Back in October 2007 in Sir William Walkley, Ampol and the New England New State Movement, I expliained why Northern NSW had its own state soccer league. I was reminded of this by a story in the Armidale Express on the selection of Armidale's Naran Singh for the Northern NSW under 14 rep side.
I suspect that very few people actually realise that New State New England is, so far as soccer is concerned, directly represented. The league was formed at the height of new state agitation and has survived despite sometimes attempts to merge it back into NSW.
Another small snippet of New England history. I don't often report on sport on this blog. I think that that's a weakness.
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2 comments:
An interesting point, Jim. One major advantage the North Qld new state movement has over Northern NSW is their sporting teams. They have teams in the national competitions of Rugby League, Basketball and Soccer. In the ARL the team from Newcastle is not seen as representing all of Northern NSW. So the sooner there is a team between the Hunter and the Gold Coast the sooner our regional identity will be strengthened.
I would add, Ian, that the same thing applies to the Jets. I agree that we need teams elsewhere. I also think that in both League and Soccer,the Newcastle teams should get over their Newcastle myopia and market themselves further north!
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