Monthly Archives: July 2025

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade are one win away from the 2025 Northern NSW Premiership going into the wash out Round 12 fixture against Cooks Hill United FC on Wednesday night at the LMRFF Speers Point. Newcastle Olympic First Grade, whilst 7^th on the table, are still with a chance of making the top five with a win over Cooks Hill on the same night.

After losing their opening two games of the season, Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade have played 16 games during which they have won 14, drew 1 and lost 1 to be first on the table and clear favourites to collect the 2025 Northern NSW Reserve Grade Premiership! They have four games left and with a win over Cooks Hill United they are guaranteed first place!

After having a bye on the weekend, the boys in blue are ready for the game of the season on Wednesday night against a Cooks Hill side that sustained a shock 2-1 home defeat on Saturday at the hands of Weston! Olympic are on 43 points while Cooks Hill on 34 and with a game in hand. The task will not be easy given that Cooks Hill defeated Olympic at Darling St Oval 2-0 in the opening game of the season! Also, Cooks Hill are too good a team to sustain a second successive loss at home!

Despite this, Olympics’ recent form makes them favourite to win and claim the 2025 Premiership crown! They have led the competition since Round 7 and apart from the two losses in the opening two rounds of the season and a loss and draw midway through the season they have won every game. In their past four matches they have scored 16 goals and conceded 3!

The clash on Wednesday night will not be easy but the prize at stake is too big to miss out. In the event of an Olympic victory, they require a further 1 point from the last three games to mathematically secure the title or for Cooks Hill and Maitland to drop 1 point from their remaining 4 and 3 games respectively! In the worst scenario, if Olympic win on Wednesday night and lose all remaining games and Cooks Hill and Maitland win all their remaining games, they will come equal first but will have a superior goal difference!

Kick off at 6:00pm on Wednesday 230th July at LMRFF Speers Point. (The match will be played at Speers Point due to the predicted deterioration in the weather).

Newcastle Olympic First Grade are in 7^th place on the ladder and a win against Cooks Hill on Wednesday night would enable them to frog leap Charlestown Azzurri in 6^th place, 3 points behind Maitland who occupy 5^th spot.

Olympic have lost 6 games all season but have only won 5! They are the draw specialists together with Belmont Swansea. With four games remaining they can still steal 4^th or 5^th spot on the ladder to make the top five. Equally, so can Cooks Hill, Charlestown Azzurri, Maitland FC and Lambton Jaffas. The season is not over and five teams will contest the two remaining positions until the final game of the season.

Kick off at 8:00pm on Wednesday 230th July at LMRFF Speers Point. (The match will be played at Speers Point due to the predicted deterioration in the weather).

The remaining games of the season are:

No 4 vs Cooks Hill on Wednesday 30^th July at LMRFF Speers Point.

No 3 vs New Lambton on Saturday 2^nd August at Alder Park

No 2 vs Weston on Wednesday 6^th August at Rockwell Automation Park

No 1 vs Belmont on Sunday 10^th August at Blacksmiths Oval

Source: Tom Tsamouras

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade are 4 points away from the 2025 Northern NSW Premiership! With four away games against Cooks Hill, New Lambton, Weston and Belmont, Olympic can only be challenged by Cooks Hill and Maitland!

Olympic sit at the top of the Reserve Grade table on 43 points from 18 matches while Cooks Hill and Maitland on 34 points from 16 and 18 matches respectively! Our next game is against Cooks Hill on Wednesday 30^th July at Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field. Cooks Hill play Weston on Saturday, another top 5 contender and Maitland play Valentine on Sunday. If either of these two teams drop points, then the title could be determined at Cooks Hill on Wednesday night!

Newcastle Olympic have lost three games in 18 matches, and the probability of picking up another win and draw in their final four games is very high. If both Cooks Hill and Maitland win on the weekend and Olympic defeat Cooks Hill next Wednesday night, they will only need 1 point in their remaining 3 games regardless of the results by the other two!

In total, there are six teams fighting for five spots in the play-offs for the 2025 Northern NSW Grand Final. Newcastle Olympic have led the competition since Round 7 and most likely will win it and occupy first place. Cooks Hill and Maitland will contest 2^nd and 3^rd place with Broadmeadow Magic, Weston Bears and Lambton Jaffas all with the same chance of securing 4^th and 5^th place.

No action this weekend for Newcastle Olympics’ Men’s teams but next Wednesday night could be a title deciding evening for at least one of our teams at Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field against Cooks Hill United FC.

Source: Tom Tsamouras

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade opened a 9 point lead at the top of the table four games before the end of the season while First Grade were narrowly defeated by Edgeworth Eagles in a game they deserved at least a draw!

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade delivered a vintage performance in their last home game of the season defeating an Edgeworth Eagles side by only 4-1! Despite regular players missing, their u18s replacements slotted in perfectly to produce an outstanding performance which deserved a scoreline much higher than the 4-1.

With First Grade regulars Mason King and Joey Smith, Edgeworth Eagles did not resemble a team at the bottom of the table in the first half of the game. Indeed, a deflected shot by Mason King enabled the ball to fall perfectly at the feet of Brodie Slattery in the 10^th minute of the game to put the visitors 1-0 ahead.

By the 16^th minute and after a teasing corner by George Tsamouras and sustained pressure inside the Edgeworth box, Callum Priestley came into possession of the ball and had no problem slotting it in the back of the net to bring the game level at 1-1. In the 35^th minute another teasing corner by George Tsamouras resulted in Blake Clifton having his header rebound off the crossbar and when it landed on the ground, Callum Priestley was there to poke it into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead! The shots on target at the end of the first half only had Olympic 4-1 in front but the 17-4 shots on goal is indicative of the domination from the home side!

The second half was all Olympic with an incredible 29-6 shot-on-goal ratio demonstrating the dominance of the home side! Proceedings on the scoreboard had to wait until the 64^th minute when midfielder George Tsamouras was given enough time and space outside the box to unleash a thunderbolt that increased the score to 3-1. Jesse Fitzgerald who returned from injury and entered the game at half time made it 4-1 in the 70^th minute with a curling shot from just inside the box.

Olympic continued to threaten the Edgeworth goal and the scoreline should have been a lot higher had it not been for the outstanding performance of Ethan Lewis in goals for the visitors and the poor finishing by the Olympic attack.

The win gives Olympic 14 wins from 18 games and 9 points clear from second placed Cooks Hill and Maitland with four games remaining!

Newcastle Olympic First Grade began the match against Edgeworth in 7^th place on the ladder, 25 points behind the visiting league leaders! Despite this, the performance by the home side had their supporters rubbing their eyes in disbelief! Olympic dominated play, led 1-0 from the 30^th minute through a goal by midfielder Lachlan West and finished the half with a 5-1 shot on target ratio!

The start of the second half was no different and spectators sensed that perhaps an upset was on the cards against a team which had recorded 15 wins in 18 games! It wasn’t until the 64^th minute when the visiting team was able to equalize from a superb Aaron Oppedisano cross and a volley on the far post by Jose Atayde!

In the 71^st minute a corner by Edgeworth resulted in players rising up for a header and despite no player connecting with the ball, the referee awarded the visitors a very soft penalty! An Edgeworth player who went up for a header but did not connect with the ball and who fell to the ground was judged to have been impeded!

In the 86^th minute a ball was cleared off the line by Olympic, the linesman did not see the ball cross the line but the referee who was 20 metres away awarded a goal. Olympic players protested and pointed to the linesman who was in a better position to determine if the ball had crossed the line but the referee was not interested!

In the 90^th minute Jye Rodway fired a thunderbolt at the Edgeworth keeper who, despite being able to get a hand to the ball, was unable to keep it out. The game finished 3-2 in favour of the visitors but Olympic gave a good account of themselves and deserved at least a draw.

The remaining games of the season are:

No 4 vs Cooks Hill on Wednesday 30^th July at Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field

No 3 vs New Lambton on Saturday 2^nd August at Alder Park

No 2 vs Weston on Wednesday 6^th August at Rockwell Automation Park

No 1 vs Belmont on Sunday 10^th August at Blacksmiths Oval

Source: Tom Tsamouras

Newcastle Olympic host Edgeworth Eagles in Round 20 of the 2025 NPL season of Northern NSW Football. This will also be the last home game for the two senior men’s teams with Reserve Grade, having secured a top 5 birth, will be playing to secure the Premiership while First Grade will be trying to claw its way back into the top 5.

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade will be taking on bottom of the table Edgeworth Eagles in the last home game of the season at Darling St Oval. Olympic boast 13 wins from 17 games and are the league leaders with 40 points while Edgeworth have won just 3 games and have 13 points!

The difference between the two teams is enormous on paper and Olympic need to win this match against the Eagles and then their next game against Cooks Hill in ten days time to secure the Premiership! Olympics’ biggest opponent isn’t the Edgeworth team but their own availability of players. Last week they faced Adamstown with a depleted line up but managed to win without dominating play. This week they need a competitive line up to secure the 3 points.

If they win against Edgeworth they have 10 days to prepare for the Wednesday night clash against 2^nd placed Cooks Hill on the 30^th July at Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field. Cooks Hill is the only team which can challenge for the Premiership and a win on that evening gives the boys in blue the title!

Kick off at 12:00pm on Sunday 20th July at Darling St Oval.

Newcastle Olympic First Grade have won 5 times in 17 games and are in 7^th place on 22 points while Edgeworth have won 15 times, are in equal first place and have 47 points. The difference in strength between the two teams is enormous on paper and the encounter with Olympic comes after Edgeworth’s first defeat of the season against Weston at home on Wednesday night!

Another defeat by Olympic will make it very hard for them to claw their way back into the top 5 in the remaining 4 away games of the season. Edgeworth have not had it all their way since the departure of their star player Ryan Feutz who scored 24 goals in 13 games before joining Sydney Olympic. Despite this, after dropping 3 points to Weston midweek they will be itching to get back to their winning ways to try and edge out Broadmeadow Magic for the title.

Can Olympic create another upset on Sunday and become the second team to take away a point or points against Edgeworth in one week or will the later steamroll their way past Darling St Oval?

Kick off at 2:00pm on Sunday 20th July at Darling St Oval.

The remaining five games for Newcastle Olympic are:

No 5 vs Edgeworth on Sunday 20^th July at Darling St Oval

No 4 vs Cooks Hill on Wednesday 30^th July at Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field

No 3 vs New Lambton on Saturday 2^nd August at Alder Park

No 2 vs Weston on Wednesday 6^th August at Rockwell Automation Park

No 1 vs Belmont on Sunday 10^th August at Blacksmiths Oval

Source: Tom Tsamouras

Round 19 of the 2025 Northern NSW NPL competition is one that should quickly be forgotten by Newcastle Olympic! Apart from the points secured by both Reserve Grade and First Grade, it had little to offer as a football spectacle.

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade faced Adamstown Rosebud with a depleted line-up reminiscent of the game with Broadmeadow Magic! The difference however, in the game against Magic, we dominated the shots on target by 12-7 whereas in this games, Adamstown dominated by 7-5!

 The first half was so poor as a spectacle, a stark contrast to the first half of the wash out game against Belmont on Tuesday night, that spectators were treated to two shots on goal by Olympic, to Adamstown’s one!

The only incident of note in the first half was a simple tap in goal by Nikolai Zervas that gave us the lead until the 55^th minute when Adamstown equalized with a header from a free kick outside the box! Indeed, the score remained 1-1 until the 68^th minute when Oliver Steinerts finished off a good move with a shot to the far post which the Adamstown goalie could not reach.

Charlie Halls won a penalty in the 79^th minute which he converted to a goal to bring the score to 3-1 in Olympics’ favour while youngster Ibrahim Kamara scored a great goal in the second last minute of the game to make it 4-1.

Newcastle Olympic First Grade entered this game trying to secure the three points against an Adamstown team second from bottom with the second worse defence in the league! The end of the first half produced only one shot on target by each team and naturally a 0-0 scoreline! The same 0-0 scoreline stayed until the end with Adamstown having five shots on target to Olympics’ 3!

This result means that Newcastle Olympic drop into 6^th spot on the ladder, frog leaped by Lambton Jaffas, ahead of next week’s clash with undefeated league leaders Edgeworth Eagles.

The remaining five games for Newcastle Olympic are:

No 5 vs Edgeworth on Sunday 20^th July at Darling St Oval

No 4 vs Cooks Hill on Wednesday 30^th July at Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field

No 3 vs New Lambton on Saturday 2^nd August at Alder Park

No 2 vs Weston on Wednesday 6^th August at Rockwell Automation Park

No 1 vs Belmont on Sunday 10^th August at Blacksmiths Oval

Source: Tom Tsamouras

Newcastle Olympic travel to Adamstown Rosebud for Round 19 of the 2025 NPL competition of Northern NSW Football. Reserve Grade will be seeking to win 3 points in their march to the 2025 Premiership while First Grade to ensure they finish the season in the top 5.

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade have had a busy week with two games in three days as well as training! After defeating Lambton Jaffas 3-1 on Sunday and Belmont Swansea 5-0 on Tuesday night, they take on Adamstown Rosebud on Saturday!

The last time these sides met at Darling St Oval Olympic won 6-2! After 10 consecutive wins and then a shock loss to Maitland and draw with Broadmeadow Magic, Olympic have returned to their winning ways and are just six games away from the 2025 Premiership! They lead the Reserve Grade table by 9 points and hope to collect another 3 points against an Adamstown that sits in 7^th spot! Adamstown have managed 6 wins to Olympics’ 12, but in the past five matches they have only managed one win and one draw!

The match is there for Olympic to win but they need to work for it. In the past two games they have shown an incredible hunger, having won and scored all their goals in the first 30 minutes of the game. They need to show similar qualities on Saturday if they are to maintain the consistency they have demonstrated for most of the season.

Kick off 12:00pm at Adamstown Oval on Saturday 12^th July 2025.

Newcastle Olympic First Grade are back in the top five after their win against Lambton Jaffas on Sunday but need to secure the 3 points against Adamstown as there are five teams fighting for two spots in the top 5. The first three positions on the ladder are filled by Edgeworth, Broadmeadow and Weston. The only two remaining spots for a chance to participate in the finals are being contested by Charlestown, Olympic, Lambton Jaffas, Maitland and Cooks Hill. The remaining six matches will determine which two teams secure 4^th and 5^th spot!

Whilst Olympic have waited for a long time to record their 5^th win of the season, the match against Adamstown is the first of five away fixtures until the end of the season! They certainly have the strength to defeat Adamstown on Saturday but the Rosebuds will be battling to secure 3 points to distance themselves from the bottom end of the table.

Whilst the wooden spoon looks like ending up with New Lambton who are on 6 points, Adamstown and Valentine share second last spot on 13 points, with Belmont Swansea just above them on 15! In the remaining 6 matches they need to be in front of either Valentine or Belmont to remain in the division next year.

 Kick off 2:00pm at Adamstown Oval on Saturday 12^th July 2025.

Source: Tom Tsamouras

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade march towards the 2025 Premiership with an emphatic 5-0 crushing of Belmont Swansea in a Round 11 deferred fixture at the LMRFF in Speers Point on Tuesday night! This comes only a day after disposing Lambton Jaffas 3-1 at Darling St Oval in Round 18 of the competition.

Any notion of underestimating their opponent was wiped out on Tuesday night when a minute into the game Olympic were 1-0 up through a thunderbolt from outside the box from midfield ace George Tsamouras! No sooner had celebrations settled it was the turn of winger Charlie Halls to make it 2-0 within the second minute of the game!

The artificial surface of Speers Point was ideal for the slick one touch and two touch passing by the Olympic team which at times made their Belmont counter parts appear to be chasing shadows into the night! In the 17^th minute a well taken free kick from outside the box by George Tsamouras served the ball perfectly to Jed Hornery who scored the third goal for Olympic and put the result beyond doubt!

Hornery added another two goals in the 22^nd  and 31^st  minutes to record his hat trick for the night and send Olympic 5-0 up at the half time break! To the credit of the Belmont Swansea team, their players did not throw in the towel and in the second half they threw everything at Olympic to try and get a consolation goal, but it was not meant to be! Having secured the result, Olympic spent the second half giving playing time to players normally on the bench.

This result gives Olympic 37 points on the table and 12 wins and one draw from 16 games! They are 9 points in front of second placed Maitland. Instead of looking behind, all they need is to win their remaining 6 games against Adamstown (a), Edgeworth (h), Cook Hill (a), New Lambton (a) Belmont (a) and Weston (a) and they collect the 2025 Premiership!

Given that they have led the competition for most of the season, all they need is to focus on each game at a time.

Source: Tom Tsamouras

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade, fresh from their 3-1 win over Lambton Jaffas on Sunday afternoon take on Belmont Swansea United FC in a Round 11 catch up game that was deferred due to poor weather. The fixture resembles a David and Goliath affair and hopefully for the boys in blue, David isn’t successful on this occasion!

Olympic are cruising in first place on the points table with 34 points while Belmont are in 11^th spot on 13 points! The difference in strength between the two teams is enormous and Olympic are favourites to collect the 3 points and advance further on the points table in their quest of conquering the Premiership.

Belmont have only won four games all season and were able to salvage a 1-1 away draw on Saturday against Weston. Olympic played on Sunday and will have had one day less to prepare for the Tuesday night fixture at Speers Point.

Despite the obvious difference in strength between the two teams a lot will depend on player availability for this midweek fixture and on mental preparation. Underestimating your opponent is something that Olympic will need to avoid if they are to collect another 3 points.

Kick off 6:15pm at LMRFF Speers Point on Tuesday 8^th July 2025.

Source: Tom Tsamouras

Newcastle Olympic defeated Lambton Jaffas 3-1 in both Grades at Darling St Oval to cement Reserve Grade’s lead and resurrect First Grade’s chances for a top 5 finish! Olympic dominated both games and deserved the 3 points attained.

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade, at full strength, had little problem dominating a quality Lambton Jaffas and securing 3 points on Sunday afternoon! With a ratio of 10 to 3 of shots on target and a 10-2 corner count, the hunger and domination of Olympic was obvious. They completed the demolition of Jaffas within 30 minutes through goals from Charlie Halls 13’, Lucas Walshe 23’ and Jed Hornery 30’.

They then spent the rest of the game ensuring their opponents couldn’t get back into the game by being compact and seeking to catch them on the counterattack. Jaffas played a high press game and were able to secure a consolation goal through Joshua Culjak in the 50^th minute but they never even looked like threatening to get a result.

This was the 11^th win of the season for Olympic, after a loss and draw over the past two games against Maitland and Broadmeadow Magic. It was a match they had to win to ensure they could lead the table into the final 7 games of the season. The reason why it is important is because it was achieved against a Jaffas side which entered the game following a 5-game winning streak.

Olympic now have a recovery day on Monday and on Tuesday night take on Belmont Swansea United FC at Speers Point in a wash out fixture from Round 11.

Newcastle Olympic First Grade recorded their 5^th win of the season and their first since Round 8, 14^th April! Although their game with Jaffas was a lot more even, proceedings began with a stunning shot from distance from young Adam Zervas in 17^th minute. Jaffas replied in the 28^th minute with an equally impressive goal by ex-Olympic player Lachlan Griffiths.

Roy O’Donovan put Olympic 2-1 ahead in the first minute of the second half and an own goal in the 58^th minute by Jaffas gave the home side the cushion they needed to see out the long-awaited win.

This brings Olympic back into 5^th spot on 21 points with Charlestown in 4^th spot on 24. Several teams with games in hand just outside the top 5 could still claim 5^th spot but from now until the end of the season 4^th and 5^th are the only positions up for grabs given that the first three belong to Edgeworth, Broadmeadow Magic and Weston!

Hopefully this win can propel Olympic to a burst of winning form on the final 6 First Grade games of the season.

Source: Tom Tsamouras

Newcastle Olympic are scheduled to host Lambton Jaffas in Round 18 of the Northern NSW NPL competition. Given the poor weather during the week there is no guarantee the match will go ahead! If it does, both Reserve Grade and First Grade are in desperate need of the 3 points against a tough Lambton Jaffas opponent.

Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade boasted an incredible 10 game winning streak until two weeks ago and were ahead in first place by as many as 9 points! A defeat and a draw later and although still in first place, Olympic can feel the breath of Cooks Hill in 2^nd place!

Lambton Jaffas are in great form winning the past five consecutive games and will be seeking revenge for the 3-0 defeat they suffered at Arthur Eden Oval earlier in the year. The problem that Olympic are experiencing is poor finishing by their front line. Although there are no absences due to suspensions, injury and the possibility of players being drafted to help in First Grade may continue to affect the team in this game as well.

Kick off 2:30pm at Darling St Oval on Sunday 6^th July, 2025

Newcastle Olympic First Grade have dropped out of the top five and if they don’t secure the 3 points against Lambton Jaffas could find themselves at the bottom half of the points table! Whilst Lambton Jaffas boast one win, one draw and three losses in their last five games, Newcastle Olympic have not won a game since Round 8 on the 11^th April!

Olympic sit in 6^th position on 18 points and Lambton Jaffas is in 7^th, one point behind. There is little difference between the two sides but Olympic was very competitive during their 1-0 loss to Broadmeadow Magic last week. Could this be the game in which they can return to their winning ways?

Kick off 2:30pm at Darling St Oval on Sunday 6^th July, 2025

Source: Tom Tsamouras