Single Entity Teams That Have Disappeared In The Last 25 Years.

Nov 20, 2011
6,253
5,909
South Australia
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Other Teams
Portsmouth
Be interesting to see what happens in the coming years with Bute and Paskeville in the Yorke Peninsula FL.

Neither club have junior sides - the colts play as Bute/Paskeville Saints (formerly Bullants). Bute aren't doing that crash hot but are still somewhat competitive. Paskeville are doing pretty well still, but it should be interesting to see how things play out.
 
Last edited:

Kingpin

Brownlow Medallist
Jan 15, 2004
13,082
933
AFL Club
Richmond
Here's a few more from Tassie. Will list some more later.
North Derwent (TFA)
Channel (SFL and later Old Scholars FA)
Friends' (OSFA)
Kermandie (SFL)
Latrobe Saints
Trowutta-City
Castra
Branxholm (NEFU)
Ringarooma (NEFU)
Ross (ODFA)
North Hobart (TSL)
Railton

Scottsdale Crows (NEFU) folded at the end of last season as did the Branxholm Wanderers (NEFU)
The NEFU collapsed after a long association after 2017.
North Hobart are back playing in the State League, the "Hobart City" experiment was the absolute failure everyone warned it would be and is gone.
Couple of years ago Smithton Saints that played in the Darwin FA, NWFU, NTFL and NWFL renamed themselves as the Circular Head Giants to embrace that whole area on the far north western tip of Tasmania and not just Smithton town.
 
Aug 5, 2004
1,686
1,446
FAR WEST SYDNEY
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Sturt, West Perth
The last club to fade away completely in Sydney would be the old Blacktown Kangaroos, way back in the mid 90s.

This was their last season's results - a Blacktown Magic team was formed but was made up of NSW/ACTAFL development officers based out of the Giants HQ at Doonside, so an inorganic representation of what once was.

Katoomba-Lithgow Mountain Lions existed for 2 years in the early 00s - a community effort to bring footy to the Blue Mountains. Claimed to have the highest altitude home ground at the unfortunately named Browntown Oval.

Neither the Sydney, or Central West league would accept them into their comps due to geographical location - too far to travel etc. They played teams having the bye in both grades when they could and folded not long after. Phil Doyle, a long time poster on here was behind the club and busted his butt to get them exposure.
 

bleednavyblue

Club Legend
Jul 7, 2017
1,022
1,882
In a galaxy far far away......
AFL Club
Carlton
Other Teams
Detroit Pistons
Re: Single Entity Teams That Have Disappeared In The Last 25 Years



Was Kealba Green Gully one team, or did you mean to mention them as two: Kealba, Green Gully?

I only have a reference for a Kealba FC.

Also do you happen to know, prior to the WRFL coming about in 2000, which clubs were in the FDFL and which were in the WSFL?

I've never been able to find out!
I played for Kealba. Played 3 seasons there before the club just dissolved. Still to this day no idea what happened but rumour is the secretary ran off with all the club funds!
 

skippy99

Rookie
Jan 27, 2016
30
16
AFL Club
Richmond
Wakool's managed to come back in 2017, but they've had to revise the points system for them, because they're so reliant on players coming from outside of Wakool.

Wakool gone for good. I fear for the future of Golden Rivers if they insist on playing Seniors & reserves. A real struggle for most clubs to find the 50 blokes needed to field two mens teams.
 

kenton

Debutant
Nov 19, 2010
141
2
hobart
AFL Club
Hawthorn
3teams from last year have folded in Tassie tamar cats natone and circular head sad for football in tas and the towns communitys
 

Kingpin

Brownlow Medallist
Jan 15, 2004
13,082
933
AFL Club
Richmond
3teams from last year have folded in Tassie tamar cats natone and circular head sad for football in tas and the towns communitys
And Winnaleah and the Scottsdale Crows from the old NEFU.
Tasman Peninsula Football Club in the ODFA is another.
SFL club Brighton looks in big trouble as well, Yeoman up on the north west coast having player shortages.
 
And Winnaleah and the Scottsdale Crows from the old NEFU.
Tasman Peninsula Football Club in the ODFA is another.
SFL club Brighton looks in big trouble as well, Yeoman up on the north west coast having player shortages.

The Crows and Magpies should of been allowed to join the div 2.

Tasman should of joined the Scholars league
 

Kingpin

Brownlow Medallist
Jan 15, 2004
13,082
933
AFL Club
Richmond
The Crows and Magpies should of been allowed to join the div 2.

Tasman should of joined the Scholars league
Scottsdale Magpies play in NTFA Division One, Scottsdale Crows were seriously ailing before they went down.
Unfortunately the scaling back of the timber industry up that way has all but decimated football in the NE.
Winnaleah should've been allowed to join the NTFA Division Two. Was whingeing from the other clubs that put a stop to that.
Bridport and St Helens (East Coast Swans) were allowed in though.
Tasman Peninsula were only around for a couple of years before they folded again.
Lack of players.
Football's been pretty much dead on the Tasman Peninsula for two decades since the old PFA and all their clubs folded in 2001.
Having bigger clubs like Lauderdale, Dodges Ferry, Sorell in that region tends to soak up most of the player numbers.
Playing numbers are becoming a huge issue in football here at the moment, there's nowhere near enough.
A club like Brighton (formerly Mangalore), was seen as good enough to be competing in the Premier League against the old TFL sides plus current TSL sides, Kingborough and Lauderdale during the 2000s can't even garner enough players to fill a Colts or Reserves team and can barely fill a senior side.
And they are in the one of the biggest growth areas in the state encompassing Bridgewater, Gagebrook, Herdsmans Cove, Brighton, Pontville, Tea Tree, Mangalore, Bagdad, Broadmarsh, Pelham, Elderslie, Colebrook and the rest of the southern midlands!
 
Last edited:
Dec 18, 2013
2,843
3,044
Leaning against the boundary fence
AFL Club
Carlton
Club 18. I think it still exists.
Used to be a Third XVIII grade when I was living in Melbourne (I left there in 2006). It was a more social grade but in the past 10 years a fair number of clubs sides have introduced a third senior side and subsequently Thirds football seems to have become pretty serious now.
The WAAFL equivalent would be E grade.
 
Sep 15, 2011
10,975
5,370
Perth
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Canberra Raiders,Crystal Palace F.C
Club 18. I think it still exists.
Used to be a Third XVIII grade when I was living in Melbourne (I left there in 2006). It was a more social grade but in the past 10 years a fair number of clubs sides have introduced a third senior side and subsequently Thirds football seems to have become pretty serious now.
The WAAFL equivalent would be E grade.
Ah ok. By the way do you play for cricket for Riverton Rostrata? I play for Piara Waters so might have come up against you at some point if you were playing.
 
Good news is that Moranbah are back in business in Mackay having only fielded youth teams for the last 2 seasons (although the Pioneer Power junior club is now merged with the Baker's Creek Tigers which actually isn't all that bad news, Bakers now will field teams in all grades thanks to Power's juniors).

The bad news is that Lockyer Valley Demons (AFL Darling Downs) are no longer a registered affiliated club due to mismanagement of past committees despite the best efforts of a few over the last couple of years. Combined with the Dalby Swans not being able to field a senior men's team that competition is back to 9 teams for 2019.
 
This is why I believe a lot has to change on field for some leagues and clubs, for instance country leagues could get away with their senior teams having 16 on field players with up to six on the bench like the vfa had. The reserves or lower divisions could look at bringing in the boundaries on the wings and playing with fourteen, no wings, one less back and forward.
The only way for clubs to survive with player loss is to adjust the number of players on the field.
 

Kingpin

Brownlow Medallist
Jan 15, 2004
13,082
933
AFL Club
Richmond
Southern Football League club Brighton is the latest Tasmanian club to have to pull out of senior football this season.
In an unprecedented move, the SFL have allowed them to participate in the SFL Reserves but they won't be fielding either a senior or colts team this year.
On the news the other night the SFL president stated that the reason for allowing them to participate in the reserves and not force them into putting a senior side onto the ground was because it was an OH&S issue with the team being too young and not up to senior standard and that it could lead to some severe thrashings and run the risk of losing what players they had left.
Brighton pushed for it to avoid having to go into recess completely and likely the club folding altogether.
 
Dec 18, 2013
2,843
3,044
Leaning against the boundary fence
AFL Club
Carlton
Sad to see that in Victoria, clubs have folded over the summer (Mt Waverley being one) - but that's not a unique scenario.

The bigger issue is the fact that some teams have contracted to one senior side (Sandown, Swinburne and St John's to name three off the top of my head) and more alarmingly, the many stories of clubs struggling to assemble enough players to field two senior sides - some even at successful top-division clubs - across the many pages of the BigFooty forum.

Has the scenario come about because of the predominance of the mercenary footballers who drain clubs of finances and walk when their club has a bad season or cuts back on their budget? Is it Gen-Y who when they are finished working for the day entertain themselves with computer games either individually or a with few close friends rather that be involved in a social environment of 100+ people three times a week? Is it something else?

Some leagues seem to have a very short-term focus and it is in these leagues where lower-division clubs have recently appeared to be lurching. The lower divisions of the Southern league and the Amateurs all of a sudden look destined to shrink by one grade (Seniors & Reserves) for the 2020 season with some teams trying to stave off the threat of extinction or recess or else become one-team clubs in Thirds/Clubbies football - with a forlorn long-term future.

There are some areas in Melbourne where there are a number of senior clubs with very few juniors (e.g. Noble Park/Dandenong). The Northern league (back when it was the Diamond Valley league) used to insist - and I think still do - that all senior clubs had to have a junior club linked to it, which obviously fosters development and growth into the future. When clubs depart the NFNL, it's not through folding, it's because they move to the YVMDFL or the Riddell league. Conversely, clubs from older areas in the lower levels of the SFNL and VAFA don't seem to be as sustainable in a 3, 5 or 10 year time frame.

We saw many clubs disband or merge just over 30 years ago in Melbourne, especially in the eastern and southern suburbs - partly through a lack of volunteers, partly through committee members absconding with the bank account proceeds but mainly because there was no sustainable future path for these clubs. There were no young players coming through the ranks to replace the old fellas who tried to keep the club going.

I am sure that the football landscape is is about to undergo some major changes over the next three years, similar to those of the mid-1980s.
 
Last edited:
Sep 15, 2011
10,975
5,370
Perth
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Canberra Raiders,Crystal Palace F.C
I posted this elsewhere, but there's a group of people from Greenock (Barossa Valley, SA) who are trying to revive the Greenock Football Club (club folded in 80s or 90s I think). They're getting plenty of support, too.
Would be a massive effort to get a new club (or reviving an old one) off the ground these days I'd reckon. I'm guessing thats greenock near Nuriootpa?
 
Dec 18, 2013
2,843
3,044
Leaning against the boundary fence
AFL Club
Carlton
Especially considering Greenock is at close proximity to Freeling to the west, Tanunda to the south, Nuriootpa to the east and Kapunda to the north.

1554253410277.png
 

Attachments

  • 1554253305146.png
    1554253305146.png
    428.5 KB · Views: 63
Back