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Formerly | Northern Tasmania Football League (1987–2014) |
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Sport | Australian rules football |
Founded | 1987 |
First season | 1987 |
CEO | Morgan Hughes |
President | Andrew Richardson |
No. of teams | 7 |
Country | Australia |
Most recent champion(s) | Devonport |
Most titles | Ulverstone Robins (9 titles) |
Official website | nwfl.com.au |
The North West Football League (NWFL) is an Australian rules football competition in North West Tasmania. The league was previously known as the Northern Tasmanian Football League (NTFL) from its inception in 1987 until the end of the 2014 season.
Throughout and after the 1986 season, greater northern Tasmania's two senior football competitions – the Launceston-based Northern Tasmanian Football Association (NTFA) and the north-western coast's North Western Football Union (NWFU) – each lost several clubs to the new TFL Statewide League in 1986. The NTFA had lost North Launceston, East Launceston and City-South: and the NWFU had lost Devonport and Cooee. As a result, the two leagues were wound up, and the Northern Tasmanian Football League was established in 1987 to feature all of the remaining clubs. The NTFL was considered a lower tier than the Statewide League, unlike its predecessors, which were of equal seniority.
After the collapse of the Statewide League at the end of 2000, the northern and coastal clubs from that competition returned to the NTFL and dominated the competition for the next eight years (Burnie and Launceston won the next eight premierships between them). With the revival of the Statewide League in 2009, the same five clubs left the NTFL again (North Launceston, South Launceston, Launceston, Burnie and Devonport), resulting in the contraction of the league to a six-club coastal composition.
In the early years, the NTFL was contested by a mixture of smaller northern and north-western clubs, but the northern clubs gradually departed, and since 2009 the league has been contested solely by clubs from the north-western coast, all with a NWFU history. Consequently, at the end of the 2014 season, the name of the league was changed to the North West Football League (NWFL). [1]
In 2015, Burnie and Devonport rejoined the competition, each fielding its reserves team in the NWFL seniors while continuing to field its senior team in the Statewide League reserves; this increased the league numbers up to eight. [2] In early 2017, Burnie withdrew from this arrangement, which dropped the number of teams down to seven. [3] Then, in 2018, Burnie and Devonport withdrew their senior teams from the Statewide League and each entered the NWFL proper. [4] The league's senior premiership is now contested by seven clubs.
Club | Colours | Nickname | Home Ground | Former League | Est. | Years in NWFL | NWFL Premierships | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Years | |||||||
Burnie | ![]() | Dockers | West Park Oval, Burnie | TSL | 1995 | 2001-2008, 2015-2016, 2018- | 8 | 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2019, 2020 |
Circular Head | ![]() | Saints | Circular Head Recreation Ground, Smithton | NWFU | 1907 | 1987-2018, 2022- | 1 | 1991 |
Devonport [5] | ![]() | Magpies | Devonport Oval, Devonport | TSL | 1881 | 2001-2008, 2015- | 4 | 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 |
Latrobe | ![]() | Demons | Darrel Baldock Oval, Latrobe | NWFU | 1881 | 1987- | 4 | 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 |
Penguin | ![]() | Two Blues | Dial Park, Penguin | NWFU | 1890 | 1987- | 0 | - |
Ulverstone | ![]() | Robins | Ulverstone Recreation Ground, Ulverstone | NWFU | 1888 | 1987- | 10 | 1987, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009, 2017 |
Wynyard | ![]() | Cats | Wynyard Football Ground, Wynyard | NWFU | 1885 | 1987- | 3 | 2012, 2014, 2015 |
Club | Colours | Nickname | Home Ground | Former League | Est. | Years in NWFL | NWFL Premierships | Noted | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Years | ||||||||
East Devonport | ![]() | Swans | Girdlestone Park, East Devonport | NWFU | 1901 | 1987–2020 | 1 | 1988 | Club seniors in recess since 2021 |
Club | Colours | Nickname | Home Ground | Former League | Est. | Years in NWFL | NWFL Premierships | Fate | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Years | ||||||||
Burnie | ![]() | Tigers | West Park Oval, Burnie | NWFU | 1885 | 1987-93 | 1 | 1992 | Absorbed by Burnie Hawks following 1993 season |
Deloraine | ![]() | Kangaroos | Deloraine Recreation Ground, Deloraine | NTFA | 1894 | 1987-2003 | 0 | - | Moved to NTFA following 2003 season |
George Town | ![]() | Saints | George Town Sports Complex, George Town | NTFA | 1927 | 1986-1990 | 0 | - | Moved to NTFA following 1990 season |
Launceston | ![]() | Blues | Windsor Park, Riverside | NTFA, TSL | 1875 | 1987-1993, 1998-2008 | 3 | 2006, 2007, 2008 | Returned to Tasmanian State League in 1994 and 2009 |
Longford | ![]() | Tigers | Longford Recreation Ground, Longford | NTFA | 1878 | 1987 | 0 | - | Moved to NTFA following 1987 season |
North Launceston | ![]() | Bombers | York Park, Invermay | TSL | 1893 | 2001-2008 | 0 | - | Returned to Tasmanian State League in 2009 |
Scottsdale | ![]() | Magpies | Scottsdale Recreation Ground, Scottsdale | NTFA | 1889 | 1987-1999 | 1 | 1988 | Moved to NTFA following 1999 season |
South Burnie | ![]() | Hawks | Wivenhoe Recreation Ground, Wivenhoe | DFA | 1941 | 1997-1998 | 0 | - | Returned to Darwin FA following 1998 season |
South Launceston | ![]() ![]() | Bulldogs | Youngtown Memorial Oval, Youngtown | TSL | 1986 | 1998-2008 | 2 | 1998, 1999 | Returned to Tasmanian State League in 2009 |
The Northern Tasmanian Football League is considered to be one of the strongest leagues in the state and has a strong supporter following. Games in the NTFL average around 500 spectators.