ELSA Football Competition from 1994 to 1999 Go to 2000 - 2008


1994 - 1997

Upon doing a bit of delving into the archives, I discovered that the competition had been going along nicely before I ever had any hand in it at all. It all seemed to have started way back in the early 90's with Steven James organizing a few games between schools on Fridays. Details about this are sketchy at best but records do show that in 1994 Gary Adams (GEOS National English Academy) took on the job, booked a couple of fields down at Queens Park, drew up a fixture list and organized the ELICOS Soccer League. There were 10 teams playing one game roughly every three weeks over the winter season, each college playing every other college once only. In 1997 Steve Morris from SELC chipped in to lend a hand. From what I can gather SELC won it in '95, NEA in '96 and NEA again in '97. Some of the correspondence also shows that the suggestion of having some sort of cup was raised in '97 to give some 'bite' to the whole affair and provide a good reason for a round of drinks at the end of the season - a good idea.

1998

A good idea indeed, solidly taken on board when Barry Dalton and yours truly, Bill Beare, were handed the reins for the 1998 season. A sizeable cup was purchased and the cup and comp took on the name English Language Schools Association or ELSA for short. The ELSA Cup was to be a perpetual cup, kept by the college who won the league for a year, after which it would then be handed on to the next year's winner and so on. The winning college having its name engraved for posterity on the base of the cup. In an effort to raise the standard of refereeing by the teacher/coaches of the teams, a referees' course was organized by ELSA in conjunction with The NSW Referees Association, to great success with the teachers attaining referees certificates. The comp was also sanctioned that year by the NSW Refs Assoc. Also in 1998 was the first of the ELSA Knockout Cups. This, smaller cup, was to be kept by the winning colleges forever. The knockout competition, seeded from the final league ladder, was organized to finish the year on a high note, with the final being held on the last afternoon of the season. Then immediately following the game, it was up the hill to the pub and the presentation evening. Perfect! Ten teams took part that year on 4 fields. And although bad weather and the feeling from some schools that it was still just a bit of a kick about on a Friday arvo, made it that only eight teams finished, it was clear to most that the competition had turned a corner…and gone up the hill.

1999

Unfortunately, Barry Dalton left for sunnier climes at the end of the '98 season and so it was left to me to keep the next season together, a task hindered incredibly by the incessant bad weather. A cold, wet, windswept Friday was not so appetizing for students and the incidences of cancelled games and 'no shows' were more than a feature of the season. ELSA had adopted a '4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss and zero for a no show' points system to motivate teams to at least turn up for a game but '99 was indeed a bleak winter and sadly, the record shows not many did. One bright light in the latter, sunnier part of the season, however, was the inclusion of the Kosovar Refugee team who were studying through ACL at the East Hills Safe Haven Centre. They turned up, fresh from the Balkan war, fully kitted and regimented to the hilt to play some friendlies. Very sharp, and thrashed everyone.