Resource The NAFL Historical Archive, discussion thread
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Jones2ByrneJones
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E92_
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I liked the trip down memory lane so the amount of text was good for me.
POST THE NEXT PART!
Jones2ByrneJones
Hour of Pessimism
- Jul 27, 2012
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E92_
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E92_
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Fizzler
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Spanna_
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NAFL Season One
Eight months had passed since the original NAFL and NAFL T2 franchise announcements with not a single game played. The romance had died, the enthusiasm waned. InCase was overseas and M.I.A. for the most part, which meant that any sort of structure and direction around the competition had disintegrated. Somebody else needed to pick up the slack; somebody new.
Young tyro Lion Cub 16 was fairly new to the board when he decided to take the reigns of reviving the NAFL in late August of 2011. He only signed up to BigFooty around the time of the original NAFL (December 2010) and didn’t have an entry in either division. Participants were surely apprehensive about the long-term sustainability of the competition, given it wasn’t being run by one of the board stalwarts – rather, by a sporadic poster who was “looking through a few old threads” and “came across” the original NAFL idea.
LC’s “NAFL 2.0” used the original brief and also automatically included all participants in the original NAFL if they chose to reenter the same franchise. New entries would be chosen on an activity basis. LC's revival thread was posted on 30 August 2011, with the winning franchises to be announced on 9 September 2011. Including the original NAFL teams, a total of 27 bids from 20 different posters were submitted.
As it were, on that day, the franchise announcements were made in what would be a league of 14 teams. The league contained the same state restrictions as the original: two entries each in WA, SA and VIC, and one entry each in NSW/ACT, QLD, TAS, NT and NZ. Of those states and territories, only two were not already closed off due to reentries – South Australia and New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory. To allow for some flexibility in the new franchises, LC introduced the ‘wildcard’ concept – allowing three new franchises in any of the states already occupied, bringing the total number of competitors in the NAFL to an even number of 14.
The Bids
The winning bids for what I have retrospectively dubbed “NAFL Season One” were as follows:
Victoria
workhorse – Murray River Rangers (returned from NAFL Season Zero)
Cory – Melbourne Foxes (returned from NAFL Season Zero)
Western Australia
Gibbsy – Geraldton Breakers (returned from NAFL Season Zero)
Smeagle – Rottnest Island Torque (returned from NAFL Season Zero)
Queensland
Sepul – Queensland Cyclones (returned from NAFL Season Zero)
Tasmania
Willo #6 – Tasmanian Tigers (returned from NAFL Season Zero)
Northern Territory
Omegaville – Yulara Rocks (returned from NAFL Season Zero)
New Zealand
craegus – Wellington Whales (returned from NAFL Season Zero)
South Australia
El_Scorcho (ThunderPower_14) – Southern Vikings (returned from NAFL Reserves Season Zero)
TheDoctor11 – Limestone Coast Sharks
New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory
gava93 – Canberra Bluebirds
Wildcards
Lion Cub 16 – Ballarat Mustangs
Silent Alarm – Central Coast Trojans
E92_ (Eagles1992) – Darwin Crocodiles
There was to be no 'Tier 2’ or ‘Reserves’ for NAFL Season One. Interest maxed out at a total of 20 competitors for the NAFL itself, which meant that having a competition of 14 teams left just the right amount of people still keen to go around next season while not having too many missing out. As for the matches themselves, LC clarified early that entrants would be judged on their entire kit – home, clash and logo (with an optional away jumper) – rather than the more traditional match-ups we see today. This meant that there was no issues with teams having the same coloured strips as the vote was to be based on the entire identity, hence the suggestion of a ‘colour draft’ by Scorch was dismissed quickly.
On account of not having submitted his franchise’s entry, Silent Alarm withdrew from the competition on 6 October 2011 and jethro11's Kalgoorlie Miners – his second preference bid in the wildcard section – was chosen to replace it.
E92_
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It lives!
Can't wait for the next installment in August 2018.
Can't wait for the next installment in August 2018.
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- #37
The Competitors: Part One
Some posters chose to include a spiel to accompany their design; those that did are included here.
workhorse – Murray River Rangers
Cory – Melbourne Flying Foxes
Gibbsy – Geraldton Breakers
Smeagle – Rottnest Island Torque
Sepul – Queensland Cyclones
(I have a higher quality version of this that I'll upload at a later date – Gibbsy)
Willo #6 – Tasmanian Tigers
Tasmania is a traditional footballing state, therefore I think they deserve a traditional footy jumper. The traditional stripes are used, with a twist, the ends of the stripes form points, these are meant to reflect the Tasmanian Tiger's (or thylacines) stripes. Although this clash jumper may appear a simple Gold Coast style jumper, it has a little more meaning than that. It is a throwback to the classic State of Origin jumper. The Tassie map in the middle, is a subtle reflection of Tasmania's football heritage. Obviously, the tiger is not all of my own working, I have used the one from the Athletics Tasmania logo, I have done a fair bit of editing though.The map of Tasmania acts as a 'shield'.
Omegaville – Yulara Rocks
The colours are the Aboriginal flag colours of black, yellow and red. Dominating the design is Uluru's silhouette sitting on a horizon. For those who don't recall their geography, Yulara is the location of the major resort set up to service Uluru, as camp sites and a motel were encroaching on the sacred grounds around the monolith. (Azaria Chamberlain was taken from one such camp site in 1980.) I went to Yulara and the Rock back in 1993 (Year 11) and loved the place, it felt so Australian.
Beneath the rock, on the "land", I've depicted some Aboriginal artwork (or close to). I based it on a print we've got sitting on the wall of our lounge room, "Meeting Place", which features a grid of dots interlinked by paths (much like the white in the diagram). By coincidence, when I started my current job, they had the same print in one of their meeting rooms. I thought I did pretty well getting the red "contour lines" in between the design.
For the clash strip, as we needed something light, I did a "daytime" view of the red rock against a yellow sky, over white land (white clash strip... yeah I know...). The short sash is also in the style of indigenous art. It contrasts well with dark jumpers.
Finally, the logo. I prefer the old shield style, it's a good framework to work within. The rock on the horizon at night maps to the Aboriginal flag. As a last-minute touch I added Crux (the Southern Cross) just to emphasise the Australian element - a lot of sporting clubs use a constellation or some other configuration of stars (e.g. the West Indies with stars making a capital I).
Craegus – Wellington Whales
El_Scorcho – Southern Vikings
(Scorch said he can't find a HQ version of this anywhere. I believe him!)
TheDoctor11 – Limestone Coast Sharks
The Limestone Coast Sharks, one of the newest franchises in the NAFL, began their existence at the turn of the new millennium. Funded by local business magnate Scott Allan, the Sharks were chosen to represent one of South Australia's quickest growing regional centres. They play the majority of their home games out of Mount Gambier's 40,000 seat Allan Arena, named after their late financial backer, and 1 home game each season in Naracoorte and Millicent. The colours of blue and yellow were chosen to represent the region's coastline, and green as a third colour to represent the strong forestry industry. In the new NAFL season, the Sharks hope to make a strong impact!
Some posters chose to include a spiel to accompany their design; those that did are included here.
workhorse – Murray River Rangers
Cory – Melbourne Flying Foxes
Gibbsy – Geraldton Breakers
Smeagle – Rottnest Island Torque
Sepul – Queensland Cyclones
(I have a higher quality version of this that I'll upload at a later date – Gibbsy)
Willo #6 – Tasmanian Tigers
Tasmania is a traditional footballing state, therefore I think they deserve a traditional footy jumper. The traditional stripes are used, with a twist, the ends of the stripes form points, these are meant to reflect the Tasmanian Tiger's (or thylacines) stripes. Although this clash jumper may appear a simple Gold Coast style jumper, it has a little more meaning than that. It is a throwback to the classic State of Origin jumper. The Tassie map in the middle, is a subtle reflection of Tasmania's football heritage. Obviously, the tiger is not all of my own working, I have used the one from the Athletics Tasmania logo, I have done a fair bit of editing though.The map of Tasmania acts as a 'shield'.
Omegaville – Yulara Rocks
The colours are the Aboriginal flag colours of black, yellow and red. Dominating the design is Uluru's silhouette sitting on a horizon. For those who don't recall their geography, Yulara is the location of the major resort set up to service Uluru, as camp sites and a motel were encroaching on the sacred grounds around the monolith. (Azaria Chamberlain was taken from one such camp site in 1980.) I went to Yulara and the Rock back in 1993 (Year 11) and loved the place, it felt so Australian.
Beneath the rock, on the "land", I've depicted some Aboriginal artwork (or close to). I based it on a print we've got sitting on the wall of our lounge room, "Meeting Place", which features a grid of dots interlinked by paths (much like the white in the diagram). By coincidence, when I started my current job, they had the same print in one of their meeting rooms. I thought I did pretty well getting the red "contour lines" in between the design.
For the clash strip, as we needed something light, I did a "daytime" view of the red rock against a yellow sky, over white land (white clash strip... yeah I know...). The short sash is also in the style of indigenous art. It contrasts well with dark jumpers.
Finally, the logo. I prefer the old shield style, it's a good framework to work within. The rock on the horizon at night maps to the Aboriginal flag. As a last-minute touch I added Crux (the Southern Cross) just to emphasise the Australian element - a lot of sporting clubs use a constellation or some other configuration of stars (e.g. the West Indies with stars making a capital I).
Craegus – Wellington Whales
El_Scorcho – Southern Vikings
(Scorch said he can't find a HQ version of this anywhere. I believe him!)
TheDoctor11 – Limestone Coast Sharks
The Limestone Coast Sharks, one of the newest franchises in the NAFL, began their existence at the turn of the new millennium. Funded by local business magnate Scott Allan, the Sharks were chosen to represent one of South Australia's quickest growing regional centres. They play the majority of their home games out of Mount Gambier's 40,000 seat Allan Arena, named after their late financial backer, and 1 home game each season in Naracoorte and Millicent. The colours of blue and yellow were chosen to represent the region's coastline, and green as a third colour to represent the strong forestry industry. In the new NAFL season, the Sharks hope to make a strong impact!
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- #38
The Competitors: Part Two
Gava93 – Canberra Bluebirds
Lion Cub 16 – Ballarat Mustangs
Jethro11 – Kalgoorlie Miners
E92_ – Darwin Crocodiles
The colours are closely related to the colours of the NT flag and the 'vee' design represents a crocodile tooth with the orange tip being blood. The 'W' in the logo also represents crocodile teeth as its the main theme of the club.
Gava93 – Canberra Bluebirds
Lion Cub 16 – Ballarat Mustangs
Jethro11 – Kalgoorlie Miners
E92_ – Darwin Crocodiles
The colours are closely related to the colours of the NT flag and the 'vee' design represents a crocodile tooth with the orange tip being blood. The 'W' in the logo also represents crocodile teeth as its the main theme of the club.
Last edited:
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- #39
The Season
Round 1 began in October and interaction was positive. Every team was to play each other once, as there were no home ground advantages due to the style of voting (full identities rather than individual kits). Matches in the opening round received, on average, about 20 votes each – a very high number given the niche location and size of the board at that point in its history. Votes were multiplied by seven to give a more realistic scoreline to the matches. For instance, Wellington Whales defeated the Tasmanian Tigers 112 to 14 in their opening match, but the vote tally itself was only 16 to 2. This had a notable effect on percentages, although didn’t play any significant part in determining the final ladder positions come the end of the year.
By the end of Round 7, just past the halfway point of the year, trends were appearing in the fixtures and the best teams had put the foot down. Gava’s Canberra Bluebirds had raced to the top of the ladder, unbeaten with seven victories and a percentage of more than 220. At the other end of the table, El_Scorcho’s Southern Vikings occupied bottom place with just two points to its name, coming from a thrilling 77-77 draw with Murray River in the first round of the season.
Such was the dominance of the top teams and the poor form of the bottom teams that the top and bottom three stayed the same from Round 7 all the way until the end of the season, but for the shuffling of positions inside them. Omegaville’s Yulara Rocks had a particularly torrid time in Rounds 10 and 11, being held scoreless for consecutive weeks – a NAFL record that will likely never be broken. Thus it was no surprise that they were the inaugural winners of the wooden spoon, finishing in 14th on percentage behind Gibbsy’s Geraldton Breakers, also with just one victory. Cory’s Melbourne Foxes came home with a wet sail, winning its last seven matches to take the minor premiership and an all-important double chance finish.
The Finals
The finals series began in February 2012, four months after the first match of the season. Smeagle’s Rotto Torque had made a late play for a top four finish but were bumped out in the final round by E92_’s Darwin Crocodiles, and as such, had to host LC’s Ballarat Mustangs in the first elimination final. The other sudden death match in the first week of the finals series was the Wellington Whales hosting the Limestone Coast Sharks; the Whales early frontrunners before slipping down the ladder in the latter half of the season. The Torque and Sharks walked away winners and kept their premiership hopes alive, while the Foxes and Bluebirds each got themselves a week off and comfortably defeated their opponents in the qualifying finals.
Week two of the finals series saw Darwin host Rotto and lose, while Jethro’s Kalgoorlie Miners – only a very late inclusion to the season itself – defeated the Sharks and progressed to a preliminary final. That meant that the final four was, fittingly, made up of the top two teams in the Melbourne Foxes and Canberra Bluebirds, as well as the Kalgoorlie Miners (3rd after the H&A season) and the Rotto Torque (5th). The Foxes took down the Miners 70-56 in a nailbiter, while the Bluebirds were more assured in defeating the Torque 77-28.
Then came the Grand Final: Cory’s Melbourne Foxes versus Gava’s Canberra Bluebirds; the two best teams of the year. It must be said that interest and vote tallies had dropped off over the course of the season, although for the GF they took a slight bump up from previous matches. The thread, at least, contained 16 replies as opposed to most match threads which contained no more than one or two replies. It was a credit to LC that he continued to post the fixtures and ladders with such consistency throughout the course of the season, particularly over summer, and this almost certainly led to the renewed interest come the Grand Final and beyond.
The match itself was a seesawing affair. The lead changed on a number of occasions and voters had their reasons for which franchise they chose – Jethro even abstained from voting as he couldn’t split the pair! With one day of voting to go, there was only one vote in it, with the Foxes holding the slight edge. The Bluebirds then tied the count, before the Foxes broke away with three deciding votes to clinch the title, 91-70.
All the plaudits went to Cory as winner of the inaugural NAFL – little did he know how big the competition would become in the proceeding years.
Round 1 began in October and interaction was positive. Every team was to play each other once, as there were no home ground advantages due to the style of voting (full identities rather than individual kits). Matches in the opening round received, on average, about 20 votes each – a very high number given the niche location and size of the board at that point in its history. Votes were multiplied by seven to give a more realistic scoreline to the matches. For instance, Wellington Whales defeated the Tasmanian Tigers 112 to 14 in their opening match, but the vote tally itself was only 16 to 2. This had a notable effect on percentages, although didn’t play any significant part in determining the final ladder positions come the end of the year.
By the end of Round 7, just past the halfway point of the year, trends were appearing in the fixtures and the best teams had put the foot down. Gava’s Canberra Bluebirds had raced to the top of the ladder, unbeaten with seven victories and a percentage of more than 220. At the other end of the table, El_Scorcho’s Southern Vikings occupied bottom place with just two points to its name, coming from a thrilling 77-77 draw with Murray River in the first round of the season.
Such was the dominance of the top teams and the poor form of the bottom teams that the top and bottom three stayed the same from Round 7 all the way until the end of the season, but for the shuffling of positions inside them. Omegaville’s Yulara Rocks had a particularly torrid time in Rounds 10 and 11, being held scoreless for consecutive weeks – a NAFL record that will likely never be broken. Thus it was no surprise that they were the inaugural winners of the wooden spoon, finishing in 14th on percentage behind Gibbsy’s Geraldton Breakers, also with just one victory. Cory’s Melbourne Foxes came home with a wet sail, winning its last seven matches to take the minor premiership and an all-important double chance finish.
The Finals
The finals series began in February 2012, four months after the first match of the season. Smeagle’s Rotto Torque had made a late play for a top four finish but were bumped out in the final round by E92_’s Darwin Crocodiles, and as such, had to host LC’s Ballarat Mustangs in the first elimination final. The other sudden death match in the first week of the finals series was the Wellington Whales hosting the Limestone Coast Sharks; the Whales early frontrunners before slipping down the ladder in the latter half of the season. The Torque and Sharks walked away winners and kept their premiership hopes alive, while the Foxes and Bluebirds each got themselves a week off and comfortably defeated their opponents in the qualifying finals.
Week two of the finals series saw Darwin host Rotto and lose, while Jethro’s Kalgoorlie Miners – only a very late inclusion to the season itself – defeated the Sharks and progressed to a preliminary final. That meant that the final four was, fittingly, made up of the top two teams in the Melbourne Foxes and Canberra Bluebirds, as well as the Kalgoorlie Miners (3rd after the H&A season) and the Rotto Torque (5th). The Foxes took down the Miners 70-56 in a nailbiter, while the Bluebirds were more assured in defeating the Torque 77-28.
Then came the Grand Final: Cory’s Melbourne Foxes versus Gava’s Canberra Bluebirds; the two best teams of the year. It must be said that interest and vote tallies had dropped off over the course of the season, although for the GF they took a slight bump up from previous matches. The thread, at least, contained 16 replies as opposed to most match threads which contained no more than one or two replies. It was a credit to LC that he continued to post the fixtures and ladders with such consistency throughout the course of the season, particularly over summer, and this almost certainly led to the renewed interest come the Grand Final and beyond.
The match itself was a seesawing affair. The lead changed on a number of occasions and voters had their reasons for which franchise they chose – Jethro even abstained from voting as he couldn’t split the pair! With one day of voting to go, there was only one vote in it, with the Foxes holding the slight edge. The Bluebirds then tied the count, before the Foxes broke away with three deciding votes to clinch the title, 91-70.
All the plaudits went to Cory as winner of the inaugural NAFL – little did he know how big the competition would become in the proceeding years.
Bring back Smeagle! And TheDoctor11
I remember thinking at the time how cool Rotto Torque's concept was. It's weird to think that I've been around for all this history as well.. Well, LC16's 2.0 version, that is 
Spanna_
The secret ingredient is crime
The NAFL Reserves counts as apart of this history thread doesn't it? Happy to do some researching too if necessary.
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- #44
Yeah it does, I just haven't got to it yet. The first official reserves season was in NAFL Season Two
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I remember thinking at the time how cool Rotto Torque's concept was. It's weird to think that I've been around for all this history as well.. Well, LC16's 2.0 version, that is
It was probably my favourite in the entire comp. So inventive. He designed the entire thing in Paint too, pixel by pixel. Crazy.
I remember thinking at the time how cool Rotto Torque's concept was. It's weird to think that I've been around for all this history as well.. Well, LC16's 2.0 version, that is
Honestly Smeagle was the reason I think many of us at the time really began to push to become the best we possibly could be in designing. His designs were always class and knowing that they were created in paint made it even more amazing.
E92_
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- #49
Season Zero had a reserves (Tier 2) but Season One didn't. It was revived for Season Two because of all the interest
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El Scorcho NAFL finishing positions:
Season 0 - Southern Vikings - Reserves, season didn't finish but I wasn't winning much.
Season 1 - Southern Vikings - Dead last in the 1st div, no reserves played.
2013/14 - Waikato Tigers - 3rd from bottom
2014/15 - Waikato Tigers - 6th
2015/16 - Waikato Tigers - 2nd, lost GF
2016/17 - Waikato Tigers - 2nd, Premiers
I got beaten a lot in the early stages of this competition. The Vikings were not a successful team.
Season 0 - Southern Vikings - Reserves, season didn't finish but I wasn't winning much.
Season 1 - Southern Vikings - Dead last in the 1st div, no reserves played.
2013/14 - Waikato Tigers - 3rd from bottom
2014/15 - Waikato Tigers - 6th
2015/16 - Waikato Tigers - 2nd, lost GF
2016/17 - Waikato Tigers - 2nd, Premiers
I got beaten a lot in the early stages of this competition. The Vikings were not a successful team.
