National Premier Leagues Capital Football

National Premier Leagues Capital Football
Founded 2013
Country Australia
Confederation AFC
Number of teams 10
Level on pyramid 2
Domestic cup(s) FFA Cup
Federation Cup
Current champions 2018 Canberra FC
Current premiers 2018 Canberra FC
Website NPL Capital Football
2018 NPL season

The National Premier Leagues Capital Football is an association football competition contested by clubs affiliated to Capital Football. It is the highest level competition in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) region. It is a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues.[1][2]

Format

NPL Teams play a league season, followed by a finals series for the top 4 clubs. Premier League clubs are also required to field teams in age-limited divisions of Premier League U20, Premier League U18 and Premier League U16, and junior NPL teams at U14 and U13 age groups.

A cup competition is contested by Premier League teams and other teams from the region, known as the Westfield FFA Cup Qualifiers, for which the winner is awarded the Federation Cup. The winners of the Federation Cup gain entry into the national FFA Cup competition.

History

The competition was restructured after the 2006 season, based on criterion requiring a development pathway within clubs where each club must field a team in a reserves and Under-18 divisions. Nine teams contested in the Premier League in 2007, cutting Gungahlin Juventus, White Eagles and reigning premier Cooma Tigers from the top tier.[3]

The same nine teams remained in the Premier League for 2008 and 2009. The pathway system was expanded to include a Premier U16 competition, with all nine clubs required to field a team from their club or an affiliated club. Capital Football initially revoked the licence of Queanbeyan City for the 2009 season, citing a non-compliance with the developmental and administrative standards expected for the league.[4] However, Queanbeyan were reinstated on appeal and following the presentation of further evidence demonstrating these standards could be met.[5]

At the close of the 2009 season, the licences of all participating clubs were reviewed and expressions of interest sought for new additional entrants to the competition for 2010–2012.

In November 2014 Woden Weston FC was incorporated with the intention to merge the elite levels of Woden Valley FC and Weston Molonglo FC into one club, to compete in the National Premier Leagues in 2015 and beyond. The new merged club was officially launched in 20 February 2015, with colours for their new strip sourced from both clubs (black from Weston Creek and red from Woden Valley).[6]

In 2016 the league was expanded to 10 teams with the addition of the Canberra United Academy (CUA) team.[7] The decision by Capital Football to include the CUA in the top division of ACT football was met with opposition by other clubs in the league, citing concern with the prospect of losing their best young players to the Academy.[8] Along with the addition of the CUA, other clubs were concerned with lack of action taken on making the Presidents of the NPL clubs voting members of the Capital Football board. A possible rebel league was mooted, and it was believed there had already been contact made with the Referees' Association and potential sponsorship lined up by the NPL clubs.[9]

2016 also saw the establishment of the Capital Football Charity Shield to be played between the Federation Cup winners and NPL league champions before the start of the regular NPL season, as a charity fund-raiser.[10] The inaugural Capital Football Charity Shield match was contested on 18 March 2016 between Canberra FC (2015 League premiers) and Gungahlin United (2015 Federation Cup winners) at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval.[11]

7 November 2016, Capital Football announced the introduction of Riverina Rhinos for the men’s and boy’s National Premier Leagues Capital Football for 2017. Riverina has replaced the controversial Canberra United Academy, who have been amalgamated with the FFA Centre of Excellence, maintaining a ten team league.[12]

18 March 2017, Canberra Olympic won the first piece of ACT Football silverware for the 2017 season with an emphatic 5-2 victory over Tigers FC at Gungahlin Enclosed oval to claim the second edition of the ACT Charity Shield. The match raised $1500 for charity CanTeen Australia with both clubs and Capital Football each contributing $500. Joshua Gulevski and Stephen Domenici both scored braces for Olympic while a long range goal from Robbie Cattanach clinched the high scoring victory for last season's league and final double winners.[13]

Current Clubs (2018)

Club Location Home grounds Founded Head coach
Belconnen United McKellar McKellar Park 1970 Australia Dean Ugrinic
Canberra FC Deakin Deakin Stadium 1958 Australia Marko Vrkic
Canberra Olympic O'Connor O'Connor Enclosed 1955 Australia Frank Cachia
Gungahlin United Gungahlin Gungahlin Enclosed Oval 1963 Australia Marcial Munoz
Monaro Panthers Queanbeyan Riverside Stadium
Duncan Sporting Fields 1		 1967 Australia Graeme Plath
Riverina Rhinos Griffith Noe Santolin Oval
Hanwood Oval		 2014 Australia Ross Morgan
Tigers FC Cooma Nijong Oval 1952 Australia Gaby Wilk
Tuggeranong United Kambah Kambah 2 1976 Croatia Miro Trninic
Woden-Weston Phillip Woden Park 2014 Australia Tony Olivera

Former Premier League or NPL clubs

Club Location Home ground Founded
ANU FC Acton ANU Willows Oval 1962
Burns FC Kambah Kambah 1925
Canberra City Hackett Hackett 2 1977
Canberra United Academy McKellar McKellar Park 2015
Canberra White Eagles Phillip Woden Park 1992
FFA Centre of Excellence Bruce Australian Institute of Sport 1981
Goulburn Strikers Goulburn Strikers Park 2001
HNK O'Connor Knights O'Connor O'Connor Enclosed 1997
Narrabundah FC Narrabundah Narrabundah 2 1976
Queanbeyan City Queanbeyan Riverside Stadium 1966
Weston Creek Waramanga Waramanga Playing Fields 1971

Honours

YearLeague WinnerChampionsCharity ShieldNPL Finals Representation
2013Canberra FCCanberra Olympic-Canberra FC - Quarter Finalist
2014Cooma TigersBelconnen United-Cooma Tigers - Quarter Finalist
2015Canberra FCCanberra Olympic-Canberra FC - Quarter Finalist
2016Canberra OlympicCanberra OlympicCanberra FCCanberra Olympic - Quarter Finalist
2017Canberra OlympicBelconnen UnitedCanberra OlympicCanberra Olympic - Quarter Finalist
2018Canberra FCCanberra FCCanberra OlympicCanberra FC - Quarter Finalist

Honours pre-NPL (2000-2012)

Year League Winner Champions
2000 Gungahlin JuventusBelconnen United
2001 Canberra DeakinGungahlin Juventus
2002 Canberra DeakinBelconnen United
2003 Canberra DeakinCanberra Deakin
2004 Canberra DeakinCanberra Deakin
2005 Canberra DeakinCanberra Deakin
2006 Canberra OlympicCooma
2007 Canberra FCCanberra FC
2008 Canberra FCBelconnen United
2009 Canberra FCCanberra FC
2010 Canberra FCCanberra FC
2011 Canberra FCCanberra FC
2012 Belconnen UnitedCooma


References

  1. ↑ "NPL Home". National Premier Leagues. Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Gibbs, Russ. "PS4 NPL Capital Football 2015 Preview". PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues. Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Clubs on notice to lift game or be cut loose". Canberra Times. 9 December 2006. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  4. ↑ "Queanbeyan City's PL Licence Reviewed". Capital Football. October 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  5. ↑ "Queanbeyan City Reinstated in Premier League". Capital Football. December 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  6. ↑ Gaskin, Lee (08 March 2015) "Woden-Weston FC hoping to channel Western Sydney Wanderers in National Premier League debut". Sydney Morning herald. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  7. ↑ "Academy". Capital Football. Retrieved 9 Feb 2016.
  8. ↑ Gaskin, Lee (2015-11-25). "Soccer: Canberra National Premier League clubs voice concerns at representative team". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  9. ↑ Polkinghorne, David (2016-02-11). "Rebel league an option in Canberra NPL disagreement with Capital Football". Sydney Morning herald. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  10. ↑ "Champions and Cup Winners to Meet in Inaugural Charity Shield". Capital Football. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  11. ↑ Gaskin, Lee (2016-03-17). "ACT National Premier League: Charity Shield gives new-look Gungahlin United perfect test". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  12. ↑ "PS4 NPL Structure & Teams". Capital Football. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  13. ↑ Helmers, Caden (2017-03-19). "Canberra Olympic pick up where they left off with win over Cooma Tigers in Capital Football Charity Shield". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 2017-03-30.

Current Clubs (2017)

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