Tasmanian Devils (senior team)

Last updated

Tasmanian Devils
Tas devils fc logo.png
Names
Full nameTasmania Football Club [1]
Nickname(s)Devils
Club song"We're from Tasmania"
2008 season
Home-and-away season14th
Club details
Founded2001
Dissolved2008
Colours  Green
  Black
  Yellow
Competition Victorian Football League
PresidentGuy Abel
CoachLance Spaulding
Captain(s)Brett Geappen
Ground(s) Bellerive Oval
  York Park
  Devonport Oval
West Park Oval
Ulverstone Football Ground
Former ground(s) North Hobart Oval

The Tasmanian Devils was an Australian rules football club based in Tasmania that competed in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Contents

Owned and run by AFL Tasmania, the club took part in the VFL from 2001 to 2008 as the only non-Victorian club in the league.

The club participated in 157 official VFA/VFL matches during its eight season tenure recording a 59-96-2 playing record, recording its highest finish of Preliminary Finalist in 2004, where they were defeated by eventual premier, Sandringham.

The Devils played the majority of their home games at Bellerive Oval in Hobart alongside regular fixtures at York Park in Launceston. At the end of the 2008 season, AFL Tasmania decided to withdraw the Devils from the VFL in favour of restarting a new Tasmanian league encompassing the entire state.

The Devils will return to the VFL in 2025 or 2026 after a successful Tasmanian AFL bid in 2023. The new AFL team, Tasmania Devils will field a new reserves team.

History

During the 1990s, Tasmania had shown strong interest in joining the Australian Football League (AFL), and after rejected bids in 1995 and 1997, the AFL instigated the formation a Tasmanian team for the newly re-constructed Victorian Football League (VFL). The Tasmanian Devils formed in 2001 and were admitted into the VFL in its inaugural season the same year. The AFL continued to own the club.

The nickname "Devils" was chosen as the moniker for the club after the tenacious marsupial predator the Tasmanian devil, which is indigenous to the island of Tasmania. The club colours of green, red, gold and black were inspired by the original State of Origin "map" guernsey and are also Tasmania's sporting colours.

The Devils established home grounds in both Hobart and Launceston to deal with the long-standing north–south rivalry. Originally, northern home games were played at Launceston's York Park, while North Hobart Oval hosted games in the south. Occasional games were played in the north west, with Ulverstone, Devonport and Burnie each hosting a couple of games across the club's tenure.

The Devils' first two seasons brought mediocre results, but, under the direction of coach Matthew Armstrong, they made the finals for the first time in 2003, finishing third. The 2004 and 2005 seasons saw the Devils again make the finals. At the end of the 2005 season, the team moved from North Hobart Oval to Bellerive Oval for home games in the south and began playing all northern home games at York Park.

Following the trend of AFL clubs aligning themselves with VFL clubs for the match fitness of reserves players, in 2005, the Kangaroos expressed intentions to align with the Devils. A deal was struck that allowed a capped number of players from the Kangaroos to compete with either the Devils or North Ballarat in the VFL, starting in the 2006 season. This arrangement lasted two years and was unpopular among local fans, significantly harming the popularity of the club.

2006 proved to be a disappointment on-field, with the Devils finishing ninth and missing the finals. [2] [3] During the season, Armstrong had stepped down as coach due to internal pressure from the playing group, ending his six-year term in charge of the Devils. North Hobart premiership coach and former Devils player Brendon Bolton was made stand-in coach for the remainder of the year. [4]

Tasmanian and former Sydney player Daryn Cresswell was named coach of the club for 2007, after a successful career as an assistant coach at Geelong and the Brisbane Lions. However, hampered in part by Cresswell's off-field issues, which included a gambling addiction and eventual fraud conviction, the club finished wooden spooners both seasons he coached the team, winning only six of a total 34 games. [2] [3]

At the end of the 2008 season, AFL Tasmania decided to withdraw the Devils from the VFL in favour of restarting a new Tasmanian league encompassing the entire state. [4]

Coaches

Club Records and statistics

Highest score26.21 (177) v North Ballarat, Round 4, 2003, North Hobart Oval
Lowest score2.4 (16) v Werribee, Round 11, 2004, Devonport Oval
Greatest winning margin123 points v North Ballarat, Round 4, 2003, North Hobart Oval
Greatest losing margin154 points v Box Hill, Round 5, 2001, Box Hill City Oval
Lowest winning score10.9 (69) v Frankston 5.9 (39), Round 16, 2003, Frankston Park
Highest losing score21.13 (139) v Geelong 22.9 (141), Round 2, 2005, North Hobart Oval
Highest crowd attendance11,456 v Northern Bullants, 2nd Semi Final, 2005, Bellerive Oval

Individual awards

Alastair Lynch Medalists (Best and Fairest):

JJ Liston Trophy Medallists:

Sponsors

Major Jumper Sponsors:

Apparel Sponsors:

Ball Sponsors:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellerive Oval</span> Sports stadium

Bellerive Oval is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Bellerive, a suburb on the eastern shore of Hobart, Australia, holding 20,000 people it is the largest capacity stadium in Tasmania. It is the only venue in Tasmania which hosts international cricket matches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York Park</span> Sports stadium in Tasmania

York Park is a sports ground in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia. Holding 19,500 people, York Park is known commercially as University of Tasmania (UTAS) Stadium and was formerly known as Aurora Stadium under a previous naming rights agreement signed with Aurora Energy in 2004. Primarily used for Australian rules football, its record attendance of 20,971 was set in June 2006, when Hawthorn Football Club played Richmond Football Club in an Australian Football League (AFL) match.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasmanian Football League</span> Australian rules football league in Tasmania

The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the Tasmanian Football League (TFL) (formerly known as the Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL) and several other short-term names) is the highest ranked Australian rules football league in Tasmania, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenorchy Football Club</span>

The Glenorchy District Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently playing in the Tasmanian State League and the Southern Football League in Tasmania, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Hobart Oval</span> Sports venue in Tasmania, Australia

North Hobart Oval is a sports venue in North Hobart, Tasmania. Formerly used primarily for Australian rules football widely regarded as the traditional home of Australian football in Tasmania. However since the 1950s it has also become one of the main soccer venues in Tasmania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian rules football in Tasmania</span>

Australian rules football in Tasmania, has been played since the late 1870s and draws the largest audience for a football code in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarence Football Club</span>

The Clarence Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Tasmanian State League, based in Bellerive, Tasmania. Before 1947, they existed as Bellerive Football Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Hobart Football Club</span>

The North Hobart Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Tasmanian State League. The club returned to the state league in 2018 after its position was effectively filled by a new club, the Hobart City Football Club after the 2013 season. The club was part of the Tasmanian Football League from the early 1900s through to 2001, where the club joined Southern Football League. In 2009, the club was invited into the second reincarnation of the statewide league where it remained until 2013.

Daryn Cresswell is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League, and the former senior coach of the Tasmanian Devils Football Club that played in the Victorian Football League. He is currently the Head Coach of the South Cairns Cutters.

Sport in Tasmania is participation in and attendance at organised sports events in the state of Tasmania in Australia.

The history of the Tasmanian AFL bid covers a series of proposals and bids between 1987 and 2023 for a Tasmanian-based Australian rules football team in the Australian Football League and AFL Women's premierships. Eight formal proposals for a new or relocated club to represent Tasmania were made over this time, the earliest coming in 1992, while informal proposals were raised as early as 1987, when the Victorian Football League commenced its expansion to become a national competition.

A-League expansion in Tasmania has been proposed since the establishment of the A-League in 2005. Before the introduction of the league, Football Federation Australia (FFA) chairman Frank Lowy said he hoped to expand the competition into cities such as Hobart and Launceston, among others.

Scott Wade is a former Australian rules football player and administrator, most notable for his sixteen-year tenure at AFL Tasmania. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the early 1980s.

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.

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.

Ken Hall is a former Australian rules football player from Tasmania. He played junior football in his home state and spent two years in the seniors at North Hobart in the Tasmanian Football League (TFL). Hall then moved to Victoria in 2001 to play for Essendon Football Club's reserves side in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Ian Callinan is a former professional Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League, playing with the Adelaide Crows. He was the league's smallest player during his career, standing at only 172 cm. He played as both a midfielder and a small forward during his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brendon Bolton</span> Australian rules footballer and coach

Brendon Bolton is an Australian rules football coach who is currently serving as the director of coaching with the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League. Bolton previously was the head coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League, having served in the role from 2016 to 2019. Prior to serving in this role, he served as the head coach of Victorian Football League club Box Hill from November 2008 to October 2010, guiding the club to two consecutive finals series in his two seasons in charge. Bolton would return to Hawthorn shortly after leaving Carlton

The 2001 Victorian Football League season was the 120th season of the Australian rules football competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasmania Devils (under-18s team)</span> Australian rules football club

The Tasmania Devils is an Australian rules football club that competes in the Talent League Boys and Talent League Girls competitions. The team is made up of footballers based in Tasmania aged between 17 and 19 years of age, and competes against other representative teams based in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria, as part of the Australian Football League's (AFL) talent pathway systems for male and female players.

References

  1. ↑ "ABN Lookup". abr.business.gov.au. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 "The power and the passion: Scott Wade reflects on a career at the coalface of Tasmanian football". The Mercury. Hobart, TAS. 12 March 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 Scott Rollinson (9 March 2016). "AFL Tasmania chief Scott Wade's resignation was a 'mutual decision', AFL says". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  4. 1 2 Tasmania Devils history
  5. 1 2 Top AFL Tasmania award
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.