Tasmanian Football Thread.

[fishmonger]

I'm interested to know what sort of crowds you get down there for local games, particularly since the TFL was disbanded.

 

[coreybrown]

I use to work with a guy from Hobart who told me he was somewhat of a local legend with football in Tassie? Can anyone enlighten me about a guy called David Evans would probably be 40 odd these days and had bad knees, i think? Cheers

 

[Blues_Man]

I use to work with a guy from Hobart who told me he was somewhat of a local legend with football in Tassie? Can anyone enlighten me about a guy called David Evans would probably be 40 odd these days and had bad knees, i think? Cheers

I'm from the North of the state and i've never heard of him ...can't be too much of a legend...maybe in his own lunchbox he was

 

[Kingpin]

I'm interested to know what sort of crowds you get down there for local games, particularly since the TFL was disbanded.

SFL Premier League would average about 400 for a match - if that.
NTFL about 600-700.

Probably the only southern TFL based club to get any decent sort of crowd would be New Norfolk. The rest have lost most of their followings.

Clarence & Hobart especially have lost just about all their supporters, North Hobart's is pretty poor now, and Glenorchy's is dwindling faster and faster by the year. New Norfolk seem to get good crowds away, but get some very small ones at Boyer. They had probably 95% of the crowd at the Grand Final this year.
New Norfolk's following seemed bigger when they were the Hawks in their first couple of years in the SFL.
In fact, just about all the clubs had a bigger following four years ago to now.
Apart from the Grand Final, most games in the Premier League (finals included) draw less than 1000 people.

 

[Kingpin]

I use to work with a guy from Hobart who told me he was somewhat of a local legend with football in Tassie? Can anyone enlighten me about a guy called David Evans would probably be 40 odd these days and had bad knees, i think? Cheers

I'm from the South and I can't say I've ever heard of him either.
About which years, and which comp did he play in? Did he say any clubs he might've played for?

 

[fishmonger]

SFL Premier League would average about 400 for a match - if that.
NTFL about 600-700.

Probably the only southern TFL based club to get any decent sort of crowd would be New Norfolk. The rest have lost most of their followings.

Clarence & Hobart especially have lost just about all their supporters, North Hobart's is pretty poor now, and Glenorchy's is dwindling faster and faster by the year. New Norfolk seem to get good crowds away, but get some very small ones at Boyer. They had probably 95% of the crowd at the Grand Final this year.
New Norfolk's following seemed bigger when they were the Hawks in their first couple of years in the SFL.
In fact, just about all the clubs had a bigger following four years ago to now.
Apart from the Grand Final, most games in the Premier League (finals included) draw less than 1000 people.

what happened to the crowds ? and the TFL Statewide league ? I've just been reading in astonishment about something that heppened about 4 years ago. Has footy in Tassie taken a backwards step ?

 

[Kingpin]

what happened to the crowds? And the TFL Statewide League?

It's a long story really.
Most of the clubs had been experiencing a downturn in support during the last 7 or 8 years of the Statewide League, because of such factors as:
● AFL influence on TV.
● Fans couldn't afford to travel.
● Lopsided nature of the competition.
● The majority of clubs were in severe financial difficulty.
● Constant talk of mergers - this angered a lot of fans.
● Constant chopping and changing of clubs in the TFL.
● The League renaming itself almost annually in the final years - it completely lost all credibility.
● In the end only a select few clubs had any sort of chance of winning the premiership, the rest may as well have not even bothered taking the field.
● Fans had gotten sick and tired of seeing the game increasingly taken out of the hands of the average punter, and being ruled by business-types who had little or no respect for the great traditions TFL football and its clubs had forged over a 120+ year period, and zero respect for the fans themselves.
● Mug TFL Presidents like Barry Breen, Roger Hampson & the absolutely f*cking deplorable Michael Kent did very little to endeer the game to the fans, in fact, in Kent's case, he was the owner of the Purity (now Woolworths chain) in Tasmania, and whilst actively whingeing about fans not turning up to football on Saturday's, he was the man who took on politicians in an effort to invoke Saturday Trading!!. Saturday Trading was in a lot of ways, the last nail in the TFL coffin.
● Over-politicisation of the game. The politics of the League was in the paper more than the game itself.
● Clubs changing their names - New Norfolk became the Derwent Eagles, North Hobart became the Hobart Demons, North Launceston became the Northern Bombers, Devonport Blues became "Port Power" and the whole thing looked rediculous.
● Declining standard of football. Although it was vastly superior to now, it was on the decline from the excellent standards of the late 80's & early 90's certainly.
● TFL folded after Burnie Dockers pull out and vote to rejoin the NTFL, also because of years of battling with crippling debts in late 2000. It was said at the time that the TFL executive took the decision to file for bankruptcy as it was increasingly likely that the TFL and its directors were all going to be sued for an enormous amount of money by the clubs in the league.
● Hobart left the TFL to join the SFL after the 1997 season owing to massive debts from the Mark Browning-era, which with interest accrued and with other outstanding debts owing written off, were over $750,000 in total, and were forced to adopt a plain gold jumper and give up its emblem because of a conflict with Kingston.
● Sandy Bay "folded" in 1997, and a mysterious "new" club sprung up in its place called Southern Districts - everyone knew it was Sandy Bay in disguise, and it folded 18 months later.
● Launceston & South Launceston left at the end of 1997 and went back to the NTFL. Launceston returned to its traditional jumper and emblem once resuming in the NTFL, it played as the Raiders in the TFL and wore a Canterbury Bulldogs (NRL) jumper.
● New Norfolk were cut from the TSFL in 1999, and were payed a generous sum to join the SFL (Hobart never received a cent when they left), and had to adopt Hawthorn's colours and jumper when they joined owing to a clash with Channel (jumper) and Sorell (Emblem).
● When the TFL went bankrupt in December 2000, the three remaining former TFL clubs (Clarence, Glenorchy & North Hobart) were all left without a league to play in, and Football Tasmania had to threaten to withdraw all funding and supplies of umpires to the SFL, whose member clubs did not want these clubs to join, unless it accepted them into the league.
● The upshot of this was that North Hobart had to adopt a different jumper (as it conflicted with Brighton), Clarence had to drop its emblem (Kermandie had adopted the Kangaroos emblem a few weeks before Clarence were accepted into the league), and Glenorchy were forced to change emblem, colours and jumper owing to a conflict with Claremont. Glenorchy wore a predominantly green jumper with a black & white lightning bolt and were called the Storm.
● Instead of reforming a southern-based TANFL which should have happened, Football Tasmania lumped all these clubs together in one 16 team SFL competition, and completely abandoned club football altogether.
● The lopsidedness of the 2001 SFL competition was bloody rediculous, and of course, Clarence won.
● Football Tasmania preferred to cut/severly downgrade the Tassie Mariners elite-youth football program as well and started a de-facto state team to play in the VFL.
● Lack of media awareness/coverage of club football in the South.
The last football game broadcast on ABC-7ZR was in September 2000, ending a 69-year association.
The last local match televised in Hobart (not Devils) was the 2000 SWL Preliminary Final, ending 40-years of local football televised in Hobart.
● The downgrading of club football and constant media campaign to get fans involved in following the Devils has slowly but surely eaten away at local football attendances - especially in Greater Hobart. In some respects, the media and AFL Tasmania act is if the TFL never even existed, and pretty much wished the clubs would go away and die quietly.

I've just been reading in astonishment about something that heppened about 4 years ago.

Imagine if you'd been living overseas or in the Amazon's since the 80's and came back and had a look at it now?
Completely unrecognisable - no wonder the crowds are at all-time lows.

Has footy in Tassie taken a backwards step ?

Whilst the Devils team is doing well in the VFL, the rest of the state's football has dramatically fallen backwards yes.
AFL Tasmania will paint the rosy picture of everything being fantastic with game, but whilst they only focus on the elite end of the sport (Devils), what they've completely lost focus of is just how pathetic the rest of the sport has been allowed to fall away too.
The North is still quite good, but down South, I give it 5-10 years, and the only team left will be the Devils.

Clarence lost most of their supporters to the Devils, as have in some respects Glenorchy and North Hobart. Hobart lost all of theor following after bitter internal politics within the club over its adoption of the Brisbane Lions colours, jumper and emblem, and the way in which it was pushed on to supporters and members.
New Norfolk's support has been mostly solid, whilst not anything as good as their TFL following, they still have the largest following of all the former TFL sides.

 

[mighty magpie 05]

New Norfolk seem to get good crowds away, but get some very small ones at Boyer. They had probably 95% of the crowd at the Grand Final this year.
New Norfolk's following seemed bigger when they were the Hawks in their first couple of years in the SFL. .

Lol yeah new norfolk get big crowds because wat else are they going to do in a hole of a place like that

 

[Evvo]

Lol yeah new norfolk get big crowds because wat else are they going to do in a hole of a place like that

Wat another insightful comment from the Clarence football club. Hows life down at Rooland, have u blokes set up camp in the Eastlands mall yet or not cause the word on the streets is u wont last much longer at bellerive with the devils there.

 

[Kingpin]

Lol yeah new norfolk get big crowds because wat else are they going to do in a hole of a place like that

Yes true, but its a pity the rest don't though.
It'd be awesome if you blokes could be playing in front of decent crowds, rather than the handful and two dogs that go now.

 

[Barge]

Did Claremont think these two were 'great' or something? I remember one time talking to the Barwicks one time at Claremont, they came back for a season and left again.

Make no mistake, they did play some very good football whilst at Claremont, but perhaps not worth the rumoured coin they were on.

Peter Barwick is regarded in the same boat at Claremont as Craig Horne when it comes to saying one thing and doing another. At the end of 2000 when Peter stepped down as Claremont Coach he cut a speech along the lines of "I'd like to be a part of finishing what we started, the future is promising for this club etc etc" and headed straight to Glenorchy for Season 2001, bagging Claremont to the Glenorchy boys, laughing that Claremont had 'nothing' on the training track pre-season etc (can't say he wasn't right there though!).

Garry Barwick was a funny one, had amazing athleticism, great mark for his size, but was an ordinary kick. He too was only interested in playing as long as it was worth his while. I recall in 1997, Gaz had a big Friday night with his Cousin and fellow waste of talent, Tim Atkin, and the two decided they couldn't be bothered fronting up to play Lachlan at Lachlan. They were offered the choice of punishment out of (a) playing the next two games for no match payments or (b) sitting out a two week unpaid suspension. They chose b! And this was a year Claremont were flying! Gaz last played for Huonville on $250 a game, and was barely interested at that!

Speaking of Glenorchy players at Claremont, was the Lockleys there any relation to Curt that played for Glenorchy? I noticed a C. Lockley and thought it may have been the former Glenorchy player.

Curt Lockley is one and the same. Wore No 28 for Glenorchy and No 15 for Claremont. Cousin of former Glenorchy and Claremont player Jason Lockley, and 2nd Cousin of current Claremont player Andrew Lockley.

Curt would often get 30+ possessions a game as a Centreman/Half Back Flanker, but would have complete disregard and ignorance of who his opponent was and what he was doing. Was a very good player for Claremont over 10 years, winning 3 B&F's and 2 Senior flags.

He was good for Glenorchy early on, then he disappeared, I heard there was a 3rd Styles running around somewhere, that was supposed to be better then Gavin and Michael, I am not sure if any of this is true, it was something someone said one time.

Very true Majestic, Gavin was very good in his early 20's down at Glenorchy, however he wasy very lazy, hated training and was happier getting the easy money and Mangalore, Claremont and later Oatlands.

I have also heard the rumour about their younger Brother Graeme. Very fearsome bowling combination, Gavin and Graeme, frightened many an opposition batting line up of Claremont in the 80's and 90's.

Graeme also wasn't real keen on footy training and I dare say this is why he never reached the heights of "Crumpet" Gavin and "Patch" Michael.

Reality is there are thousands of examples like this accross the country.

Some of them aren't true however.

None more so than the rumour around KGV prior to the 1993 Season.

"Shane Fell's Brother Jason is coming over from Victoria - is supposed to be better than Shane!"

NEVER PLAYED A SENIOR GAME!

 

[fishmonger]

It's a long story really.
Most of the clubs had been experiencing a downturn in support during the last 7 or 8 years of the Statewide League, because of such factors as:
● AFL influence on TV.
● Fans couldn't afford to travel.
● Lopsided nature of the competition.
● The majority of clubs were in severe financial difficulty.
● Constant talk of mergers - this angered a lot of fans.
● Constant chopping and changing of clubs in the TFL.
● The League renaming itself almost annually in the final years - it completely lost all credibility.
● In the end only a select few clubs had any sort of chance of winning the premiership, the rest may as well have not even bothered taking the field.
● Fans had gotten sick and tired of seeing the game increasingly taken out of the hands of the average punter, and being ruled by business-types who had little or no respect for the great traditions TFL football and its clubs had forged over a 120+ year period, and zero respect for the fans themselves.
● Mug TFL Presidents like Barry Breen, Roger Hampson & the absolutely f*cking deplorable Michael Kent did very little to endeer the game to the fans, in fact, in Kent's case, he was the owner of the Purity (now Woolworths chain) in Tasmania, and whilst actively whingeing about fans not turning up to football on Saturday's, he was the man who took on politicians in an effort to invoke Saturday Trading!!. Saturday Trading was in a lot of ways, the last nail in the TFL coffin.
● Over-politicisation of the game. The politics of the League was in the paper more than the game itself.
● Clubs changing their names - New Norfolk became the Derwent Eagles, North Hobart became the Hobart Demons, North Launceston became the Northern Bombers, Devonport Blues became "Port Power" and the whole thing looked rediculous.
● Declining standard of football. Although it was vastly superior to now, it was on the decline from the excellent standards of the late 80's & early 90's certainly.
● TFL folded after Burnie Dockers pull out and vote to rejoin the NTFL, also because of years of battling with crippling debts in late 2000. It was said at the time that the TFL executive took the decision to file for bankruptcy as it was increasingly likely that the TFL and its directors were all going to be sued for an enormous amount of money by the clubs in the league.
● Hobart left the TFL to join the SFL after the 1997 season owing to massive debts from the Mark Browning-era, which with interest accrued and with other outstanding debts owing written off, were over $750,000 in total, and were forced to adopt a plain gold jumper and give up its emblem because of a conflict with Kingston.
● Sandy Bay "folded" in 1997, and a mysterious "new" club sprung up in its place called Southern Districts - everyone knew it was Sandy Bay in disguise, and it folded 18 months later.
● Launceston & South Launceston left at the end of 1997 and went back to the NTFL. Launceston returned to its traditional jumper and emblem once resuming in the NTFL, it played as the Raiders in the TFL and wore a Canterbury Bulldogs (NRL) jumper.
● New Norfolk were cut from the TSFL in 1999, and were payed a generous sum to join the SFL (Hobart never received a cent when they left), and had to adopt Hawthorn's colours and jumper when they joined owing to a clash with Channel (jumper) and Sorell (Emblem).
● When the TFL went bankrupt in December 2000, the three remaining former TFL clubs (Clarence, Glenorchy & North Hobart) were all left without a league to play in, and Football Tasmania had to threaten to withdraw all funding and supplies of umpires to the SFL, whose member clubs did not want these clubs to join, unless it accepted them into the league.
● The upshot of this was that North Hobart had to adopt a different jumper (as it conflicted with Brighton), Clarence had to drop its emblem (Kermandie had adopted the Kangaroos emblem a few weeks before Clarence were accepted into the league), and Glenorchy were forced to change emblem, colours and jumper owing to a conflict with Claremont. Glenorchy wore a predominantly green jumper with a black & white lightning bolt and were called the Storm.
● Instead of reforming a southern-based TANFL which should have happened, Football Tasmania lumped all these clubs together in one 16 team SFL competition, and completely abandoned club football altogether.
● The lopsidedness of the 2001 SFL competition was bloody rediculous, and of course, Clarence won.
● Football Tasmania preferred to cut/severly downgrade the Tassie Mariners elite-youth football program as well and started a de-facto state team to play in the VFL.
● Lack of media awareness/coverage of club football in the South.
The last football game broadcast on ABC-7ZR was in September 2000, ending a 69-year association.
The last local match televised in Hobart (not Devils) was the 2000 SWL Preliminary Final, ending 40-years of local football televised in Hobart.
● The downgrading of club football and constant media campaign to get fans involved in following the Devils has slowly but surely eaten away at local football attendances - especially in Greater Hobart. In some respects, the media and AFL Tasmania act is if the TFL never even existed, and pretty much wished the clubs would go away and die quietly.


Imagine if you'd been living overseas or in the Amazon's since the 80's and came back and had a look at it now?
Completely unrecognisable - no wonder the crowds are at all-time lows.

Whilst the Devils team is doing well in the VFL, the rest of the state's football has dramatically fallen backwards yes.
AFL Tasmania will paint the rosy picture of everything being fantastic with game, but whilst they only focus on the elite end of the sport (Devils), what they've completely lost focus of is just how pathetic the rest of the sport has been allowed to fall away too.
The North is still quite good, but down South, I give it 5-10 years, and the only team left will be the Devils.

Clarence lost most of their supporters to the Devils, as have in some respects Glenorchy and North Hobart. Hobart lost all of theor following after bitter internal politics within the club over its adoption of the Brisbane Lions colours, jumper and emblem, and the way in which it was pushed on to supporters and members.
New Norfolk's support has been mostly solid, whilst not anything as good as their TFL following, they still have the largest following of all the former TFL sides.

That is a real shame. Over a hundred years of tradition down the tube
Why does the AFL keep shafting grassroots football ?
Is there any hope of the Statewide League reforming ?

 

[coreybrown]

The guy i asked about yesterday was David Evans, i was a bit misleading. He lives in Hobart now but played his footy up around the Devenport area i believe? He is probably approx 6ft 4" tall and probably 95-105kgs i would think although he may have played a bit lighter?
He is a mate of Matty Richardson so it may even be the club or competition he came from??
Check it out for me please?

Thanks guys,

 

[The Big H]

David Evans rings no bells for me.

 

[mighty magpie 05]

Wat another insightful comment from the Clarence football club. Hows life down at Rooland, have u blokes set up camp in the Eastlands mall yet or not cause the word on the streets is u wont last much longer at bellerive with the devils there.

Actually c*ck we'll b at bellerive all year. either training before or after the devils and using their facilites. also play curtainraisers when they play at bellerive. and i'd rather play in the eastlands mall then of that sh*t hole you call a ground up their where 3/4's of the crowd look like their on day release from risdon!

 

[Evvo]

Actually c*ck we'll b at bellerive all year. either training before or after the devils and using their facilites. also play curtainraisers when they play at bellerive. and i'd rather play in the eastlands mall then of that sh*t hole you call a ground up their where 3/4's of the crowd look like their on day release from risdon!

ah the clarence footy club where would the world be without them. so in touch with the community around them. Its lucky we have so many humble empathetic heros to look up to, down there.

 

[Jasar]

Actually c*ck we'll b at bellerive all year. either training before or after the devils and using their facilites. also play curtainraisers when they play at bellerive. and i'd rather play in the eastlands mall then of that sh*t hole you call a ground up their where 3/4's of the crowd look like their on day release from risdon!

I thought Risdon was part of the Clarence Municipality?

 

[kempos_kingz_05]

And thats important why??

 

[Rayza]

James Cook And Danile Hawkins Are Moving Back To Taz From Southport Good Pick Up Maybe Thoughts?

 

[BIGANT]

Who's coaching the clubs up there this year H?

Burnie:
Devonport:
East Devonport:
Wynyard:
Ulverstone:
Latrobe:
Smithton:
Launceston:
North Launceston:
South Launceston:
Penguin:

Yeah we know he (Brown) is bloody crazy..

 

[The Majestic]

I thought Risdon was part of the Clarence Municipality?

Didn't a few of their supporters end up there?

Risdon Vale has removed the football oval and turned it into a soccer pitch, Geilston Bay would be the closest oval apart from Anzac Park.

 

[The Majestic]

James Cook And Danile Hawkins Are Moving Back To Taz From Southport Good Pick Up Maybe Thoughts?

Back to North Hobart?

I heard after he finished up at AFL level he was coming back to play for North Hobart, well the Demons said they were in talks with him and he agreed.

 

[The Majestic]

And thats important why??

Risdon Vale sports ground, former home to the Risdon Vale Tigers.

Risdon Vale played to revive their team back in 1997, for the 1998 season, they were going to play in the Tasman Assoc from what I remember.

Anyway, the point is, it the oval could have been a training venue, as it's a public oval. But, has since been turned into a soccer pitch.

 

[Barge]

Actually c*ck we'll b at bellerive all year. either training before or after the devils and using their facilites. also play curtainraisers when they play at bellerive. and i'd rather play in the eastlands mall then of that sh*t hole you call a ground up their where 3/4's of the crowd look like their on day release from risdon!

Woopy Do!

So you'll either train at 3pm or 9pm?! Oh that sounds great!

If it's 3pm half of the clubs will have to wag last lesson at Rosny College!

 

[The Majestic]

Curt Lockley is one and the same. Wore No 28 for Glenorchy and No 15 for Claremont. Cousin of former Glenorchy and Claremont player Jason Lockley, and 2nd Cousin of current Claremont player Andrew Lockley.

Curt would often get 30+ possessions a game as a Centreman/Half Back Flanker, but would have complete disregard and ignorance of who his opponent was and what he was doing. Was a very good player for Claremont over 10 years, winning 3 B&F's and 2 Senior flags.



Very true Majestic, Gavin was very good in his early 20's down at Glenorchy, however he wasy very lazy, hated training and was happier getting the easy money and Mangalore, Claremont and later Oatlands.

I have also heard the rumour about their younger Brother Graeme. Very fearsome bowling combination, Gavin and Graeme, frightened many an opposition batting line up of Claremont in the 80's and 90's.

Graeme also wasn't real keen on footy training and I dare say this is why he never reached the heights of "Crumpet" Gavin and "Patch" Michael.

Reality is there are thousands of examples like this accross the country.

Some of them aren't true however.

None more so than the rumour around KGV prior to the 1993 Season.

"Shane Fell's Brother Jason is coming over from Victoria - is supposed to be better than Shane!"

NEVER PLAYED A SENIOR GAME!

Oh Jason Fell, I remember him after and before every game he would be smoking in the race, probably one of many reasons he wasn't ever good. Here's another bloke with big name relations, Joshua Hudson, cousin of Paul, he spent most of his time in the ressies, there was a claim that he'd be better then Paul.