2003–04 National Soccer League

Overview

The season was remembered as the end of an era for the national league, following the announcement in 2003 that the national competition would be wholly scrapped in response to the Crawford Report into soccer in Australia. The end of the NSL led to the formation of the A-League, a new national competition that began in 2005.

The season was played as a single league, home-and-away format with top six teams qualifying for a finals series. Adelaide City withdrew from the competition shortly before the start of the season, leading to the hasty formation of Adelaide United to take their place.

At the beginning of the season, it became obvious that the title would be fought between Perth Glory and Parramatta Power. The Champions Glory lost several of their title-winning squad, most notably their dominant midfield, most of whom to the Power. Parramatta, backed by the Leagues Club, bought big for the last year including notably Ante Milicic and Sasho Petrovski, looking to simply buy the title.

This tactic seemed to be working for a large part of the season, as Power held off major challengers Perth, including a memorable 6–0 hiding, Glory's worst-ever loss. However, a turning point came and Perth began to close the gap both in results and performance terms, and won the Premiership by 6 points in the end. Neither of these sides were ever really matched by other sides during the season. Perhaps the surprise of the season was Adelaide United, who surprised all by making the finals and nearly breaking Perth's all-time average season record attendance in the process, with the biggest crowds of the season. This was most notable as the club was thrown together just a few weeks before the season to take the place of former heavyweight Adelaide City.

In the finals series, notably Perth were comprehensively beaten in both legs of the major semi-final, while Adelaide progressed to the minor semi-final in their first ever season, only to be thrashed by Glory, just highlighting the gap between the top two sides and the rest of the league.

The last ever NSL Grand Final was held at Parramatta Stadium, due to Power winning the major semi-final. The Final was attended by a very measly crowd of just over 9,000, and played in thick rain from kick-off. Power's slick passing game was somewhat hurt by the poor conditions, and the game turned into something of a scrap. No goals were scored in 90 minutes of football, so the game went to extra-time where young Glory striker Nik Mrdja slotted to give Glory their fifth National League title and second NSL Championship, while Power finished the season with nothing to show for their quality and dominance.

Clubs

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Regular season

League table

Home and away season

Round 1

Wheelhouse

Rose

Round 2

Zmire , Ozbey

Pondeljak , Caceres

Milicic

Round 3

Curcija , Poutakidis

Ferguson , Macallister , Petrie

Elrich

Costanzo Thomas

Marinos Aloisi , Brooks , Veart

Round 4

Pondeljak , Mori

Hawrysiuk

Spiteri

Round 5

Oksuz

Spiteri

Perosh

Osman Mori , Despotovski , Hassell

Round 6

R. Griffiths Vidmar

Thompson

Ngata

Round 7

Brownlie

Buonavoglia , Colosimo

Coveny

Round 8

Ferguson

Milicic , Dodd

Doumanis

Round 9

Hawrysiuk

Cardozo Souris

Trimboli , Coveny , Curcija

Mori , Despotovski

Round 10

Rose , Morley Rech

Martin , Midtsian

Nwaogazi

Round 11

Saric Blake

Elrich

Laurie , Tunbridge

Round 12

Smeltz , Veart

Fisher

Mrdja

Round 13

Libbesson

Despotovski

Poutakidis , Curcija , Boutsianis Bakis

Cunico , Parisi

Round 14

Deans

Brownlie , Pilic

Round 15

Nwaogazi Maloney , Brosque

Veart

Round 16

Byrnes , Hassell , Caceres , Pondeljak , Mrdja

Coveny Nwaogazi , Balabanel

Rech

Terminello

Round 17

Petrovski , Milicic

Faria , Mrdja

Round 18

Pantelis , Zorbas , Doumanis

Pondeljak , Despotovski Tomasevic

Round 19

Milligan

Rech Spiteri

Round 20

Young , Nwaogazi

Despotovski , Caceres

Round 21

Cardozo , Nikas , Goutzioulis Majurovski

Pilic

Round 22

Sarkies , Curcija , Tunbridge

Rowley Juric , Bojić , Ishida

Rech , Petrovski , Gumprecht Nwaogazi , Sabljak

Austin

Carle

Round 23

Aloisi

Mori

Carle

Pantelis Rose

Round 24

Caceres

Ngata

Harris , Gibson

Oksuz

Round 25

Milicic , Thompson P. Cardozo

Heffernan Hassell

Richter

Round 26

Mrdja

Ngata , Christie Rose , Fitzsimmons

Young , Sabljak

Finals

Bracket

|RD1-seed1 = 3 |RD1-team1 = Adelaide United (a) |RD1-score1-1= 3 |RD1-score1-2= 1 |RD1-score1-agg= 4 |RD1-seed2 = 6 |RD1-team2 = Brisbane Strikers |RD1-score2-1=0 |RD1-score2-2=4 |RD1-score2-agg=4

|RD1-seed3 = 4 |RD1-team3 = Marconi Stallions |RD1-score3-1=0 |RD1-score3-2=0 |RD1-score3-agg=0 |RD1-seed4 = 5 |RD1-team4 = South Melbourne |RD1-score4-1= 0 |RD1-score4-2= 2 |RD1-score4-agg= 2

|RD2-seed1 = 2 |RD2-team1 = Parramatta Power |RD2-score1-1= 4 |RD2-score1-2= 2 |RD2-score1-agg= 6 |RD2-seed2 = 1 |RD2-team2 = Perth Glory |RD2-score2-1=2 |RD2-score2-2=0 |RD2-score2-agg=2

|RD2-seed3 = 3 |RD2-team3 = Adelaide United |RD2-score3= 2 |RD2-seed4 = 5 |RD2-team4 = South Melbourne |RD2-score4= 1

|RD3-seed1 = 1 |RD3-team1 = Perth Glory |RD3-score1= 5 |RD3-seed2 = 3 |RD3-team2 = Adelaide United |RD3-score2= 0

|RD4-text1 = 4 April 2004 |RD4-team1 =Parramatta Power |RD4-score1=0 |RD4-team2 =Perth Glory |RD4-score2=1

Elimination Final 1 (3rd v 6th)

7 March 2004 Agius Brooks

13 March 2004 Rose Brain Grierson

• Adelaide United progress on away goals rule (4–4 on aggregate)

Elimination Final 2 (4th v 5th)

7 March 2004

13 March 2004

• South Melbourne progress 2–0 on aggregate

Major semi Final (1st v 2nd)

13 March 2004 Petrovski Zorbas Milicic Harnwell

20 March 2004 Petrovski

• Parramatta Power progress 6–2 on aggregate

Minor semi Final

Alagich

Preliminary Final

Mori Mrdja

Grand Final

Main article: 2004 National Soccer League Grand Final

15:00 AEST

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Individual awards

• Johnny Warren Medal (Player of the Year): Ante Milicic (Parramatta Power)
• U-21 Player of the Year: Alex Brosque (Marconi Stallions)
• Top Scorer(s): Ante Milicic (Parramatta Power – 20 goals)

References

References

1. (4 April 2004). "Golden goal earns Perth NSL glory". ABC News.