2001 National Soccer League Grand Final

The 2001 National Soccer League Grand Final was held on 3 June 2001 between Wollongong Wolves and South Melbourne at Parramatta Stadium. Soccer Australia deemed Wollongong's 14,000 capacity home ground WIN Stadium too small for the centrepiece of the NSL season. Ironically the crowd attendance was 13,402. Wollongong won the match 2–1, with two goals in as many minutes from Sasho Petrovski and Stuart Young putting them ahead. Although John Anastasiadis got a goal for South Melbourne, it wasn't enough. This won the Wolves their second consecutive National Soccer League championship and their second overall. Matt Horsley won the Joe Marston Medal.^[1]

2001 National Soccer League Grand Final

Event	2000–01 National Soccer League
Wollongong Wolves South Melbourne 2 1
Date	3 June 2001 (2001-06-03)
Venue	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney, Australia
Man of the Match	Matt Horsley (Joe Marston Medal)
Referee	Eddie Lennie
Attendance	13,402
← 2000 2002 →

Route to the Final

As top-two finishers, South Melbourne and Wollongong Wolves were placed into the second week of the final series, with the winner to host the grand final. Wollongong won both legs 2–1 to qualify for the grand final with a 4–2 aggregate. In the preliminary final, South Melbourne defeated fourth-placed Sydney Olympic to qualify for the final.^[2]

Soccer Australia chose Parramatta Stadium as the grand final venue, expecting a larger crowd than the 14,000-capacity WIN Stadium could hold.^[3][4]

The Soccer Australia board initially refused an offer from the Seven Network to show the match live on free-to-air television. The board intended for the match to be played at 3pm, however Seven had pre-existing Australian Football League (AFL) commitments. Eventually, the board changed the time to midday and Seven showed the match live outside of Sydney.^[5][6][7]

League Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	South Melbourne	30	21	6	3	70	24	+46	69	2001 National Soccer League Finals
2	Wollongong Wolves (C)	30	18	7	5	80	40	+40	61	2000–01 National Soccer League Champions
3	Perth Glory	30	18	7	5	73	33	+40	61	2001 National Soccer League Finals
4	Sydney Olympic	30	17	6	7	58	37	+21	57
5	Marconi Fairfield	30	14	8	8	42	33	+9	50
6	Melbourne Knights	30	14	7	9	61	46	+15	49
7	Adelaide Force	30	12	7	11	54	54	0	43
8	Auckland Kingz	30	12	7	11	52	52	0	43
9	Parramatta Power	30	13	3	14	42	44	−2	42
10	Sydney United	30	12	6	12	46	56	−10	42
11	Canberra Cosmos (R)	30	11	4	15	49	55	−6	37	Disbanded at end of season
12	Brisbane Strikers	30	9	8	13	52	56	−4	35
13	Northern Spirit	30	8	8	14	39	50	−11	32
14	Newcastle United	30	7	9	14	37	56	−19	30
15	Eastern Pride (R)	30	5	5	20	32	61	−29	0^[a]	Disbanded at end of season
16	Carlton SC (R)	30	0	0	30	0	90	−90	0^[b]	Team withdrew

Updated to match(es) played on 19 April 2001. Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Eastern Pride were stripped of all their points following a breach of regulations.^[8]
2. Carlton SC withdrew after eight rounds. All games against them were awarded 3-0.^[8]

Finals Bracket

	Elimination finals							Major/Minor semifinals							Preliminary final					Grand Final
																				3 June 2001
								2	Wollongong Wolves	2	2	4								Wollongong Wolves		2
								1	South Melbourne	1	1	2								South Melbourne		1
															1	South Melbourne	2
	6	Melbourne Knights (a)	0	2	2
															4	Sydney Olympic	0
	3	Perth Glory	0	2	2
								6	Melbourne Knights			0
								4	Sydney Olympic			1
	4	Sydney Olympic	3	2	5
	5	Marconi Fairfield	1	0	1

Match

Details

3 June 2001
AEST

Wollongong Wolves	2 – 1	South Melbourne
Petrovski   56' Young   57'	Reports^[9]	Anastasiadis   78'

Parramatta Stadium, Sydney

Attendance: 13,402

Referee: Eddie Lennie

GK 26   Dean Anastasiadis DF 2   George Sounis DF 3   Alvin Ceccoli   79' DF 5   David Cervinski MF 6   Matt Horsley (c) MF 7   Paul Reid FW 9   Sasho Petrovski   73' FW 10   Stuart Young MF 15   David Huxley DF 17   Ben Blake MF 27   Robbie Middleby   90+1' Substitutes: GK 1   Daniel Beltrame DF 4   Robert Stanton   73' MF 8   Max Nicholson FW 14   Jay Lucas MF 23   Dino Mennillo   90+1' Manager:   Ron Corry Joe Marston Medal: Matt Horsley (Wollongong Wolves)

GK 1   Michael Petkovic MF 2   Steve Iosifidis   36'   71' DF 3   Fausto De Amicis (c)   89' DF 4   Mehmet Durakovic MF 7   Steve Panopoulos FW 8   Vaughan Coveny MF 10   Con Boutsianis FW 13   Andrew Vlahos FW 14   Vas Kalogeracos   65' DF 16   Zeljko Susa   65' DF 25   Simon Colosimo Substitutes: GK 20   Chris Jones MF 6   David Clarkson FW 9   Paul Trimboli   65' FW 11   John Anastasiadis   71' MF 15   Goran Lozanovski   65' Manager:   Mike Petersen

Assistant referees: Fourth official:

Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.

References

1. Cockerill, Michael (4 June 2001). "Wily Wolves fly like Hawks". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 33. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
2. Desira, Peter (28 May 2001). "South wins final berth". Herald Sun.
3. Desira, Peter (22 May 2001). "In the South smiles". Herald Sun.
4. "Grand larceny; Kick in the guts as Wolves lose home grand final". Illawarra Mercury. 22 May 2001.
5. Lynch, Michael (18 May 2001). "Calls fail to change finals kick-offs for TV". The Age.
6. Taylor, John (25 May 2001). "At last some vision -- NSL final to be televised". Daily Telegraph.
7. Lewis, David (29 May 2001). "Wolves tip poor grand final crowd". Daily Telegraph.
8. "Australia 2000/01". rsssf.com. RSSSF. 29 January 2003. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
9. "2001 National Soccer League Playoff results". www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved 30 December 2022.