With the NSFA Cup cancelled for the first time in its 52-year history and the other knockout competitions with it, we thought we would look at the tournament’s history.
Men’s competition started within KDSA in 1961, and in 1968 the Management Committee decided to introduce a new All-Age knockout competition along the lines of the English FA Cup. Well-known jewellers Angus & Coote donated a magnificent trophy which teams still play for today. The inaugural winners were Wahroonga SC who went on to retain the trophy in 1969. These victories coincided with Wahroonga’s run of 4 straight Division One titles and thus becoming the first club to “do the double”.
Other impressive victory runs were recorded by Hornsby FC who won “the double” 3 times in 4 years between 1973 and 1976, Chatswood Rangers three times in 5 years (1995 to 1999) and North Sydney United All Age which won 5 times in 7 years between 2003 and 2009.
The Premiership/KDSA Cup double was also achieved by Wahroonga (1977), Kissing Point (1980 & 1986), Chatswood Rangers (1999), Hornsby Heights (2000), North Sydney United (2011) and West Pymble (2017).
While First Division clubs have dominated the winners circle over the years there have been three instances of lower division teams upsetting Division One teams. Interestingly 2 of these occurred in successive years at the old UTS ground (now Charles Bean), the only 2 years this ground was used for the final. In 1997, second division Dalleys came from 2-0 down just minutes before half time to prevail 3-2 against Cup and league giants West Pymble. The hero that day was Dennis Kalik, father of future A-League player Anthony Kalik.
Berowra became the second club to win the Cup from the second division in 2010 when it defeated that year’s premiers North Sydney AA in a hard-fought match at Mills Park. However, in 1998 North Sydney Bears won the cup from Division 4, after a penalty shootout win over 1997 Division One winners Chatswood Rangers.
Arguably the biggest ever Cup final was that held in 2003 at Parklands. This was a final tinged with tragedy as lower grade North Sydney player Andrew Rimmer had been killed in a freak accident on his way to a game a few weeks earlier. This was North Sydney’s first appearance in the Cup final and they were playing Division One premiers Asquith. It seemed like every North Sydney player, male and female was in attendance along with many supporters from both clubs. SBS were in attendance as was Frank Farina and local members Phillip Ruddock MP (Berowra) and Judy Hopwood MLA (Hornsby). The match itself was blessed with the appearance of former Celtic, Aberdeen, Parramatta Power and Scotland U21 player Joe Miller. Miller was brilliant in the first half scoring two quality goals and North Sydney went on to win the match and their first KDSA Cup.
The home of the KDSA Cup final for many years was Asquith Oval. In later years finals were played at Pottery Green, UTS, Parklands, Mills Park, NTRA and Charles Bean. Over the years 15 different clubs have won the KDSA/NSFA Cup with the most successful being Kissing Point with 8 and West Pymble with 7.
Sadly, the NSFA Cup has lost some of its lustre over the years. Designed as a Sunday tournament when very little football was played on Sundays it received, at its peak well over 30 entries. In recent years that number has barely reached half of those numbers seen at its height. We are conscious of this trend which has affected all of our tournaments and we are actively looking at ways of reviving interest.