Cessnock City Hornets

The fixture between the Hornets and the Maitland Magpies is still called the Coalfields derby.

The trophies come from a narrow stretch of years. Promotion followed the Northern New South Wales Division Two premiership of 1977, then back-to-back Division Two championships in 1986 and 1987, then the double season of 1988 in Northern League One — premiers and champions in the same year. A second league championship arrived in 1993. Nothing has been added since.

Clayton Zane came through the junior ranks between 1985 and 1993, left for Norway with Lillestrøm, went on to Anderlecht in Belgium and to the Socceroos.

Aberdare Park was laid out around 1922, some fifteen years after the club began. Before that there was no ground at all — the first Hornets played on a vacant patch beside Cessnock railway station, and the minute books and player registers from 1902 to 1911 place the founding in 1907. The centenary was marked in 2007.