The Waratah Cup is a knockout cup competition in New South Wales, run by the governing body of football in NSW, Football NSW. Teams competing in the Waratah Cup come from the National Premier Leagues NSW, NSW League One, NSW League Two, and numerous other semi professional & amateur association clubs within New South Wales. The Cup is held during the NPL NSW seasons. Since 2014 preliminary rounds of the Waratah Cup have been used to determine the NSW entrants to the national FFA Cup competition, now known as the Australia Cup.[1]
When the federation began in 1957, it held its first member cup competition, called the NSW Federation Cup. Canterbury-Marrickville were the inaugural winners of the competition with a 4–2 victory over Gladesville-Ryde. They retained the title the following year when they defeated Prague in the final. The tournament garnered sponsorship the following season and was named the "Ascot Thousand" for two years and the "Craven A Cup" for the next years. Due to lack of sponsorship, the 1963 tournament returned to the Federation Cup naming but was also known as the Henry Seamonds Trophy from 1964, named after the late NSW and Australian Soccer Federation president. The competition continued to run for a further four years in this manner before finally dissolving due to lack of interest. After ten editions, the final tournament was held in 1966. The winners that year were APIA Leichhardt. During this period, teams competed mainly from the first division with the best placed second division clubs during the season also gaining entry into the competition to create equal numbers for the knockout tournament.[2]
The NSW federation cup notion was re-introduced in 1971, under the banner of the Waratah Cup, with Sydney Hakoah winning the title. The 1972 edition was also held with 20 teams entering from across multiple levels of the soccer pyramid in NSW with four teams gaining entry from Northern NSW Football. There was no title held in 1973 but was re-introduced in 1974 sponsored by Rothmans. These tournaments garnered a lot of interest from many clubs with up to eight rounds being played before the quarter-finals in the 1976 edition.[3]
With many influential clubs departing the federation with the introduction of the National Soccer League in 1977, the idea of federation wide cup tournaments were abandoned until the 1990s. However, the pre-season Ampol Cup continued during this time, often with the NSL clubs competing against the First Division clubs in the federation. In 1990, a State Challenge Cup was held by teams from the First Division, paving way for the re-introduction of the Waratah Cup.
In 1991, the Challenge Cup and the first division pre-season cup were replaced by the NSW Waratah State Cup. Little is known of the original format of the fledgling editions but by 1995, 99 teams were competing[4] and 94 in 1996.[5] In 1997, Wollongong Wolves FC won the final Waratah Cup before it was resurrected after six years in 2004.
Since this time, the competition has continued uninterrupted, save for the 2020 and 2021 editions that were cancelled due to COVID-19. The initial edition in 2004 was won by Sydney Crescent Star with an extra time win over fellow NSW Premier League team, Bonnyrigg White Eagles. In the following nine years, Sutherland were the only club to win the cup on two occasions (in 2009 and 2012) and the 2010 final was the only edition to be decided on penalties, with Marconi defeating Spirit FC after the match was still scoreless after extra time.
Since 2014 the Waratah Cup has become part of the qualifying competition for the FFA Cup, now known as the Australia Cup. In 2014, seven teams qualified for the Round of 32.[6][7]
For 2015, the preliminary rounds of the 2015 FFA Cup replaced the early rounds of the competition; the 5 NSW qualifiers to the Round of 32 then competed for the 2015 Waratah Cup.[8]
Starting in 2015, the reigning champions of the National Premier Leagues qualified directly for the FFA Cup proper (round of 32). Blacktown City, Sydney United, and Wollongong Wolves won the NPL national championships in 2015, 2016, and 2019 respectively. Therefore the three teams were not required to participate in FFA Cup preliminary rounds in 2016, 2017, and 2021. They were also seeded directly into final rounds of the Waratah Cup in the respective seasons, along with the other FFA Cup qualifiers from NSW.[9]
From 2020 onwards, NSW qualification to the Round of 32 decreased to four slots instead of the previous five.
As the preliminary rounds form part of the Australia Cup, the competition proper starts with the four winners from the Australia Cup Preliminary Seventh Round.[10]
Since 2014, the Waratah Cup preliminary rounds have acted as qualifiers for the Australia Cup.
Below is a list of all federation cup finals since the inaugural NSW Federation of Soccer Clubs season in 1957. Please note the name changes throughout the years, due to various reasons:
Source: OzFootball.net
All-time honour board
This list includes all Waratah Cup champions and runners-up since the inaugural New South Wales Federation of Soccer Clubs in 1957.[14]
This table consists of finals of state cup competitions held by the New South Wales Soccer Football Association from 1885.[15]