1996–97 Women's National Soccer League

The 1996–97 Women's National Soccer League was the first season of the Women's National Soccer League, the former top Australian women's professional soccer league, since its establishment in 1996. Sponsored by Ansett Airlines, it was the first organized Australia-wide female football competition.

Women's National Soccer League

Season	1996–97
Dates	6 December 1996 — 23 March 1997
Matches played	28
Goals scored	99 (3.54 per match)
1997–98 →

Teams

Six teams competed in the league split into a north and south conference. The teams were mostly representative sides of their states elite sporting institutes.

Group 1

• ACT Academy of Sport
• SA Sports Institute
• Victoria ITC

Group 2

• Northern NSW ITC
• NSW Institute of Sport
• Queensland Academy of Sport

League tables

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	SA Sports Institute	9	6	1	2	21	13	+8	19	Qualification to the Grand Final
2	ACT Academy of Sport	9	3	2	4	13	14	−1	11
3	Victoria ITC	9	1	2	6	7	20	−13	5

Source: OzFootball.net

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Queensland Academy of Sport	9	4	2	3	18	15	+3	14	Qualification to the Grand Final
2	NSW Institute of Sport	9	4	2	3	18	15	+3	14
3	Northern NSW ITC	9	4	1	4	19	19	0	13

Source: OzFootball.net

Results

Home \ Away	ACT	NOR	NSW	QLD	SAS	VIC	ACT	NOR	NSW	QLD	SAS	VIC
ACT Academy of Sport		2–3	3–2	2–2	1–2	1–3
Northern NSW ITC			1–3	2–3	2–4	1–0			3–1	3–2
NSW Institute of Sport		3–2		2–1	3–1	5–0				1–1
Queensland Academy of Sport		3–2	3–0		2–3	1–0
SA Sports Institute	1–0					6–1	0–2					2–0
Victoria ITC	0–1				2–2		1–1

Source: OzFootball.net
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Fifth place play-off

Northern NSW ITC v Victoria ITC

23 March 1997

Northern NSW ITC

1–0

Victoria ITC

Third place play-off

ACT Academy of Sport v NSW Institute of Sport

23 March 1997

ACT Academy of Sport

1–2

NSW Institute of Sport

Grand Final

Queensland Academy of Sport v SA Sports Institute

23 March 1997	Queensland Academy of Sport	2–1	SA Sports Institute	Canberra
	Dunne 23', 82'		Moore 14'	Stadium: AIS Fields

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Kristy Moore	SA Sports Institute	9
2	Sharon Black	SA Sports Institute	8
3	Lisa Dunne	Queensland Academy of Sport	7
4	Kim Revell	Queensland Academy of Sport	6
5	Julie Murray	NSW Institute of Sport	5
	Traci Bartlett	ACT Academy of Sport

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Sharon Black	SA Sports Institute	Victoria ITC	6–1 (H)	7 December 1996
Lisa Dunne	Queensland Academy of Sport	Northern NSW ITC	3–2 (A)	14 December 1996

Sources

• "Women's National Soccer League — Season 1996/1997". OzFootball.net.
• "Women's National Soccer League 1996/1997". WorldFootball.net.