Footy in Tasmania

Current Scores: Weekend of August 3/4, 2024
There are claims of footy being played in Tasmania before the Scotch College versus Melbourne Grammar game in Melbourne but descriptions appear to be that of rugby. The first club that appears to have been formed was the original New Town in 1864 - unrelated to the later version. Other clubs called Derwent and Stowell also formed later that decade with the adoption of the Victorian rules in 1866. In the 1870's clubs started to form around Launceston and in both areas present day clubs like Launceston, Longford and Richmond were established.
The first competition was formed in Hobart in 1879, the Tasmanian Football League with inaugural clubs City, Cricketers and Railways. The first present day club to join the competition was North Hobart in 1881. Other clubs included Holebrook and Lefroy with another present day club Kingston (now Kingborough) also involved before the turn of the century.
Meanwhile Launceston also formed a competition in 1886, the Northern Tasmanian Football Association with City (later to become South Launceston through a merger), Launceston and Longford. This would be the roots of the rivalry between the two cities.
Other competitions formed across the state with one still in existence today - the North West Football Association formed in 1894 with inaugural clubs Devonport, Latrobe, Ulverstone and the now defunct Mersey. It was at the time a major competition alongside the TFL and the NTFA until the formation of the North West Football Union in 1910.
After World War 1 numbers grew to around forty leagues across the small state, along the north coast and around Launceston and Hobart as well as competitions with a mining base in western Tasmania. The focus was on the three main competitions and would remain so for a long time - the TFL, the NTFA and the NWFU. After World War 2 some leagues tried to form but fell over after a few years. Contractions began in the 1950's with five leagues around Hobart moving on as the TFL expanded out to six clubs including one from New Norfolk where two good competitions were located. Up north the combination of the NTFA and the NWFU and mining waning led to other leagues also folding. In order to the survive the Queenstown competition expanded to become the strong Western Tasmanian competition absorbing local competitions.
Football around Hobart was further eroded by the Black Tuesday bushfires, in particular the Channel country with the Kingborough competition all but wiped out. The 70's arrived and the two predominant Hobart competitions were the South East District competition and the southern division of the Tasmanian Amateur competition - there was also a northern division in Launceston. But the SEDFL had it's last season in 1979 and in 1981 the school based Amateur clubs formed their own division to become the Old Scholars competition.
Up north the building of the Batman Bridge allowed for the merger of the East Tamar and West Tamar competitions in the early 1970's, but still the game was contracting. By the 1980's the Tasmanian game was starting to suffer as the game expanded on the mainland. The TFL suddenly decided to expand across the state, starting something of a tribal war between Hobart and the north coast. The NTFA and the NWFU, thanks in part to Burnie, Devonport and Launceston clubs joining the TFL to merge and form the Northern Tasmanian Football League.
As people started to move from the smaller communities to Hobart, Launceston, Devonport, Ulverstone and Burnie clubs continued to collapse. The Western Tasmanian competition folded and are represented today by just two clubs - Queenstown and Rosebery/Toorak. The Northern Amateur division took in clubs from other competitions and took on the NTFA name instead, while the Southern Amateur division did the same and became ultimately the Southern Football League.
With finances not strong, the TFL was struggling to maintain a professional level - and finally in 2000 the whole concept hit the floor with Sandy Bay folding and New Norfolk and later Hobart bailing to the Southern competition. The remaining clubs did likewise in the south while the Launceston clubs with Burnie and Devonport went to the NTFL. AFL Tasmania instead tried for a single team, the Tasmanian Devils, playing in the VFL. This proved to be a disaster for the game in Tasmania, but it took a number of years for this to be seen by decision makers. The money wasn't there at that stage to support it, and the football public preferred the visiting AFL clubs.
Getting the message, the Devils were wound up and the TFL was reformed in 2009. But the same lack of support issues continued. It is clear today that Tasmania needs a team in the AFL for the game to thrive. It can't continue with the visits by Hawthorn and North Melbourne.
Category:Footy History