Full name | Northbridge Football Club – North Shore Mariners |
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Nickname(s) | The Bridge, Mariners, North Shore |
Founded | 1952 |
Ground | Northbridge Oval |
Owner | Rory Grace |
Technical Director | Wayne O'Sullivan |
Manager | Joe Haywood |
League | NPL NSW2 |
2016 | Seniors: 14th (last) Club Championship: 13th |
Website | northbridgefc |
Northbridge Football Club (known as North Shore Mariners) is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in suburb of Northbridge, Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1952, the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW 2, with matches played at Northbridge Oval. Northbridge is Australia’s largest community club with over 2,500 register players. The club has a youth development academy partnership with A-League club Central Coast Mariners with the teams playing at Northbridge now known as the North Shore Mariners. The partnership allows players from Central Coast Mariners to be loaned to Northbridge FC for playing experience while it also allows promising players coming through the academy to easily get trials with the A-League Club.
Northbridge FC was established in 1952 by local postman Ron Hall who had previously relocated from his work in the coalfields in the Cessnock area of the Hunter Valley. The club originally competed in the Northern Suburbs Soccer Association (NSSA). The original playing strip was a red and white shirt, white shorts and red and white hooped socks. In 1973, Northbridge joined the Ku-Ring-Gai and District Soccer Association (now the Northern Suburbs Football Association).
In 2011, after spending its entire existence in the local league, Northbridge FC successfully entered Football NSW's state league competition, the 3rd tier of NSW football and fourth tier overall. They won the NSW State League Division One Premiership in 2013, but went on to lose the Grand Final to Balmain in extra time.
The 2014 season once again saw Northbridge fall short of the title – losing to Hakoah Sydney City East FC 3–2, with Hakoah going on to get promoted to the NSW NPL2.
Throughout 2014 and the years leading up, Northbridge, experienced significant growth, with over 2,300 registered players in early 2014. This made Northbridge the largest club in Australia by participation numbers.