West Wallsend

Promotion out of Northern League One arrived in 2023, when Westy took the grand final off South Cardiff.

The side came out of the coalfields west of Wallsend and lived by them. What came back at the end of 1896 had a different name, West Wallsend Bluebells.

Then the good years. Between 1919 and 1928 the Bluebells took the Northern NSW Premiership seven times, and in the same decade eight internationals were on the books at once — enough that the home ground picked up a nickname it has kept. Johnston Park is still called Wembley, on land a hotel keeper, William Johnston, leased from the Caledonian Coal company in the 1920s and gave his name to. It holds 1,000.

The derby with Wallsend Red Devils has run for more than a century, which is roughly as long as either has existed; Wallsend was founded in 1887, West Wallsend four years after. Only Wallsend and Adamstown Rosebud are older among clubs still playing in the Northern Federation.

Twenty-one players have gone from the club to the Australia national side.