| Burnie Hawks | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Names | ||
| Full name | Burnie Hawks Football Club | |
| Nickname(s) | Hawks | |
| Club song | "We're a happy team at Burnie" | |
| Club details | ||
| Founded | 1987 | |
| Dissolved | 1994 | |
| Colours | ||
| Competition | Tasmanian Football League | |
| Ground(s) | West Park Oval | |
| Uniforms | ||
| ||
The Burnie Hawks Football Club was an Australian rules football club based in Burnie, Tasmania, Australia from 1987 to 1994.
The club was founded in 1987 after former North West Football Union (NWFU) club Cooee Bulldogs (1894–1986) closed down its operation in order to wipe out its large debts and rebrand itself with a more metropolitan-based name for its inclusion in the Tasmanian Football League (TFL) in that year.
Cooee had been locked in a battle with its West Park co-tenant (Burnie Tigers) to desperately gain a licence to join the Tasmanian competition from midway through 1986, and it was the rebranding of the club which was seen to have tipped the scales in favour of Cooee/Burnie Hawks.
The move did however cause much controversy with a bitter and at times spiteful rivalry forming with fellow former NWFU and later Northern Tasmanian Football League club Burnie Tigers, so much so that after a period of good onfield success for the new Hawks venture, Burnie Hawks junior development coach and ABC Radio commentator Geoff White stated in an interview on ABC Radio Football on 18 April 1992 that "sponsorship was becoming difficult to obtain, with businesses in the Burnie area refusing to support one club over the other for fear of a backlash by supporters of each club, it's just so divided at the moment, it's a real crying shame because this town (Burnie) could field a great team in State League football."
After making the finals in their inaugural season in 1987 the Hawks, on the back of solid crowd support powered to a preliminary final showdown with Glenorchy the following year but suffered a disastrous 110-point loss to the Magpies at North Hobart Oval. In 1989 and 1990 the Hawks narrowly missed out on finals appearances (their reserves team broke through for a premiership in 1990 however) but despite a finals appearance in 1991, the club was struggling for support and by the following season the club itself was in serious jeopardy with large debts and a rapidly sinking supporter base, so much so that the club had sought a merger with Burnie Tigers, as both clubs were struggling under the harsh economic recession hitting the state at the time.
The Burnie Hawks eventually absorbed the Burnie Tigers after the 1993 season had finished and from 1994, whilst still struggling with poor attendances, would play on as the Burnie Hawks despite the merger.
The Hawks' final season saw them once again play in the finals, their final match saw them defeated by Devonport by 46-points in front of a crowd of 4,210 at Devonport Oval in the 1994 Elimination Final on 4 September.
At the end of 1994 the club signed former North Melbourne player Peter German as captain-coach and one of his first tasks was to attempt to reunify the supporters of both clubs, as a result he adopted a full change of uniforms, colours and a new emblem as the Burnie Dockers.
Nil
Nil
1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1941, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1982
1964, 1978
George Watt Medal winners (Burnie Hawks)
(Best & Fairest Player in TFL Reserves)
1987 – Mark Radford (tied)
1994 – Stephen Jackson
Wander Medallists (Cooee)
(Best & Fairest Player in NWFU Seniors)
1949 – Len Hayes
1950 – Lou Redman
1973 – Graeme Shephard
1979 – Tom Lee
The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the "Tasmanian Football League (TFL)" is the highest ranked Australian rules football league in Tasmania, Australia.
Hobart Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Hobart, Tasmania. They play their home fixtures at the TCA Ground on the Queens Domain, in Hobart and from 2014, the club has been a member of the Southern Football League after voting to withdraw from the Tasmanian State League at the end of the 2013 season after five seasons in that competition.
The North West Football League is an Australian rules football competition in North West Tasmania. The league was previously known as the "Northern Tasmanian Football League" from its inception in 1987 until the end of the 2014 season.
Australian rules football in Tasmania, has been played since the late 1870s and draws the largest audience for a football code in the state.
The Clarence Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Tasmanian State League, based in Bellerive, Tasmania.
The New Norfolk District Football Club, nicknamed The Eagles, is an Australian rules football club currently playing in the Southern Football League, in Tasmania, Australia.
Burnie Dockers Football Club is an Australian rules football club in Burnie, Tasmania, Australia. The club currently competes in the North West Football League (NWFL).
West Park Oval is an Australian Rules football, cycling and athletics venue located on the shores of Bass Strait in Burnie, Tasmania. It is the current home of the Burnie Dockers in the Tasmanian State League and previously in the NTFL and in the original TFL Statewide League.
Devonport Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Devonport, Tasmania. The club currently competes in the North West Football League (NWFL). The club previously competed in the Northern Tasmanian Football League, but from 2009 it joined the newly reformed Tasmanian State League, where it played until withdrawing before the 2018 season.
The North West Football Union (NWFU) was an Australian rules football competition which ran from 1910 to 1986. In its time it was one of the three main leagues in Tasmania, with the Tasmanian Football League and Northern Tasmanian Football Association representing the rest of the state. Burnie, Latrobe and Ulverstone were the most successful clubs with 12 premierships each.
The Tasmanian State Premiership was an Australian rules football tournament which was contested at the conclusion of the season, initially between the reigning Tasmanian Football League (TFL/TANFL) and Northern Tasmanian Football Association (NTFA) premiers, and then from 1950 also by the NWFU premiers, to determine an overall premier team for the state of Tasmania. The state premiership was contested 57 times between 1909 and 1978.
The Winfield Statewide Cup was an Australian rules football tournament held in Tasmania, Australia between the top twenty-one (21) major football clubs across Tasmania from the three major footballing bodies across the state, the TANFL, the NTFA and the NWFU.
The 1989 TFL Statewide League premiership season was an Australian rules football competition staged across Tasmania, Australia over eighteen (18) roster rounds and six (6) finals series matches between 1 April and 16 September 1989.
The League was known as the Cascade-Boags Statewide League under a dual commercial naming-rights sponsorship agreement with both Cascade Brewery in Hobart and Boag's Brewery in Launceston.
The 1987 TFL Statewide League premiership season was an Australian rules football competition, staged across Tasmania over 18 roster rounds and six finals series matches between 4 April and 12 September 1987.
This was the second season of statewide football and the League was known as the Cascade-Boags Statewide League under a dual commercial naming-rights sponsorship agreement with both Cascade Brewery in Hobart and Boag's Brewery in Launceston.
The 1988 TFL Statewide League premiership season was an Australian rules football competition, staged across Tasmania, Australia over eighteen (18) roster rounds and six (6) finals series matches between 2 April and 17 September 1988.
This was the third season of statewide football and the League was known as the Cascade-Boags Statewide League under a dual commercial naming-rights sponsorship agreement with both Cascade Brewery in Hobart and Boag's Brewery in Launceston.
The 1991 TFL Statewide League premiership season was an Australian rules football competition staged across Tasmania over twenty one (21) roster rounds and six (6) finals series matches between 30 March and 21 September 1991.
This was the sixth season of the statewide competition and The League was known as the Cascade-Boags Statewide League under a dual commercial naming-rights sponsorship agreement with both Cascade Brewery in Hobart and Boag's Brewery in Launceston.
The 1992 TFL Statewide League premiership season was an Australian rules football competition staged across Tasmania over eighteen (18) roster rounds and six (6) finals series matches between 4 April and 19 September 1992.
This was the seventh season of statewide football competition and The League was known as the Cascade-Boags Statewide League under a dual commercial naming-rights sponsorship agreement with both Cascade Brewery in Hobart and Boag's Brewery in Launceston.
The 1993 TFL Statewide League premiership season was an Australian rules football competition staged across Tasmania, Australia over eighteen roster rounds and six finals series matches between 4 April and 18 September 1993.
This was the eighth season of statewide football competition and The League was known as the Cascade-Boags Draught Super-League under a dual commercial naming-rights sponsorship agreement with both Cascade Brewery in Hobart and Boag's Brewery in Launceston.
The finals series was also sponsored by Telecom Mobilenet and known as the Telecom Mobilenet Finals Series.
The 1994 TFL Statewide League premiership season was an Australian rules football competition, staged across Tasmania, Australia over twenty roster rounds and six finals series matches between 9 April and 24 September 1994.
This was the ninth season of statewide football and the League was known as the Cascade-Boags Draught Super League under a dual commercial naming-rights sponsorship agreement with both Cascade Brewery in Hobart and Boag's Brewery in Launceston.
Statewide Australian rules football competition has been played in Tasmania, Australia under the umbrella of the Tasmanian Football League from 1986–1998, Football Tasmania from 1999–2000 until the competition was disbanded in December 2000 and AFL Tasmania from 2009 when a new ten-club competition, this time known as the Tasmanian State League, was formed.
