Clubs that are defunct or merged throughout Tasmania.

[nobbyiscool]

Rossarden Redlegs - Red & White.
Formed 1939. Went into recess in 1941 due to WW2.
Reformed in 1945.
Closed: 1972.
Premierships: FDFA - 1956, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967.
Runner-Up: FDFA - 1959, 1966, 1968.
Played in the Fingal District Football Association.
Ground, Rossarden Recreation Ground, was at the end of Schell Street, Rossarden.
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Out near Avoca? I think I've been to that ground! My dad had a mate that lived out there, we did Grand Final Day out at Avoca one year, and I reckon we did half time kicks at that ground.

 

[Father Jack]

The local mythology says that one of those clubs up in the hills, might have been Mathinna, had the nickname 'The Kill'n'burns' because a copper was sent up there to investigate some nefarious dealings, and the local hill denizens killed him and burnt him.

This according to no less a source than me dad. Christ alone knows what went on up there in them mountains.

 

[nobbyiscool]

The local mythology says that one of those clubs up in the hills, might have been Mathinna, had the nickname 'The Kill'n'burns' because a copper was sent up there to investigate some nefarious dealings, and the local hill denizens killed him and burnt him.

This according to no less a source than me dad. Christ alone knows what went on up there in them mountains.

I'd have no trouble believing it. They're genuine hill people up there.

In fact the only thing that makes me doubt your story is that you didn't say they ate him as well.

 

[Father Jack]

I'd have no trouble believing it. They're genuine hill people up there.

In fact the only thing that makes me doubt your story is that you didn't say they ate him as well.

I didn't say they didn't.

 

[Kingpin]

Out near Avoca? I think I've been to that ground! My dad had a mate that lived out there, we did Grand Final Day out at Avoca one year, and I reckon we did half time kicks at that ground.

Above: Avoca's 1980 Premiership team.

Avoca were formed circa 1886 and eventually joined the Fingal District Football Association in 1929, five years after it was founded as a proper competition in 1924.
They won FDFA Premierships in 1936, 1937, 1938, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1968, 1980, 1986 and 1989.
Runner-Up in the FDFA in 1946, 1947, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1979, 1981.
Avoca lost a whole bunch of players after winning the 1989 FDFA Premiership, were unable to recruit enough players to fill the void and ultimately folded in the pre-season of 1990, never to return.
I'm not sure where their ground was, whether it was the one next to Avoca Primary School in St Paul's Street or the one on the outskirts of the town on the Esk Highway.

 

[Father Jack]

View attachment 998659
Above: Avoca's 1980 Premiership team.

Avoca were formed circa 1886 and eventually joined the Fingal District Football Association when it was founded as a proper competition in 1924.
They won FDFA Premierships in 1936, 1937, 1938, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1968, 1980, 1986 and 1989.
Runner-Up in the FDFA in 1946, 1947, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1979, 1981.
Avoca lost a whole bunch of players after winning the 1989 FDFA Premiership, were unable to recruit enough players to fill the void and ultimately folded in the pre-season of 1990, never to return.
I'm not sure where their ground was, whether it was the one next to Avoca Primary School in St Paul's Street or the one on the outskirts of the town on the Esk Highway.

It was at the top of the hill behind the big tank, which I guess is what you mean by the outskirts of town. I vaguely remember going there back in the day.

 

[Ozguy]

It was at the top of the hill behind the big tank, which I guess is what you mean by the outskirts of town. I vaguely remember going there back in the day.

Ground was at the East exit to the town.

Remember driving past it one day and there was a great crowd there.

 

[Kingpin]

Ahhh yes, that's the entrance gate to the one just near the big tank on the Esk Highway. Thought that might've been it, as it was a bigger oval.
Marked with the red check on the map.

 

[Father Jack]

Ground was at the East exit to the town.

Remember driving past it one day and there was a great crowd there.

I used to go the footy a lot as a kid, and places like Fingal, St Marys and Avoca would be ghost towns on match days, unless you happened to wander down to the footy oval.

I also remember watching Avoca play one day and for some reason there was one Avoca player who had a red jumper with a navy yoke, instead of the other way around. I guess that's country footy for you, but you'd think it would be much harder to do that than to wear the standard one.

Never saw a game at Swansea though, that was a bit far for us.

 

[Kingpin]

I used to go the footy a lot as a kid, and places like Fingal, St Marys and Avoca would be ghost towns on match days, unless you happened to wander down to the footy oval.

I also remember watching Avoca play one day and for some reason there was one Avoca player who had a red jumper with a navy yoke, instead of the other way around. I guess that's country footy for you, but you'd think it would be much harder to do that than to wear the standard one.

Never saw a game at Swansea though, that was a bit far for us.

Just looking at that 1980 team close up, all the players are wearing red with a black yolk except one bloke, second on the right up the back, he has a blue yolk.
The kids at the front are wearing navy blue and red, some with the V, some with the full yolk, coach on the right wearing red and blue.
Swansea - Had a neighbour that played for them about 15-20 years ago, that was the ground that had a graveyard on one side of the ground, part of the boundary line had to sway inwards to accomodate part of the graveyard. Never seen that before!

 

[Kingpin]

East Devonport in trouble..

 

[itchee40]

East Devonport in trouble..
View attachment 1004035

Was inevitable.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Gersman]

^ East to continue on in the NW comp next year.

Another few, Risdon Vale, North Derwent Foresters and Cambridge all went when the Tasman association went under in 2001.
My sister's boyfriend at the time was tied up with the Vale back then.
I think North Derwent played in North Melb colours and played up Hamilton, Cambridge combined with Richmond for awhile in the ammos in the 80s but were stand alone after that.

 

[Kingpin]

^ East to continue on in the NW comp next year.

Another few, Risdon Vale, North Derwent Foresters and Cambridge all went when the Tasman association went under in 2001.
My sister's boyfriend at the time was tied up with the Vale back then.
I think North Derwent played in North Melb colours and played up Hamilton, Cambridge combined with Richmond for awhile in the ammos in the 80s but were stand alone after that.

I actually stumbled across an old Football Life magazine from September 2001 last night, digging through an old drawer.
As you would expect, given AFL Tasmania had their dirty little paw prints all over it, it was 99% Devils, top end elite football and a few crumbs given to the local competitions. An elitists wank-fest, basically.
What I did uncover was an article on the troubles in regard to the Tasman Football Association.
It states that the competition began the 2001 season with five clubs (Swansea, Dodges Ferry, Risdon Vale, Cambridge and Railway).
During the season both Cambridge and Railway both went into recess due to a lack of players presumably and this left the competition with only three clubs to complete the season.
Swansea gave Dodges Ferry a 114-point thumping in the 2001 Tasman FA Grand Final, 28.13 (181) to 9.13 (67) and the news was that Swansea had already applied to join the ODFA for 2002, whilst Dodges Ferry had already sent their application in to become the sixteenth club to join the Southern Football League in the 2002 season.
This meant that Risdon Vale would be the only club left.
As history shows, Swansea were accepted into the ODFA in 2002, Dodges Ferry were also accepted into the Southern Football League for 2002 which became the perfect opportunity for the SFL, with now 16 clubs, to become a split conference (Premier & Regional) system, with the Sharks joining the Regional League.
The Tasman Football Association ultimately collapsed following the 2001 season, Cambridge and Railway never made a return and permanently folded, Risdon Vale also were wound up and went out of existence.

 

[Ozguy]

I actually stumbled across an old Football Life magazine from September 2001 last night, digging through an old drawer.
As you would expect, given AFL Tasmania had their dirty little paw prints all over it, it was 99% Devils, top end elite football and a few crumbs given to the local competitions. An elitists wank-fest, basically.
What I did uncover was an article on the troubles in regard to the Tasman Football Association.
It states that the competition began the 2001 season with five clubs (Swansea, Dodges Ferry, Risdon Vale, Cambridge and Railway).
During the season both Cambridge and Railway both went into recess due to a lack of players presumably and this left the competition with only three clubs to complete the season.
Swansea gave Dodges Ferry a 114-point thumping in the 2001 Tasman FA Grand Final, 28.13 (181) to 9.13 (67) and the news was that Swansea had already applied to join the ODFA for 2002, whilst Dodges Ferry had already sent their application in to become the sixteenth club to join the Southern Football League in the 2002 season.
This meant that Risdon Vale would be the only club left.
As history shows, Swansea were accepted into the ODFA in 2002, Dodges Ferry were also accepted into the Southern Football League for 2002 which became the perfect opportunity for the SFL, with now 16 clubs, to become a split conference (Premier & Regional) system, with the Sharks joining the Regional League.
The Tasman Football Association ultimately collapsed following the 2001 season, Cambridge and Railway never made a return and permanently folded, Risdon Vale also were wound up and went out of existence.

The Football Tasmania idea the year before was to merge the ODFA and Tasman into 1 comp with 2 divisions. Div 1 was the Tasman Clubs and Woodsdale, playing Seniors and Reserves. The Div 2 was the 6 remaining ODFA clubs playing Seniors only. Yep Cambridge & Railway were going to be allowed 2 teams, but clubs such as Kempton and Bothwell with strong Ressies were going to be allowed 1.

Wadey had a cats anus look when informed that Richmond had applied to Old Scholars, and Triabunna to the ODFA, and his dream had died before even taking off.

 

[Cha_Ching_00]

Amazing insight there Ozguy,

Just imagine if the merged comps got off the ground, I wonder if it could have saved a few clubs???? Probably not, but the two tier model would have maybe prolonged clubs existence for a while... Interesting that they had only one ODFA club in Div 1 being Woodsdale because at the time the top rung of ODFA was at a good standard.

ODFA-
Kempton - Even though their issue was no committee members could of atleast attempted at Div 2 and build from there.
Bothwell - Would have been competitive enough and got the player numbers for Div 1
Oatlands - Financially good and back then player numbers okay, Had the numbers for Div 1 but Div 2 to start with
Mt Pleasant - Div 2 to start with as player numbers were okay at the time but not good
Woodsdale - Powerhouse at the time, Div 1 but would of dropped back quickly to Div 2 due to player numbers
Tunnack - Went into recess midway through 2001 from recollection, could have been saved for a little while as the ODFA at the time still had reserves, Div 2
Ross(recess 2000) - Could have easily reformed as they were only one year out of the comp and straight into Div 2

Tasman-
Swansea - Div 1 player numbers were not an issue at the time and a strong outfit
Triabunna - Same as Swansea
Risdon Vale - Slotted into Div 1
Dodges Ferry - Blessing in disguise the Tasman folding and Dodges going to the SFL
Cambridge - Could have been saved for a while, joined Div 2, from what I’ve heard player numbers weren’t great
Richmond - Same as Dodges (but OSFA)
Railway - Same as Cambridge
North Derwent - I believe they attempted to join the ODFA in the early 00’s, could of been revived in Div 2 and possibly aimed for Div 1. By accounts North Derwent played there last year out of Boyer via a sponsorship arrangement with NN, sharing the facilities with NN as they had just come back to SFL, by accounts North Derwent had a better following and supporter base at the time. Played and trained at Boyer.

Throw in a potential lifeline to a Tasman Peninsula side playing out of Dunalley and train at Dunalley/Nubeena/Port Arthur as the Peninsula comp literally only just wound up and Eaglehawk Neck were using the Dunalley ground as a training base?? Peninsula Power in Div 2??

Div 1-
Woodsdale (O)
Swansea (T)
Triabunna (T)
Dodges Ferry (T)
Richmond (T)
Bothwell (O)

Div 2-
Kempton (O)
Oatlands (O)
Mt Pleasant (O)
Tunnack (O)
Ross (O)
Cambridge (T)
Railway (T)
North Derwent (T)
Peninsula Power (defunct TPFA clubs)

I know all these are hypotheticals and the fact that the harsh economic terms started to hit really hard around these times for rural clubs and maybe Just delayed the inevitable but just maybe we would still have today a Seniors only comp and maybe 1 or 2 extra clubs could of hung on?? I wonder if the SFL two tier model was in place it could of given the ODFA/Tasman a blueprint??

“Cascade Draught” Midlands and Tasman Districts Super League

Imagine watching a game at Tunnack in 2021!!

The Football Tasmania idea the year before was to merge the ODFA and Tasman into 1 comp with 2 divisions. Div 1 was the Tasman Clubs and Woodsdale, playing Seniors and Reserves. The Div 2 was the 6 remaining ODFA clubs playing Seniors only. Yep Cambridge & Railway were going to be allowed 2 teams, but clubs such as Kempton and Bothwell with strong Ressies were going to be allowed 1.

Wadey had a cats anus look when informed that Richmond had applied to Old Scholars, and Triabunna to the ODFA, and his dreamed had died before even taking off.

 

[Ozguy]

I think I would have slotted Kempton into Div 1 and made it 7 teams. Oatlands and Bothwell would have been interchangeable at the time IMO.

The Kempton Reserves of 2000 would have made the Prelim Final of the ODFA Seniors Comp that year. They were that good.

 

[Kingpin]

Maydena Oval in the Derwent Valley, which has been abandoned as a football venue since the Maydena Football Club folded at the end of the 1986 season.
Maydena went out of business along with West Hobart when the Southern Tasmanian Football Association (formerly known as the Associated Youth Clubs (AYC) Football Association from 1949-1975) was wound up following the 1986 season.
Today, the ground sits abandoned on privately owned land, believed to be owned by a Western Australian man.

 

[tassiemagpie]

Maydena Oval in the Derwent Valley, which has been abandoned as a football venue since the Maydena Football Club folded at the end of the 1986 season.
Maydena went out of business along with West Hobart when the Southern Tasmanian Football Association (formerly known as the Associated Youth Clubs (AYC) Football Association from 1949-1975) was wound up following the 1986 season.
Today, the ground sits abandoned on privately owned land, believed to be owned by a Western Australian man.
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Drove past Colebrook Oval today on the way up north, When did they last play ?

 

[Kingpin]

Drove past Colebrook Oval today on the way up north, When did they last play ?

1994 in the Oatlands District Football Association was their last team.
They were formed in the 1880s and played in various country comps, then played in the South Eastern Districts Football Association from 1945-1973.
Joined the ODFA in 1974 until they went into recess following the 1978 season.
Came out of recess after ten years in 1989 but only lasted until the end of 1994 when they went for good.
Wore the red, white and black colours and were the Saints.

 

[Kingpin]

tassiemagpie Colebrook also suffered the ignominy of suffering the heaviest defeat in the 150 years of Tasmanian football history.
On 10th April 1993 in Round 2 of the ODFA, Woodsdale 77.29 (491) d Colebrook 0.1 (1) at Wallaby Park, Woodsdale to record an all-time state record 490 point victory.
Poor old Colebrook had been demolished by Oatlands 43.26 (284) to 1.9 (15) the previous week and on 29th May 1993, Woodsdale 59.40 (394) beat Colebrook 1.1 (7) at Colebrook.

 

[Ozguy]

tassiemagpie Colebrook also suffered the ignominy of suffering the heaviest defeat in the 150 years of Tasmanian football history.
On 10th April 1993 in Round 2 of the ODFA, Woodsdale 77.29 (491) d Colebrook 0.1 (1) at Wallaby Park, Woodsdale to record an all-time state record 490 point victory.
Poor old Colebrook had been demolished by Oatlands 43.26 (284) to 1.9 (15) the previous week and on 29th May 1993, Woodsdale 59.40 (394) beat Colebrook 1.1 (7) at Colebrook.

Gotta remember that Woodsdale warmed up for that game with the previous highest score the week before.

Woodsdale 70.27.447 d Mt Pleasant 0.2.2

Geoffrey Graham kicked 17 goals in each game.

 

[Kingpin]

The main grandstand pavilion at Hamilton after the 1960 floods. The town's bridge ended up washed away and wound up in front of the stand.
Upper Derwent played there at the time, they moved to Gretna to play their home matches in 1966 in the SEDFA, and remained there until they collapsed in 1986 when the STFA folded.
I believe that pavilion was heavily damaged by a tornado in the 1950s.

 

[Kingpin]

Not a lost club or ground but a lost building.
The old Glenorchy clubrooms at KGV Oval, taken in 1981. It was built in 1968 and was demolished about 4-5 years ago to make way for a new building.
The Anfield Street Stand was built on the right a month or so later.

 

[Kingpin]

East Devonport now in recess. Doubtful that we'll ever see them back in the game, sadly.