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Tasmanian Football League
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Tasmanian Football League
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.
The league has a long history which dates back to its foundation on 12 June 1879 as the Tasmanian Football Association, giving it some claim to the title of the third-oldest club football league in the world. For most of its history, it served as the top football competition in Hobart and the governing football body across the whole of Tasmania. From 1986 until 2000, its onfield competition expanded, incorporating clubs from Launceston and the north-west coast to become a statewide league. Its role as state governing body ended with the formation of Football Tasmania in 1999, and debts saw the league collapse at the end of 2000.
After eight years' hiatus, the league was re-established as a statewide league in 2009, and operated until the end of 2024 when it was disbanded in preparation for the Tasmania Football Club to enter the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 2026.
The Tasmanian Football Association was established on 12 June 1879, giving it some claim to the title of the third-oldest club football league in the world. Delegates at the inaugural meeting represented the City, Cricketers, Richmond, Railway, New Town, High School and Hutchins School clubs, and voted by majority to adopt a modified variation of the Victorian rules, with the notable exception at the time that the goalposts included a cross-bar above which a goal was required to be kicked. The standard Australian rules were adopted through the intercolonial conferences in the 1880s.
The league underwent name changes to the South Tasmanian Football Association in 1887, and then the Tasmanian Football League in 1906. The same year, with the establishment of the Australasian Football Council, the TFL was formally established as the governing administrative body for football across the whole of Tasmania. However, the onfield premiership run by the TFL remained limited to the local clubs around Hobart, with other leagues such as the Northern Tasmanian Football Association in Launceston or North West Football Union on the north-west coast running their own premierships locally.
The TFL remained a small league, typically only three or four clubs competing. The collection of teams changed frequently through the first few decades, but became stable by 1908, when the core clubs were North Hobart, Lefroy and Cananore. New Town was later admitted as a fourth club in 1921, and that quartet contested the next two decades.
The league went into recess between 1942 and 1944 due to World War II. In 1944, the league's directors met to discuss restructuring of the league under a district scheme with players zoned to clubs based upon which district they resided in. District clubs were established along the west of the Derwent for the 1945 season at Hobart, Sandy Bay, North Hobart and New Town.
Two further country districts were set up as part of the scheme: Clarence, to the east of the Derwent; and New Norfolk, fifteen miles north-west of the city. The Clarence and New Norfolk clubs were admitted to the league for the 1947 season under a two-year probationary periods, during which they were competing but excluded from shared league financial dividends; they were retained for at least a further two seasons with increased financial support in 1949; and they were made full, permanent and equal members of the league in August 1950.
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Tasmanian Football League
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.
The league has a long history which dates back to its foundation on 12 June 1879 as the Tasmanian Football Association, giving it some claim to the title of the third-oldest club football league in the world. For most of its history, it served as the top football competition in Hobart and the governing football body across the whole of Tasmania. From 1986 until 2000, its onfield competition expanded, incorporating clubs from Launceston and the north-west coast to become a statewide league. Its role as state governing body ended with the formation of Football Tasmania in 1999, and debts saw the league collapse at the end of 2000.
After eight years' hiatus, the league was re-established as a statewide league in 2009, and operated until the end of 2024 when it was disbanded in preparation for the Tasmania Football Club to enter the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 2026.
The Tasmanian Football Association was established on 12 June 1879, giving it some claim to the title of the third-oldest club football league in the world. Delegates at the inaugural meeting represented the City, Cricketers, Richmond, Railway, New Town, High School and Hutchins School clubs, and voted by majority to adopt a modified variation of the Victorian rules, with the notable exception at the time that the goalposts included a cross-bar above which a goal was required to be kicked. The standard Australian rules were adopted through the intercolonial conferences in the 1880s.
The league underwent name changes to the South Tasmanian Football Association in 1887, and then the Tasmanian Football League in 1906. The same year, with the establishment of the Australasian Football Council, the TFL was formally established as the governing administrative body for football across the whole of Tasmania. However, the onfield premiership run by the TFL remained limited to the local clubs around Hobart, with other leagues such as the Northern Tasmanian Football Association in Launceston or North West Football Union on the north-west coast running their own premierships locally.
The TFL remained a small league, typically only three or four clubs competing. The collection of teams changed frequently through the first few decades, but became stable by 1908, when the core clubs were North Hobart, Lefroy and Cananore. New Town was later admitted as a fourth club in 1921, and that quartet contested the next two decades.
The league went into recess between 1942 and 1944 due to World War II. In 1944, the league's directors met to discuss restructuring of the league under a district scheme with players zoned to clubs based upon which district they resided in. District clubs were established along the west of the Derwent for the 1945 season at Hobart, Sandy Bay, North Hobart and New Town.
Two further country districts were set up as part of the scheme: Clarence, to the east of the Derwent; and New Norfolk, fifteen miles north-west of the city. The Clarence and New Norfolk clubs were admitted to the league for the 1947 season under a two-year probationary periods, during which they were competing but excluded from shared league financial dividends; they were retained for at least a further two seasons with increased financial support in 1949; and they were made full, permanent and equal members of the league in August 1950.