1963 NSW First Division season

The 1963 NSW First Division season was the seventh season of soccer in New South Wales under the administration of the NSW Federation of Soccer Clubs since its breakaway from the NSW Soccer Football Association in January 1957. The home and away regular season began March and ended in August after 22 rounds. Prague once again finished first on the ladder to become regular season premiers for a fourth time in five years.
The finals series began in September with a four-team playoff series. Third placed team South Coast United defeated second placed APIA Leichhardt 4–0 to become grand final champions for a first time.
Once again, the pre-season Ampol Cup was held with SSC Yugal picking up their first trophy.

Clubs

Changes from last season:

Polonia–North Side were relegated to Second Division.
Croatia were promoted from Second Division.

Table and results

Finals series

Grand Final

NSWSF First Division
1963 Premiers

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Statistics and awards

Stars of 1963

Soccer World reporters awarded stars out of six to players throughout the 22 rounds. The player with the highest stars was Jim Kelly with 4.38. Only 12 players average four points or more. South Coast United had four players, Prague had three players, Pan Hellenic two players, Budapest, Canterbury and APIA all had one player that averaged four points or more. Below left is the list of all twelve players and below right is the team of the year:

Player	Team	Rating
Jim Kelly	South Coast United	4.38
Ron Lord	Sydney FC Prague	4.32
Nilo Rusalen	Pan Hellenic	4.26
Petar Banicevic	Budapest	4.21
Ron Corry	Canterbury-Marrickville	4.18
John Doherty	South Coast United	4.18
G. Jones	Prague	4.18
Brian Smith	Pan Hellenic	4.14
Luis Gauto	Prague	4.10
Jim Harris	South Coast United	4.05
Joe Marston	APIA Leichhardt	4.05
Pat Woods	South Coast United	4.00

Top scorers

Brian Tristram was the recipient of the Marcel Nagy Trophy for the season's top goalscorer. Below is a list of the top ten goalscorers for the season:

Player	Team	Goals
Brian Tristram	Prague	32
Leo Baumgartner	APIA	20
John Giacometti	APIA	20
Herbert Ninaus	Hakoah	20
Graham Barnett	South Coast United	18
Tiko Jelisavčić	Yugal-Ryde	16
John Doherty	South Coast United	13
Sotiris Patrinos	Pan Hellenic	13
Les Schauman	Croatia Maroubra	13
Les Scheinflug	Prague	13

Attendances

Below is a list of attendances by club:

Rank	Club	Attendance
1	APIA	164,000
2	Pan Hellenic	161,000
3	Prague	105,000
4	SSC Yugal	88,000
5	Budapest–St George	83,000
6	South Coast United	79,000
7	Hakoah	73,000
8	Croatia Maroubra	61,000
9	Canterbury-Marrickville	49,000
10	Gladesville-Ryde	43,500
11	Auburn	39,500
12	Bankstown	34,500

Other competitions

Ampol Cup

The season began with the seventh edition of the floodlight pre-season night series on 8 February 1963, culminating with the double-header third place playoff and Final on Friday, 15 March 1962 at the Redfern Oval in front of 7,000 spectators.