1971 New Zealand National Soccer League

The 1971 New Zealand National Soccer League was the second season of a nationwide round-robin club competition in New Zealand football. The league was expanded at the end of the inaugural season, so there was no relegation from the 1970 league season. Hungaria, who had competed in the inaugural season, combined with Miramar Rangers to form a new composite league team, Wellington City. Though Miramar withdrew from the team after the 1971 season, the team continued to use the new name.

At the end of the 1970 season, the winners of the Northern, Central, and Southern leagues — Mount Albert-Ponsonby (Auckland), Waterside (Wellington), and Caversham (Dunedin) respectively — took part in a play-off series to decide the two teams which would be granted entry to the national league. the results were as follows:

As a result of therse matches, Mount Albert-Ponsonby and Caversham gained entry to the national league. In order to mount a stronger southern challenge, Caversham amalgamated with several other Dunedin-based sides to form Dunedin Suburbs; the team lasted for one season in this form before reverting to Caversham.

The same four teams dominated the league as in the inaugural season, but this time it was Eastern Suburbs who finished on top. An unbeaten run of twelve matches by Mount Wellington saw them move into second place, followed by Christchurch United and Blockhouse Bay. The league title came down to the last round of matches and a controversial yet thrilling between the top two sides. In front of an estimated crowd of 10,000 at Newmarket Park, the Mount had three goals disallowed yet still managed to draw against Suburbs 2-2. Despite still having one game in hand, the Mount needed a win to hang onto its title chances, and Suburbs were crowned champions. A personal milestone occurred for Eastern Suburbs' John Wrathall, who scored his 1000th goal in 26 years of senior football during Suburbs' 3-1 win against Mount Albert-Ponsonby.

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