Capital Premier League
| Founded | 1967 (as Division 2) 2019 (as NPL2) |
|---|---|
| Country |  Australia |
| State |  ACT  NSW |
| Confederation | AFC |
| Number of clubs | 10 |
| Level on pyramid | 3 |
| Promotion to | NPL ACT 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | FFA Cup Federation Cup |
| Current champions | ANU FC (2019) |
| Current premiers | Canberra White Eagles (2019) |
| Website | NPL Capital Football 2 |
| Current: 2020 season | |
The National Premier Leagues Capital Football 2 (also known as NPL ACT 2 or simply NPL2) is an association football competition contested by clubs affiliated to Capital Football. The league is the second highest level (level 2) competition in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) region. It is a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues and sits in Level 3 in the overall Australian league system. Prior to 2019, the league was known as the Capital League and was the top division of the ACT State League system.
History
Established in 1967 as Division 2 the level 2 division in the ACT has been competed every year except a three-year gap between 1984 and 1986, The league has been renamed three times prior to 2019 with the original Division 2 title changed to State League One in 1992 before becoming the Capital League in 2013.[1]
1 August 2018, Capital Football announced a major overhaul of the local football structure with the top two divisions (level 1 and 2) linked with the introduction of promotion and relegation between the top two men's divisions. The top two leagues were re-branded from NPL Capital Football and the Capital League to NPL1 and NPL2.[2]
3 August 2018, a group of current NPL clubs in the ACT raised concerns regarding the structure changes and the introduction of promotion and relegation. In particular the concern around governances was raised by Woden-Weston president Steve Rohan-Jones. While Canberra Olympic coach, Frank Cachia, raised the issues around juniors and the sustainability of an inter-state team if it gets relegated.[3]
31 August 2018, Capital Football opened the application process for interested teams to apply to join the NPL1 and NPL2 leagues.[4]
28 September 2018, Capital Football announced the successful applications for teams for the 2019 NPL season. NPL1 would consist of nine teams with seven teams selected for NPL2. Out of the ten teams that competed in the 2018 Capital League season, seven teams were successful in gaining NPL2 status while three teams, Narrabundah FC, Monaro Panthers reserves, and Canberra Olympic reserves were all unsuccessful. The bottom team of NPL1 in 2019 would be relegated to NPL2 for the 2020 season but no team from NPL2 would be promoted to even the two leagues to eight teams each.[5]
Narrabundah FC lodged an official appeal supported by a number of other Capital Football affiliated clubs.[6] Narrabundah's appeal was successful, and on 8 November 2018 Capital Football released a new declaration of leagues for the 2019 NPL level that included Narrabundah FC as an NPL2 participant.[7]
15 November 2018, NSW regional club, Wagga City Wanderers, announced it was transferring from NSW State League to Capital Football and would join the NPL2 and NPLW leagues.[8] This move resulted in both NPL1 and NPL2 leagues having nine teams each for the 2019 season.[9]
Format
The regular season runs between April to September each year and consists of 16 rounds with four matches played each round and one team sitting out a bye. Each team plays each other twice (home and away) and sits out two byes over the course of the season. The top four teams qualify for the finals series (finals). The team that finishes first in the league standings is crowned league premiers and, from 2020, will be promoted to NPL1.[10]
Finals is run over three weeks with the major (1 vs 2) and minor (3 vs 4) semi-finals held in the first week. The winner of the major semi-final progresses to the grand final in week 3 and the loser progresses to the preliminary final in week 2. The winner of the minor semi-final progresses to the preliminary final and the loser is eliminated.
Current Clubs
The inaugural season of NPL Capital Football 2 was originally planned to only have seven clubs, as published by Capital Football on 1 August 2018. After a successful appeal by Narrabundah a revised declaration of clubs for NPL level was released by Capital football on 8 August 2018 that increased the number of clubs from seven to eight. In November 2018, Wagga City Wanderers announced the club was leaving Football NSW and switching affiliation to Capital Football so the club's first grade team was added to NPL2 to bring the overall number up to nine (equal numbers with NPL1).
Eight of the inaugural season clubs were members of the previous ACT level two league (Capital league) in the previous season (2018). All nine inaugural season clubs were making their first appearance in the National Premier Leagues system, having previously competed in NSW and ACT State League systems.
As of the 2020 Capital Football season, there are ten clubs competing in the NPL2.
| 2020 NPL 2 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | Location | State | Home grounds | Founded | Joined league | 2019 Position |
| ANU FC | Acton | ACT | ANU Willows Oval | 1962 | 2019 | 3rd |
| Brindabella Blues | Calwell | ACT | Everlast Enclosed | 1990 | 2019 | 9th |
| Canberra White Eagles | Phillip | ACT | Woden Park | 1992 | 2019 | 1st |
| HNK O'Connor Knights | O'Connor | ACT | O'Connor Enclosed | 1997 | 2019 | 1 2nd |
| Narrabundah FC | Narrabundah | ACT | Narrabundah 2 | 1976 | 2019 | 8th |
| Queanbeyan City | Queanbeyan | NSW | Riverside Stadium | 1966 | 2019 | 4th |
| Riverina Rhinos | Griffith | NSW | SolarMad Stadium | 2014 | 2019 | – |
| Southern Tablelands United | Goulburn | NSW | Cookbundoon 2 | 2017 | 2019 | 7th |
| Wagga City Wanderers | Wagga Wagga | NSW | Gissing Oval | 2014 | 2019 | 6th |
| Weston-Molonglo FC | Waramanga | ACT | Waramanga Playing Fields | 1971 | 2019 | 5th |
Honours
NPL2 seasons (2019–present)
A snapshot of the NPL Capital Football 2 seasons since its inauguration in 2019.[1]
| Season | Regular season | Finals | rowspan=2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League Premiers | League Runners-Up | Champions | Score | Finalists | ||
| 2019 | Canberra White Eagles | O'Connor Knights | ANU FC | 5–1 | O'Connor Knights | |
NPL2 all-time record
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Pre-NPL Honours
Pre-NPL seasons (1967–2018)
A snapshot of each ACT division two season between 1967 and 2018 before being aligned with the NPL in 2019.[1]
Legend: BOLD = first league or finals title a club secures
| Season | Competition | Regular season | Finals | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League Premiers | League Runners-Up | Champions | Score | Finalists | ||
| 1967 | Division Two | Inter Monaro | Kosciusko | Inter Monaro | 1–0 | RAAF |
| 1968 | Division Two | Season standings & results unknown | ||||
| 1969 | Division Two | Season standings & results unknown | ||||
| 1970 | Division Two | Season standings & results unknown | ||||
| 1971 | Division Two | Season standings & results unknown | ||||
| 1972 | Division Two | Season standings & results unknown | ||||
| 1973 | Division Two | Queanbeyan Macedonia | ANU FC | No Finals Series held | ||
| 1974 | Division Two | ANU FC | Belconnen United | No Finals Series held | ||
| 1975 | Division Two | Season standings & results unknown | ||||
| 1976 | Division Two | Season standings & results unknown | ||||
| 1977 | Division Two | Canberra United | ANU FC | Canberra United | 3–1 | ANU FC |
| 1978 | Division Two | Queanbeyan Macedonia | RMC | Queanbeyan Macedonia | 3–1 | RMC |
| 1979 | Division Two | Kambah United | Concordia Phillip | Concordia Phillip | 2–1 | Kambah United |
| 1980 | Division Two | Polonia White Eagles | JAT United | Polonia White Eagles | 2–1 | Canberra North |
| 1981 | Division Two | Croatia Deakin | Unknown | Canberra North | 3–2 | Croatia Deakin |
| 1982 | Division Two | Cooma FC | RMC | Unknown Finals Series results | ||
| 1983 | Division Two | RMC | Narrabundah | Unknown Finals Series results | ||
| No Division 2 league run between 1984 and 1986 | ||||||
| 1987 | Division Two | Weston Creek | Canberra City | ANU FC | 1–0 | Weston Creek |
| 1988 | Division Two | Queanbeyan Macedonia | Canberra City | Queanbeyan Macedonia | Unknown | ANU FC |
| 1989 | Division Two | ADFA | ANU FC | Downer Olympic | 3–0 | ADFA |
| 1990 | Division Two | Downer Olympic | Condors | Queanbeyan Macedonia | 3–1 | Condors |
| 1991 | Division Two | ADFA | Queanbeyan Macedonia | ADFA | 4–1 | Condors |
| 1992 | State League One | Latin America | Unknown | University of Canberra | Unknown | Latin America |
| 1993 | State League One | Queanbeyan City | Unknown | Unknown Finals Series results | ||
| 1994 | State League One | Canberra White Eagles | ANU FC | ANU FC | Unknown | Canberra White Eagles |
| 1995 | State League One | Queanbeyan City | ANU FC | Queanbeyan City | Unknown score and losing team | |
| 1996 | State League One | ANU FC | Burns FC | Cooma FC | 2–1 | ANU FC |
| 1997 | State League One | Capital City Suns | Cooma FC | Burns FC | 2–1 | Capital City Suns |
| 1998 | State League One | Season standings & results unknown' | ||||
| 1999 | State League One | O'Connor Knights | Unknown | Unknown score and winning team | O'Connor Knights | |
| 2000 | State League One | Unknown league standings | ANU FC | 1–0 | Canberra White Eagles | |
| 2001 | State League One | Cooma FC | Unknown | Cooma FC | Unknown score and losing team | |
| 2002 | State League One | Cooma FC | Canberra Olympic | UCU Pumas | 1–0 | Canberra City |
| 2003 | State League One | O'Connor Knights | Canberra City | Canberra White Eagles | 2–1 | O'Connor Knights |
| 2004 | State League One | Canberra White Eagles | ANU FC | Canberra White Eagles | 2–0 | ANU FC |
| 2005 | State League One | ANU FC | Queanbeyan City | ANU FC | 4–1 | Queanbeyan City |
| 2006 | State League One | Queanbeyan City | Tuggeranong United | Queanbeyan City | 1–0 | Tuggeranong United |
| 2007 | State League One | Cooma FC | Southern Tablelands | Canberra White Eagles | 3–1 | Cooma FC |
| 2008 | State League One | Southern Tablelands | Cooma FC | Canberra White Eagles | 3–2 | Narrabundah |
| 2009 | State League One | Canberra White Eagles | Southern Tablelands | Canberra White Eagles | 1–0 | Cooma FC |
| 2010 | State League One | Canberra White Eagles | Queanbeyan City | Queanbeyan City | 1–0 | Canberra White Eagles |
| 2011 | State League One | Canberra White Eagles | O'Connor Knights | Canberra White Eagles | 5–1 | ANU FC |
| 2012 | State League One | Canberra White Eagles | Queanbeyan City | Canberra White Eagles | 2–1 | Queanbeyan City |
| 2013 | Capital League | Canberra White Eagles (Group A) Narrabundah (Group B) |
ANU FC (Group A) Queanbeyan City (Group B) |
Narrabundah | 0–0 (5–3) |
Queanbeyan City |
| 2014 | Capital League | ANU FC | Canberra White Eagles | Weston Molongo | 2–0 | ANU FC |
| 2015 | Capital League | Monaro Panthers | ANU FC | ANU FC | 1–1 (4–3) | Canberra White Eagles |
| 2016 | Capital League | ANU FC | Canberra White Eagles | ANU FC | 6–3 | Queanbeyan City |
| 2017 | Capital League | ANU FC | O'Connor Knights | ANU FC | 5–1 | O'Connor Knights |
| 2018 | Capital League | Queanbeyan City | Canberra White Eagles | ANU FC | 6–1 | Canberra White Eagles |
Pre-NPL all-time record
Pre-NPL era Division 2 honours since 1967 till 2018, prior to the transition to NPL in 2019.
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See also
References
- ^ a b c "ACT Capital League Premiers and Champions list". www.socceraust.co.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Tiernan, Eamonn (1 August 2018). "Capital Football introduce NPL2 and promotion-relegation next season". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Tiernan, Eamonn (3 August 2018). "NPL clubs slam Capital Football for introducing NPL2". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ "2019 NPL Applications open to clubs". Capital Football. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Roberts, Lachlan (28 September 2018). "Capital Football announce teams for NPL1 and NPL2 with mixed reception from clubs". www.the-riotact.com. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ "NPL2 Appeal". Narrabundah FC. 8 November 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ "DECLARATION OF LEAGUES2019 NATIONAL PREMIER LEAGUES SENIOR" (PDF). Capital Football. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Grey, Lachlan (15 November 2018). "Wagga City Wanderers formally depart Football NSW State League, shift to Capital Football NPL competition". www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ "National Premier Leagues – Mens". Capital Football. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ "Capital Football NPL Senior League Structure" (PDF). Capital Football. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
External links
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