2023 NSW NPL Women’s Wrap – Round 3

As the A-League Women regular season reaches its crescendo next week, you could be forgiven for taking your eye off the NSW NPL Women’s competition.

Unfortunately for anyone who did, they missed 17 goals across seven games, a red card, and this author adjusting his monitor during a game to the point it displayed an error message. In other words – it was a hell of a week!

This season Beyond 90 will take a look at the big talking points across the league every week, all the way up to the Big Dance in September.

More Thermopylae than Thebes

A moderate-sized city-state founded in antiquity, Spartans had over their history waxed and waned in influence over not only their immediate neighbours, but also surrounding regions as a whole. Well-known as a city in which women have typically enjoyed greater rights and powers than those afforded elsewhere, Spartans grew to value effort and resilience among the warrior class, bringing youth into the fold from an early age so as to hone their skills in battle among adults. In fact, it was that bond that in times of hardship lead to famous victories against rivals from the near east and further afield.

Hauntingly similar to their Peloponnesian namesakes, Blacktown’s senior team has at times coerced and controlled battles of their own, relying on a mixture of youthful brilliance and experienced leadership to steer the group towards success. The only top-flight team at their club, Spartans’ senior women are an example for their younger clubmates, held in high esteem as potential future Matildas and Football Ferns, and while the club only managed to win two of their final 11 matches in 2022, it was only these youth international call-ups that truly derailed their season.

However, as legends perish their immediate successors are often too young or as yet unknown, sitting idle as they hone their craft among equals. And so is the story of 2023 so far for Blacktown Spartans: having largely lost that mixture of blissful inexperience and the toughness of age, the club is yet to replace those players who have outgrown the Future Matildas set-up or moved on to greener pastures such as Tanya Borazio and Ash Crofts.  Despite signing Philippines international striker Eva Madarang, Lauren Phelps’ side is yet to trouble the scorers so far this campaign, and with other clubs surely signing reinforcements in the coming months, the women from the 2-7-double-6 will be hoping they’ll be able to recruit the troops they need to stave off further defeats.

As rare as hens’ teeth

Staying on the topic of times passed, history has many times seen moments etched into the mainstream consciousness, be they brilliant or brutal. From the Wright Flyer to the Hindenburg catastrophe, from the Soviet flag over the Reichstag to a Leap into Freedom, we often distill stories into a single frame or a snippet in time.

NSW NPL Women’s has had its fair share of these moments itself, even just in the past 12 months: Newcastle’s youngsters beating Illawarra to secure their first win in two years, Sydney Olympic falling to Blacktown Spartans in the last round of the regular season to miss the finals, Shadeene Evans’ incredible double against Sydney University, and Kylie Ledbrook being chaired off the field after winning the grand final in her final game. This week we were once again witnesses to history, as Sydney Olympic captain and NSW NPL Women’s legend Teresa Polias was shown what Beyond 90 believes to be the first red card of her storied career.

Defending the near post having just conceded a late corner, Polias appeared to engage in a war of words with the referee before being booked for dissent as Football NSW Institute set up for an attacking corner. Barely 15 seconds later and before the referee had even reached for his notepad, he was instead reaching into his back pocket for a red card, sending Polias from the field for what one can only assume was further abusive language after the fact. Clearly stunned and furious with the decision, Polias remonstrated with the referee before leaving the pitch, marking a moment in history we’ll surely not soon forget.

Do not adjust your set

As anyone who watches mainstream Australian sport can attest, football clubs of all codes and the bodies governing them have a peculiar aversion to progress when it comes to identifying teams on the field. In the AFL, guernseys such as those worn by Carlton, Richmond and Essendon (navy and black), and even newer clubs such as Sydney and GWS (red and orange), are remain worn as some form of deliberate anachronism despite obvious similarity to the viewers’ eyes; similarly, rugby league club South Sydney constantly wears its famous cardinal-and-myrtle (red and green for the non-believers), even when playing against Canberra in their slightly-lighter-green strip.

This week saw NSW NPL Women’s own bizarre kit clash, as Bankstown City hosted APIA  Leichhardt on a grey afternoon at Jensen Park. Paired against the home side’s red-and-black stripes, APIA took the field in its usual all-claret home strip, differentiated in tone by their white socks alone. Their light-blue away jersey seemingly cast aside, fans (read: this author) watched on in horror as 20 darkly-clothed players ran back and forth across the broadcast like starlings against the sunset, unable to distinguish one from another.

In truth this may have just been a case of human error – maybe APIA simply forgot their away kits? – but please referees, I beg you, enforce some kind of uniform policy when this inevitably happens again.

Around The Grounds
Sunday 26 March
Northern Tigers 3 Macarthur Rams 0 at North Turramurra Recreation Field
Gladesville Ravens 1 Manly United 1 at Christie Park
Blacktown Spartans 0 NWS Spirit 1 at Blacktown Football Park
Sydney University 2 Bulls Academy 2 at Sydney University Football Ground
Bankstown City 1 APIA Leichhardt 1 at Jensen Park
Football NSW Institute 0 Sydney Olympic 1 at Valentine Sports Park
Emerging Jets 1 Illawarra Stingrays 3 at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility 

Top Scorers
4 – Emily Minnett (Manly United)
3 – Peta Trimis (Bulls Academy), Stephanie Augoustis (Sydney University)