Formerly | Northern Tasmania Football League (1987–2014) |
---|---|
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.
Colours | Club | Nickname | Region | Home Ground | League years |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Burnie | Dockers | Burnie | West Park Oval | 2001–08, 2015–16 [note 1] , 2018–present | |
Circular Head | Saints | Smithton | Smithton Football Ground | 1987–2018, 2022–present | |
Devonport [5] | Magpies | Devonport | Devonport Oval | 2001–08, 2015–present | |
Latrobe | Demons | Latrobe | Darrel Baldock Oval | 1987–present | |
Penguin | Two Blues | Penguin | Dial Park | 1987–present | |
Ulverstone | Robins | Ulverstone | Ulverstone Recreation Ground | 1987–present | |
Wynyard | Cats | Wynyard | Wynyard Football Ground | 1987–present |
Colours | Club | Mascot | League years | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|
Burnie [note 2] | Tigers | 1987–93 | Merged with the Burnie Hawks to form Burnie Dockers | |
Deloraine | Kangaroos | 1987–2003 | Joined the NTFA Division I | |
East Devonport | Swans | 1987–2020 | Club seniors in recess since 2021 | |
George Town | Saints | 1986-1990 | Joined the NTFA | |
Launceston [note 3] | Blues | 1987–93, 1998–2008 | Joined the Tasmanian State League | |
Longford | Tigers | 1987 | Joined the NTFA Division I | |
North Launceston | Bombers | 2001–08 | Joined the Tasmanian State League | |
South Launceston | Bulldogs | 1998–2008 | Joined the Tasmanian State League | |
Scottsdale | Magpies | 1987–99 | Joined the NTFA Division I | |
South Burnie | Hawks | 1997–98 | Joined the Darwin Football Association |
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.
The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the Tasmanian Football League (TFL), was the highest-level Australian rules football competition in the state of Tasmania. It disbanded following the end of the 2024 season in preparation for the Tasmania Football Club to enter the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 2026.
In Tasmania, Australian rules football is a popular spectator and participation sport. It has been played since the late 1860s and draws the largest audience for any football code in the state. A 2018 study of internet traffic showed that 79% of Tasmanians are interested in the sport, the highest rate in the country. It is governed by AFL Tasmania and according to Ausplay there are 13,927 adult players with a participation rate of 2.5% per capita about a quarter of which are female playing across 12 competitions.
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).
The Ulverstone Football Club, nicknamed the Robins, is an Australian rules football club based in Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia. The club fields three teams in the North West Football League and also fields two junior teams in the AFL Tasmania North West Competition.
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.
The Wynyard Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Wynyard, Tasmania.
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 on the north western coast of Tasmania. In its time it was one of the three main leagues in Tasmania, with the Tasmanian Football League in Hobart and Northern Tasmanian Football Association in Launceston 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 Latrobe Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in the town of Latrobe in northern Tasmania. The club competed in the North West Football Union throughout the competition's entire existence from 1910 until 1986, and has competed in its successor, the North West Football League, since 1987. Latrobe was one of the most successful NWFU clubs, and its tally of 12 premierships is a joint record shared with Burnie and Ulverstone. It was the only club to win four successive NWFU premierships, achieved from 1969 to 1972. In 2013, it became the first Tasmanian club outside of the State League to be inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame.
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 Greater Northern Football League (GNFL) was an Australian rules football competition played between the fifteen (15) major football clubs across Northern Tasmania from the two major footballing bodies across the north of the state, the Northern Tasmanian Football Association (NTFA), and the North West Football Union (NWFU) in 1981 and 1982.
The 2009 AFL Tasmania TSL 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 19 September 2009.
The North Western Football Association is an Australian rules football competition based on the North West Coast of Tasmania, Australia.
The 1997 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 12 April and 20 September 1997.
The 1998 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 20 September 1998.
The 1996 TFL Statewide League premiership season was an Australian rules football competition, staged across Tasmania, Australia over twenty two roster rounds and six finals series matches between 6 April and 5 October 1996.
The East Devonport Football Club is an Australian rules football club based on Devonport, Tasmania. The club competed in the North West Football League since 1987 until going into recess in 2021. The club currently has a full junior program in the NWFL.
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.
The 2014 AFL Tasmania TSL premiership season was an Australian rules football competition staged across Tasmania, Australia over eighteen home and away rounds and six finals series matches between 5 April and 21 September.