to Phil Doyle? He disappeared from the football internet completely.

[Pekay]

IIRC, Katoomba-Lithgow Mountain Lions were never in the Sydney comp - I think they were planning to go into the Central West league.

Whatever happened to Phil Doyle? He disappeared from the football internet completely.

They applied to both comps but were knocked back for travel reasons. Played 'invitationals' against teams in the SFA with the bye and held their own. We had a handful of former players filter down to us, great blokes.

Phil is deep in politics these days I think.

[mountainsofpain]

You can add Hawkesbury Ag College to the list of former clubs. Also Northern Eagles. And there was a Holsworthy club too. And who could forget Newtown?

I think that Pennant Hills were called Hills at one stage.

Also, going back, you had a Balmain-Ermington club and a separate Ermington club. Don't know if they were one and the same and how they tied into Balmain though. And Manly-Warringah was originally called Warringah I think.

Pretty sure Merrylands was a spin-off from Holroyd-Parramatta. Speaking of which, that club went from Parramatta to Holroyd-Parramatta to Holroyd-Parramatta-Blacktown (following the merge with Blacktown in 95) and back to Holroyd-Parramatta.

You can add the Blacktown-Parramatta merge in there as well while you are at it.

Blacktown first formed as Mt Druitt around 1983 and changed to Blacktown in 1987 I think. They were also called Nepean-Blacktown at one stage. They lasted until the 1994 season.

Penrith and Blacktown combined for an Under 20s side in the late 80s called Nepean Colts. And when Penrith and St Clair were working together they were called Penrith-St Clair.

I think you also also had a separate club called RAAF which preceded the RAAF/Hawkesbury/NWJ club (weren't they actually called RAAF Richmond at the outset by the way?).

Heathcote was certainly called Heathcote-Engadine at one stage (or maybe all the time). And I think Bankstown were also Bankstown Sports for a period too.

Bargo isn't "gone" as such as they still play in the South Coast AFL. They are now called Wollondilly.

Anyway, just a collection of random thoughts. Feel free to add or correct........

[Mug Punter]

You can add Hawkesbury Ag College to the list of former clubs. Also Northern Eagles. And there was a Holsworthy club too. And who could forget Newtown?

I think that Pennant Hills were called Hills at one stage.

Also, going back, you had a Balmain-Ermington club and a separate Ermington club. Don't know if they were one and the same and how they tied into Balmain though. And Manly-Warringah was originally called Warringah I think.

Pretty sure Merrylands was a spin-off from Holroyd-Parramatta. Speaking of which, that club went from Parramatta to Holroyd-Parramatta to Holroyd-Parramatta-Blacktown (following the merge with Blacktown in 95) and back to Holroyd-Parramatta.

You can add the Blacktown-Parramatta merge in there as well while you are at it.

Blacktown first formed as Mt Druitt around 1983 and changed to Blacktown in 1987 I think. They were also called Nepean-Blacktown at one stage. They lasted until the 1994 season.

Penrith and Blacktown combined for an Under 20s side in the late 80s called Nepean Colts. And when Penrith and St Clair were working together they were called Penrith-St Clair.

I think you also also had a separate club called RAAF which preceded the RAAF/Hawkesbury/NWJ club (weren't they actually called RAAF Richmond at the outset by the way?).

Heathcote was certainly called Heathcote-Engadine at one stage (or maybe all the time). And I think Bankstown were also Bankstown Sports for a period too.

Bargo isn't "gone" as such as they still play in the South Coast AFL. They are now called Wollondilly.

Anyway, just a collection of random thoughts. Feel free to add or correct........

South Sydney

Sydney Naval

St Ives

[Norris Lurker]

I've managed to have fall into my hands a Grand Final Record from 1979. Long before my time in Sydney footy - and it's quite a fascinating time capsule of footy in Sydney at the time.

The Grand Final that year was between North Shore and Wests, played at the old Showgrounds (now Fox Studios). East Sydney were undefeated in the home and away season, but lost the Second Semi and Prelim finals and missed out on the Grand Final. Newtown was the other team that made the finals that year.
The ladder (which had a cigarette company as naming rights sponsor) was - East Sydney, Western Suburbs, North Shore, Newtown, Pennant Hills, Balmain, St George and Southern Districts. Those clubs also fielded Second Grade and Third Grade (Under 19s) teams.

There was also a Second Division, which had nine teams - Bankstown Sports, Campbelltown, St Ives, Sydney University, NSW University, Sutherland, Manly-Warringah, Macquarie and RAAF. Those clubs also fielded Second Grade teams, with Parramatta also contesting Second Grade. There was also a four-team Under 20 competition, with teams from Nirimba, Campbelltown, Sutherland and Bankstown Sports.

Plenty of other interesting things from the time that history has almost forgotten. In those days, North Shore and East Sydney had social clubs - both had full-page ads in the Record. Wests also had an ad for their club, these days they're the only club still to have one. Up There Cazaly was doing well on the music charts. Allan Jeans was NSW state coach, and a highlight of the year was that there was a VFL match played in Sydney - we've come a long way since then, to now have the Swans and Giants based here.

[Pekay]

Who contested the GF in the lower division Norris? You should bang out a footy nerd spread like I did a few years back when the leg went AWOL. Would be a great read, GF goals and best, leading goals for the year etc..

[shearer]

Norris, i was at both the Grand Final at the Showground and the VFL match which im sure was North Melbourne vs Hawthorn(i maybe wrong i was only 7 at the time).

i remember a big crowd at the Sydney GF and of all things a bookie taking bets on next goal scorer and running live odds.

Also pretty sure Newtown had there own Social club back then. St George applied to build have there own licenced club but were knocked back by council.
Back then Channel 7 at half time of the saturday afternoon game would do a wrap of every Sydney afl match complete with video highlights of the game.
Would be very interesting to see what would happen to Sydney footy if the Swans didnt come in.

[shearer]

i was right about the vfl match, not a bad crowd

Hawthorn 23.18 156 bt North Melbourne 16.9 105 venue S.C.G. crowd 31,395 Date 10-Jun-1979

[cos789]

Newtown did indeed have their own premises. It looked like a town hall and was on a main road in the heart of Newtown.
I talked to an old digger at Eskinville Oval during an Easts vs Newtown GF and he said the game was quite popular and he can remember attending a GF with 15000. Whilst the crowds were small, rl crowds were a lot smaller than today and by comparison the Sydney RU comp usually played out before hundreds so relatively speaking AR did have some profile.
It seems the advent of TV was the big modern day killer of AR and promoter of rl.

[El Gato]

Some results from 1979

1st Grade: North Shore 13.17 (93) Western Suburbs 9.22 (76)

Reserves: East Sydney 13.11 (89) Western Suburbs 6.7 (43)

St Ives 25.20 (170) Bankstown Sports 18.9 (117)


I remember listening to talk back radio and I think the show was called Ian Hay's cavalcade of sport. Mostly league orientated but he used to drop in the weekly sydney afl scores when he did updates every 30 minutes or so - it was around the time Ruscuklic used to kick bags - late 70's early 80's.

Then when I hit drinking age I recall going to the East Aussie Rules club, a few blocks from where East Leagues is now

Wests doesn't get the numbers there much anymore, gone are the days that they used to have Irish nights there and host 300 people just in the auditorium.

[Pekay]

So it's fair to say, footy was in a similar state health wise back then?

I'm 30 now but distinctly remember Ch7 doing the scores in the early 90s, seeing names like Sanson leading the goals. Can't see that happening again, news is too commercial.

[Tom Wills]

So it's fair to say, footy was in a similar state health wise back then?

I'm 30 now but distinctly remember Ch7 doing the scores in the early 90s, seeing names like Sanson leading the goals. Can't see that happening again, news is too commercial.

Pekay.....Fxxk you have got an old looking head for someone who has just turned 30!

[Pekay]

I blame the internets. And James Boags, among other elements.