The Tasmanian State League (TSL) is the highest ranked Australian rules football league in Tasmania, Australia.
The league has a history which dates back to 1879 (giving it some claim to the title of the third oldest club football league in the world), but it was disbanded in 2001. However after long negotiations and discussions it was reinstated as a ten club competition in 2009.
In 1944 TANFL directors met to discuss restructuring of the league which was scheduled to return in 1945 after three seasons in recession due to World War Two.
The clubs would represent their various districts rather than being individual clubs.
Two new clubs (Hobart & Sandy Bay) would join North Hobart and New Town at the expense of Cananore and Lefroy who went out of existence during the World War Two cessation.
In 1947 the TANFL voted to include a further two clubs (Clarence - formed in 1903 & New Norfolk - formed in 1878) from the South Eastern District Football Association.
In 1957 New Town Football Club would amalgamate with already existing local club Glenorchy Rovers and relocate itself to King George V Park at Glenorchy.
This era would be the strongest era for the league with a succession of star players in its ranks, record crowds and huge public support.
From 1979-1985 the TANFL would be known as the Winfield League under a naming-rights sponsorship arrangement with a tobacco company.
[edit] Going Statewide And Its Eventual Demise
At the end of the 1985 TANFL season, after many years of discussions, and after numerous pushes by administrators stretching back to the mid-70's it was decided upon to restructure the competition into a statewide format.
The six former TANFL clubs would welcome famous northern club, the North Launceston Robins and its longtime NTFA rival East Launceston Demons into the now eight-team Cascade-Boags TFL Statewide League for season 1986.
Its early steps into a statewide competition were rocky, the concept was treated with disdain by many southern fans and with great suspicion by northern football supporters.
North Launceston continued to field a side in the NTFA whilst playing in the TFL and East Launceston lasted only seven rounds into the new season before announcing it would merge with NTFA club City-South on 26 May 1986 to become the South Launceston Bulldogs for the remainder of 1986 and beyond.
In 1987 the Devonport Football Club joined the league and adopted the emblem Blues and a navy blue playing strip owing to a clash with Glenorchy.
In the same year the Cooee Football Club from the North West Football Union (NWFU) gazumped the Burnie Tigers from the same Association and joined the TFL and rebranded itself as the Burnie Hawks - starting a serious war between the two clubs that would damage both and later lead to them merging in 1993.
After a period of sustained growth, a healthy standard of football, strong crowd attendances and great public interest from 1987-1990, the bubble burst for the league when the Recession of late-1990 hit Australia - and Tasmania in particular - very hard.
After many years of overspending on players, new recruits and coaches from interstate, attendances and club memberships began to fall noticeably by 1991 - many clubs found themselves in financial difficulties and had to start cost-cutting to survive.
Players were starting to trickle away to rival country leagues for more money and as a result, the playing standard had started to drop.
The lopsided nature of the competition began to cause embarrassment for the TFL, South Launceston had been uncompetitive since it was founded and the admission of the Launceston Football Club (founded 1875) from the NTFL in 1994 was a PR disaster for the League as it was consistently thrashed in every match in its first two season and garnered poor attendances for its entire tenure at TFL level.
Between 1909 and 1933 Cananore Football Club won 11 premierships
Hobart - after a very successful 1986-1992 period - were beginning to unravel, and in 1997 would go through the season winless, North Hobart winning only one game in 1996 and New Norfolk winning one game in 1998 - both after periods of finals football - would show that the writing was on the wall for the league.
Between 1989 and 1994 Hobart, Sandy Bay, Glenorchy, Burnie Hawks and New Norfolk had all faced financial ruin at some point and in the ensuing years would be joined by North Hobart, Devonport and the Burnie Dockers - a merged entity of the old Burnie Hawks and NTFL club Burnie Tigers that joined forces in 1995 - in a battle to stay afloat under burgeoning debts, increasing costs and dwindling attendances.
In 1997 the TFL had rapidly started to implode as a jaded football public voted with its feet and stayed away from TFL football as the saturation coverage of AFL football on television increased, the playing standard continued to fall and fans grew tired of the constant talk of mergers.
At the end of the 1997 season it was announced that the Hobart Football Club would merge with North Hobart and Sandy Bay Football Clubs' to field a merged entity from 1998.
However, the mood of the fans from all three clubs was of widespread anger towards the TFL and the proposal was dropped a short time later.
North Hobart opted to field a stand alone club in the 1998 roster, Hobart decided to leave the TFL and joined the SFL (the club would not be granted a licence to participate in the TFL in any case) and Sandy Bay Football Club, by then insolvent, was wound up by its directors and went out of existence in late 1997.
Sandy Bay Football Club dominated in the 1970s making eight successive grand finals.
At the same time, South Launceston and Launceston Football Clubs could see the future of the TFL as extremely shaky and both promptly pulled out of the competition and rejoined the NTFL in 1998.
In 1998 the league then decided to re-brand the TFL as the TSFL Chickenfeed Super League and rebrand some of the clubs under commercial names in order to win back fans - the concept was not a winner and was widely scoffed at by club supporters.
North Launceston would now be known as the Northern Bombers, North Hobart would end 118-years of tradition and rename themselves as the 'Hobart' Demons, New Norfolk would change their name to the Derwent Eagles to go with the Devonport Blues who changed their identity to Devonport Power in 1996 to cash in on Port Adelaide's entry to the AFL that year.
To the surprise (and dismay) of many in the football world, a newly formed club - known as the Southern Districts Football Club (Southern Cats) was given a license to join the TFL in 1998.
Many believed the Southern Cats were a re-branded Sandy Bay as it had the same playing list, mostly the same supporters and same colours (albeit in a different style) - the Cats, with no notable home base and no particular culture had some brief moments of success, winning the Coca Cola Challenge pre-season cup in 1999 but midway through that season the club would be wound up by administrators and close down.
In 2000 the league was once again re-branded (this time as the SWL) and despite reasonably strong crowd attendances amongst the top three teams, the clubs below them were struggling to garner more than a few hundred people to matches.
Players were flooding away to other competitions (both country and interstate) for better pay and better competition and the credibility and prestige the league had in years past had become tarnished in the eyes of the football public.
Northern Bombers and Clarence met at York Park under lights in front of 5,625-people during the season - a statewide league roster match attendance record - but only a few months later the same two clubs would do battle in the Grand Final on a wet Saturday afternoon again at York Park in front of just 6,124-people (compare this with 24,413 people at the 1970 Grand Final - about 50% of the combined population of the two regions involved, nearly 40 years later.)
This was the first TFL Grand Final to be held away from North Hobart Oval since 1921 and the crowd was the lowest since the Hobart v North Hobart Grand Final of 1960 which was played in appalling conditions, and was the second lowest Grand Final attendance in almost 70-years.
In December 2000 the Burnie Dockers announced that they would be pulling out of the Statewide League, the TFL and its directors were about to be sued by the clubs for restraint of trade and the decision was made to wind up the Tasmanian Football League after 122-years.
[edit] Disbandment
The league disbanded due to a dwindling of clubs able to financially cope and fell under the umbrella of Football Tasmania (which was soon renamed AFL Tasmania).
Three regional leagues absorbed the clubs from the Statewide League. This was represented by the 2 main North/South leagues and subsidiary regional leagues which underpinned the Tasmanian Devils VFL team, created in 2001 which was owned and funded by the Australian Football League and administered by AFL Tasmania.
[edit] Tasmanian State League
After a hiatus of eight years, AFL Tasmania announced plans for a return of the Tasmanian State League in 2009.
The concept attracted widespread public and media debate on the return of a statewide competition, with many in the football world hesitant over such a move due to the perilous financial position most of the participating clubs were left in after the previous competition was disbanded in 2000.
Many believed the push for a return of the league was a direct result of the media and the Tasmanian State Government's strong campaign in getting a Tasmanian team admitted into the AFL.
Under the AFL Tasmania plan, ten (10) clubs were invited to join the competition.
Clarence, Glenorchy, Hobart and North Hobart along with former Southern Amateur club Lauderdale in the South.
North Launceston, South Launceston and Launceston from the North and Devonport and Burnie Dockers from the North West Coast.
The response from many clubs was initially luke-warm at best with many concerned at the lack of detail in the AFL Tasmania plan and the rushed decision-making process of the move.
Ulverstone Football Club from the North West Coast bowed to pressure from its playing list and some factional groups within the club to put in a submission to join the TSL in 2009.
Despite a membership vote narrowly ending in favour of joining, the Robins had missed the AFL Tasmania enforced deadline and were initially to be included in the 2010 TSL Roster, however the remaining clubs (most notably its closest and most bitter rival Devonport) exerted considerable pressure upon the League not to alter the current makeup of teams for a period of ten years, therefore Ulverstone were excluded for joining.
SFL Premier League club Kingborough also lobbied AFL Tasmania to be included in the competition, but their case for inclusion was dismissed by the game's governing body due to their inadequate facilities and poor standard Kingston Beach Oval headquarters.
Former TFL club New Norfolk (1947-1999) was not invited to join the league because of their poor financial plight.
Also, as a result of the new competition getting off the ground, the Tasmanian Devils were removed from the VFL.
On April 4 2009, the opening match of the reformed TSL competition took place at King George V Park between the reigning premiers of the SFL Premier League, Glenorchy and reigning NTFL premier Launceston and resulted in a 21-point triumph to the Blues.
The inaugral TSL Grand Final was held at Bellerive Oval on 19 September between old rivals Glenorchy and Clarence resulting in a thrilling 6-point victory to the Roos in front of 7,534 fans.
[edit] 2009 Ladder
| Tasmanian State League | Wins | Losses | Draws | For | Against | % | Pts |
| Glenorchy | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1937 | 1268 | 152.76% | 56 |
| Burnie Dockers | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1850 | 1280 | 144.53% | 56 |
| Clarence | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1836 | 1384 | 132.66% | 52 |
| Devonport | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1462 | 1264 | 115.66% | 40 |
| Launceston | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1494 | 1281 | 116.63% | 36 |
| North Hobart | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1584 | 1585 | 99.94% | 36 |
| North Launceston | 8 | 10 | 0 | 1429 | 1765 | 80.96% | 32 |
| Hobart | 6 | 12 | 0 | 1201 | 1639 | 73.28% | 24 |
| Lauderdale | 4 | 14 | 0 | 1113 | 1608 | 69.22% | 16 |
| South Launceston | 3 | 15 | 0 | 1044 | 1876 | 55.65% | 12 |
FINALS
| Final | Team | G | B | Pts | Team | G | B | Pts |
| 1st Elimination | Devonport | 10 | 6 | 66 | Launceston | 3 | 11 | 29 |
| 2nd Elimination | Clarence | 14 | 20 | 104 | North Hobart | 8 | 13 | 61 |
| 1st Semi | Clarence | 15 | 15 | 105 | Devonport | 7 | 10 | 52 |
| 2nd Semi | Glenorchy | 25 | 15 | 165 | Burnie Dockers | 14 | 10 | 94 |
| Preliminary | Clarence | 16 | 7 | 103 | Burnie Dockers | 15 | 10 | 100 |
| Grand Final | Clarence | 15 | 11 | 101 | Glenorchy | 14 | 11 | 95 |
| Jumper | Club | Nickname | Location | Training Ground | Home Ground | Debut | Premiership Years |
 | Burnie Dockers Football Club | "Dockers" | Burnie, Tasmania | West Park Oval | West Park Oval | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1987 - TSL: 2009 | TANFL/TFL/SWL: None - TSL: None |
 | Clarence Football Club | "Roos" | Bellerive, Tasmania | Bellerive Oval | Bellerive Oval | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1947 - TSL: 2009 | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1970, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000 - TSL: 2009 |
 | Devonport Football Club | "Magpies" | Devonport Tasmania | Devonport Oval | Devonport Oval | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1987 - TSL: 2009 | TFL/SWL: 1988 - TSL: None |
 | Glenorchy Football Club | "Magpies" | Glenorchy, Tasmania | KGV Oval | KGV Oval | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1921 (As New Town Football Club) - 1957 (As Glenorchy District Football Club) - TSL: 2009 | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1935, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1965, 1975, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1999 - TSL: None |
 | Hobart Football Club | "Tigers" | Glebe, Tasmania | TCA Ground | TCA Ground | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1945 - TSL: 2009 | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1950, 1954, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1973, 1980, 1990 - TSL: None |
 | Lauderdale Football Club | "Bombers" | Lauderdale, Tasmania | Lauderdale Oval | Lauderdale Oval & Bellerive Oval | TSL: 2009 | TSL: None |
 | Launceston Football Club | "Blues" | Riverside, Tasmania | Windsor Park | Windsor Park | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1994 - TSL: 2009 | TANFL/TFL/SWL: None - TSL: None |
 | North Hobart Football Club | "Demons" | North Hobart, Tasmania | North Hobart Oval | North Hobart Oval | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1881 - TSL: 2009 | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1902, 1905, 1908, 1914, 1920, 1923, 1928, 1929, 1932, 1934, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1945, 1947, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1974, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992 - TSL: None |
| North Launceston Football Club | "Bombers" | Invermay, Tasmania | Aurora Stadium & Invermay Park | Aurora Stadium & Invermay Park (Some Reserve & Under-19's fixtures are played at Invermay Park on Gala Days. | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1986 - TSL: 2009 | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1995, 1998 - TSL: None |
 | South Launceston Football Club | "Bulldogs" | Youngtown, Tasmania | Youngtown Oval | Youngtown Oval | TANFL/TFL/SWL: 1986 - TSL: 2009 | TANFL/TFL/SWL: None - TSL: None |
[edit] TANFL/TFL Statewide League Clubs: 1945-2000
1945-1997 
- Hobart Football Club.
1881-1998 
- North Hobart Football Club.
1999-2000 - Hobart Demons Football Club.
1945-1956 
- New Town District Football Club.
1957-2000 
- Glenorchy District Football Club.
1947-2000 
- Clarence District Football Club.
1947-1997 
- New Norfolk District Football Club.
1998-1999 
- Derwent Eagles Football Club.
1945-1997 
- Sandy Bay Football Club.
1998-1999 
- Southern Districts Football Club.
1986-1986 
- East Launceston Football Club.
1986-1997 
- South Launceston Football Club.
1986-1997 
- North Launceston Football Club.
1998-2000 - Northern Bombers Football Club.
1993-1997 
- Launceston Football Club.
1987-1994 
- Burnie Hawks Football Club.
1995-2000 
- Burnie Dockers Football Club.
1987-1996 
- Devonport Blues Football Club.
1997-2000 
- Devonport Power Football Club.
[edit] TFA/STFA/TANFL Clubs: 1879-1941
Lefroy Football Club in 1927
1908-1941 
- Cananore Football Club.
1898-1941 
- Lefroy Football Club.
1879-1885 
- Cricketers Football Club.
1906-1907 
- Derwent Football Club.
1921-1941 
- New Town District Football Club.
1876-1896 - Railway Football Club.
1897-1897 - South Hobart Football Club.
1898-1905 
- Wellington Football Club.
1880-1894 - Holebrook Football Club.
1887-1887 
- Union Football Club.
1898-1898 
- Summerton Football Club.
1879-1896 
- City Football Club.
1893-1907 
- Kingston Football Club.
ABC1 in Tasmania shows one live Saturday afternoon game each week of the season.
League matches were formerly broadcast on radio from 1931 to 2000, however there are currently no radio broadcasts of TSL football with the exception of the Grand Final on ABC Local Radio which is also streamed online.
The Hobart Mercury in the South, The Examiner in Launceston and the North as well as The Advocate on the North West Coast all provide extensive coverage of TSL football in their publications.
[edit] Individual Awards
[edit] Tassie Medalists
Presented to the best & fairest player in the Tasmanian State League from 2009.
2009 - K.Heazlewood (Devonport)
[edit] Former Individual Awards
[edit] Wilson Bailey Trophy Winners
Was presented to the best & fairest player in the TFL/TANFL from 1927 until 1929. It was replaced by the William Leitch Medal in 1930.
1927 - K.Roberts (New Town)
1928 - G.Cole (New Town)
1929 - A.Leitch (New Town)
[edit] George Watt Medalists
Was Presented to the best & fairest player in the TANFL 1935 until 1939. It replaced the William Leitch Medal although it ended up being replaced by it in 1940
1935 - L.Powell (North Hobart)
1936 - E.Zschech (Lefroy)
1937 - L.Pye (North Hobart) & - E.Zschech (Lefroy)
1938 - L.Pye (North Hobart)
1939 - E.Zschech (Lefroy)
[edit] William Leitch Medal
Main article: William Leitch Medal
The William Leitch medal was presented to the best & fairest player in the TANFL/TFL Statewide League from 1930-1934 and 1940-2000.
As of 2009 when the Tasmanian State League was revived, AFL Tasmania decided to award the Tassie Medal to the best & fairest player in the revamped competition as it was seen (particularly in the North) that the William Leitch medal was too Hobart-centric.
The William Leitch Medal continues to be presented to the best & fairest player in the Southern Football League since 2004.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Tasmanian State League (TSL) | | | Clubs | | | | Grounds | | |
