Cooks Hill United FC

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Cooks Hill United FC
Cooks Hill United FC logo.png
Full nameCooks Hill United FC
NicknameCookers
Founded1997
GroundNewcastle Athletics Field / No.2 Sportrsground
PresidentMitch McPherson
Head CoachJamie Dunning
League NPL NNSW
2025 9th of 12
Website https://www.chufc.com.au/

Cooks Hill United FC (CHUFC) is a semi-professional football club based in Cooks Hill, New South Wales. Cooks Hill United FC currently competes in the Northern NSW Football National Premier Leagues NNSW competition; the highest division of the NNSW Football Leagues and the second tier of soccer in Australia.

Contents

Cooks Hill United's badge is a detailed, traditional crest-style emblem featuring heraldic influences and strong football and local symbolism.

Upper section: Three brick‑patterned turrets in green and gold, symbolising Australia’s national colours. At the centre is a small Phoenix rendered in red, white, and blue, referencing the earlier Cooks Hill Soccer Club of the 1970s.

Middle left quadrant: A schooner ship, representing Newcastle’s maritime heritage. Middle right quadrant: Depicts the Obelisk, a well-known Cooks Hill and Newcastle landmark. The cinnamon brown and emerald green background elements reference colours used by Newcastle KB United and the official colours of the City of Newcastle.

Lower section: Contains black‑and‑white vertical stripes representing Cooks Hill United FC, along with a stylised football reinforcing the sport and the club’s purpose.

Flanking the shield are two silver heraldic lions in traditional inward-facing poses. Above the shield is a gauntlet formed as a raised fist, with decorative green mantling flowing from it.

Two cyan‑blue banners flow beneath the shield, displaying the club’s name in white lettering and the establishment year of 1997 between them.

The club’s official colours are Black, White and Cyan Blue. Black and white reference the colours of Newcastle United (England), reflecting the club founders’ original naming intention and Cyan blue is inspired by the star featured on the Newcastle Brown Ale logo.

CHUFC's home games for NPLK and Zone League 2 are played at the Fearnley Dawes Athletics Centre and No. 2 Sportsground in the suburb of Newcastle West. Cooks Hill Juniors as well as All Age Men's, Women's, Over age divisions etc play at the original home ground of National Pk No.4 Games are also played across from No.4 over Cottage Creek on National Pk No.6

History

In December 1997 at the Commonwealth Hotel, Cooks Hill, Cooks Hill United Football Club officially became a sporting organisation. The original intention was to name the club Newcastle United; the proposal however was rejected by the Newcastle Football Association due to naming regulations in place at the time. The name Cooks Hill United was subsequently adopted, reflecting the club’s home ground at National Park No. 4 Sportsground.

Amidst the buzz of the '98 World Cup, three All Age teams were registered in the local Newcastle competition and became the first representatives of the black & white stripes. [1]

The 1999 season was the inaugural year for both the Cooks Hill Juniors and the Cooks Hill Women’s and in 2000 Cooks Hill FC entered the Inter District competition for the first time, competing in I.D.3's

In 2005 the Cooks Hill Women won the double and the Men were promoted to I.D.2's.

In 2010 Cooks Hill Men’s were promoted to the top Inter District competition with the full amalgamation of Cooks Hill Juniors with the Seniors occurring not long after.

The club entered the Northern League 1 Division from 2015–2021

In 2022 Cooks Hill were promoted into the NNSW National Premier League. [2] Craig Deans was appointed Technical Director in June of this year as well. [3]

In June 2025 CHUFC advanced to the Australia Cup Round of 32 for the first time. A 2-3 victory against Adelaide Croatia Raiders SC saw them progress to the round of 16. CHUFC faced the Newcastle Jets at No.2 Sportsground on Wed, 13 August 2025 in front of a ground record crowd of 4,256, beaten 5-0. [4]

Honours

Interdistricts (ID's)

Grand finalists ID3's 2003 Minor Premiers & Grand finalists ID3's 2004 Grand Final winners ID1's 2010

Zone Premier League

Grand Final winners 2011 Grand Final winners 2012 Grand Finalists 2013 Grand Final winners 2014

Northern League 1

Premiers - 2017, 2018, 2019

Champions - 2017

Northern NSW State Cup

Winners - 2025

Australia Cup

YearOpponentVenueResult
2025Round of 32 Adelaide Croatia Croatian Sports Centre, AdelaideW 2 - 3
Round of 16 Newcastle Jets No.2 Sportsground L 0 - 5

Coaches

SeasonsCoachDivisionHonours
2015 - 2016 Warren Spink Northern League 1
2017 - 2019Graham LawNorthern League 1Premiers - 2017, 2018, 2019 Champions 2017
2020Doug WestNorthern League 1
2021 - 2022David TanchevskiNorthern League 1 / NNSW NPL
2023 - 2025 Chris Zoricich NNSW NPLNNSW State Cup - 2025
2026–PresentJamie DunningNNSW NPL

Divisional history

SeasonsDivision
2000 - 2010Inter District
2011 - 2014Zone Premier League
2015 - 2021Northern League 1
2022 - PresentNNSW NPL

Committee

First team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.Pos.NationPlayer
1 GK Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Lachlan Watson
67 GK Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Liam Beazley
3 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Patrick Bond
4 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Alex Gillespie
5 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Daniel Clements
7 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS James Byrnes
8 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Ash Balcomb
9 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Samuel Marr
10 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Cody Carroll
11 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Nick Russell
12 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Boaz Moir
No.Pos.NationPlayer
14 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Jon Griffiths
15 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Kierry James
16 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Kobe Park
17 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Daniel Yaxley
18 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Liam Spurway
20 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Sam Anderson
21 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Jay Kitcher
23 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Tommy Smart
23 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Sakeel Balfour Brown
33 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Lachlan Pasquale
64 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Kevin Davison
— FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Sam Modderno

Life members

References

  1. ↑ "Club Story - Cooks Hill United Football Club". www.chufc.com.au. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  2. ↑ Kerry, Craig (15 July 2021). "Cooks Hill to join Northern NSW NPL in 2022". www.newcastleherald.com.au. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  3. ↑ "Craig Deans unveiled as technical director of Cooks Hill United Football Club". Newcastle Herald. 9 June 2022. Archived from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  4. ↑ "Cooks Hill and Weston into Australia Cup Round of 32". NBN News. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
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