In Tasmania, Australian rules football (known mainly as "football" or "footy") is a popular spectator and participation sport. It has been played since the late 1860s and draws the largest audience for any football code in the state. A 2018 study of internet traffic showed that 79% of Tasmanians are interested in the sport, the highest rate in the country.Devils in the detail: an economist argues the case for a Tasmanian AFL team – and new stadium by Tim Harcourt for the Conversation 1 May 2023 It is governed by AFL Tasmania and according to Ausplay there are 13,927 adult players with a participation rate of 2.5% per capita about a quarter of which are female playing across 12 competitions.
It has experienced a significant fall in participation since the 2000s when it was the most participated team sport with the highest per capita participation in the country however is now outside of the top 10 participation sports.Ausplay Tasmania data tables 28 April 2023 - Top 10 activities - Participation Rate While it remains popular in the state's north and Launceston, its popularity has fallen in the south and in the state's capital Hobart. With the collapse of numerous clubs and competitions, the sport has undergone numerous restructures over the years. The general consensus is that the state has fallen into the blind spot of national governing bodies for decadesTasmania remains AFL's blind spot, and it's local footy which is now suffering most ABC News 9 Feb 2018AFL report urges Tasmanian team by 2025 or code will die on island James Dunlevie ABC News 7 Feb 2020 which prompted the Government of Australia to launch a Senate inquiry in 2008.
The Tasmanian state team competed in senior interstate and State of Origin football between 1887 and 1993, winning matches against all other Australian states (including Victoria, firstly in their 1960 match and most recently in their second last encounter in 1990) as well as several second division titles (including 1908 and 1947). Peter Hudson represented Tasmania more times than any other player, with 19 caps. Tasmania continues to field underage sides in the national underage championships and remains a successful side with 8 Division two titles, the most recent in 2018. Tasmania has also fielded teams in the VFL (2001–2008), the TAC Cup (1996–2002; 2019-) and defeated a NEAFL representative side in 2013 as the Tasmania Mariners/Devils. Today the Tasmanian State League continues to plays inter-league representative matches and defeated Queensland in 2024.2024 Queensland v Tasmania Men's State Game – Match Review by Abby Collins 25 June 2024
Australian Football League (AFL) premiership matches have been played every year except 2020 since 2001 with the first held at the North Hobart Oval in 1952. Tasmania is the only state without a team in the AFL or AFL Women's (AFLW). However, after 30 years of campaigning, the league's 18 clubs unanimously approved a 19th license to the state on 1 May 2023, and it is expected to debut in 2028AFL presidents approve Tasmania for 19th team licence after decades of campaigning from ABC News 2 May 2023 along with the construction of the new Macquarie Point Stadium to be completed by 2029. Until the 2010s, Tasmanian television audiences for the AFL were also among the highest per capita, consistently drawing bigger ratings than both Queensland and New South Wales. The decline in the code's participation and television audience increased the urgency of establishing an AFL club.
Over 300 Tasmanians have played the game at the highest level and the state has traditionally supplied the AFL with a disproportionately high number of players. Tasmania has four Australian Football Hall of Fame legends: Darrell Baldock, Peter Hudson, Ian Stewart and Royce Hart. The Tasmanian born and raised player with most AFL games is Jack Riewoldt with 346 and the most AFL goals is Matthew Richardson with 800, while Jess Wuetschner has the most AFLW games with 55 and most AFLW goals with 42.
History
English public school games: 1851–1879 Organised "Foot-ball" matches have been recorded in Van Diemens Land since 1851 and matches in southern Tasmanian towns of Hobart and Richmond between 1853 and 1855 significantly pre-date those recorded across Bass Strait in suburban Melbourne.
Rugby historian Sean Fagan claims that early matches played in Tasmania may have been an early form of rugby football, pointing to early mentions of goal posts with cross-bars and offside rules of later Tasmanian clubs.
Accounts from Tasmanians of these early matches indicate that, as in early Victoria, they played mostly English public school football games particularly Rugby football, Harrow football and Eton football (the latter being similar to soccer) among others.
However, apart from the fact that they were organised and played, few details of these matches actually survive, and the popularity of football in the fast-growing colony of Victoria quickly eclipsed the following that the pastime had in newly named colony of Tasmania.
First football clubs and introduction of the Victorian rules: 1864–1878 The "football" club formed in New Town in 1864 is believed to be the earliest in Tasmania – but it disbanded soon after. A series of high-profile matches were played between New Town and Hobart Football Club (now defunct) in late May 1866. It is not known under which rules these games were played, though based on descriptions and the timing (official rules were distributed in the Australasian on 19 May) these matches are thought very likely to have been under the Victorian Rules. Unlike other colonies however not long later, cricket clubs passed a motion prohibiting football from being played on their grounds proving a major setback for the code in the colony.
By the mid- to late 1860s, more stable clubs, including Derwent and Stowell Football, emerged.
In 1871 the Break O'Day club was formed followed in 1875 by the Launceston Football Club and Launceston Church Grammar School in 1876.
Even by 1876, Tasmanian clubs had not decided on which rules to play. "Victorian Football Rules" began to gain favour only as the strong growth of the code in Victoria and Queensland became evident, even still most clubs preferred to play by their own rules
Other clubs to form were Longford (1878) and Cornwall (1879), which became City in 1880. The City and Richmond clubs were formed in 1877 and the Oatlands and Railway clubs in 1879.
New Town formally started in 1878 and along with City and Richmond formed the basis of the game in Hobart, while in Launceston the abovementioned clubs formed the basis for the NTFA. New Norfolk District Football Club (1878) was one of the stronger regional clubs and North Hobart Football Club (1881) is another survivor of these early years.
Intercolonial football and adoption of the Victorian rules: 1879 to 1885
On 1 May 1879, members of the Tasmanian Cricket Association met and decided to form a club for their members, to be called Cricketers. They initially adopted English Association Rules (soccer) before succumbing to the pressure to play Victorian Rules.Football Introduced, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Thursday, 1 October 1936), p. 15.Football, Lieut.-Col. T.S. Marshall: Death in Victoria: Australian Football Pioneer, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Monday, 9 January 1933), p.9.
In June 1879 clubs in Hobart formed the Tasmanian Football Association (TFA), with founding clubs Hobart Town (City), New Town, Railway, Cricketers, Hutchins School, High School and Richmond. The Mercury on 16 and 17 June 1879 described the TFA's first adopted playing rules as originating a Tasmanian football code.
In 1879 the Hotham Football Club (now North Melbourne) wrote to Tasmanian clubs for an intercolonial challenge. The Tasmanians initially deferred the challenge due to no uniform rules among its clubs. On July 5, 1881, it played a combined Hobart team defeated them 3 goals 2 in front of 1500 spectators.
More intercolonials against Victorian clubs followed shortly after the official adoption of the code. The Essendon Football Club visited in 1882 playing against a combined Tasmanian side in front of more than 3,000 spectators.
In November 1883 the TFA and clubs from Launceston sent delegates C.H. Westwood and W.H. Cundy to the intercolonial football rules conference in Melbourne, where they were tasked with convincing the other colonies to adopt the Tasmanian (TFA) rules. After the delegates returned home unsuccessful, by 1885 football clubs across all of Tasmania had adopted without alteration the Victorian rules.
Development of an intrastate rivalry: 1900–
The history of local Tasmanian football differs considerably from any of the mainland states. Whereas mainland states had a major population centre around which a single dominant league was based, Tasmania's population was more evenly distributed. The consequences of this on Tasmanian football history are three-fold: firstly, a strong intrastate rivalry not noted in any mainland state; secondly, three different top-level football leagues in different regions of the state; and thirdly, the ability for teams representing very small towns to be competitive in the top leagues.
The Tasmanian Football League, based around Hobart, began in 1879. The Northern Tasmanian Football Association, based around Launceston, began in 1886.
Victorian clubs Fitzroy Football Club and Collingwood Football Club visited in 1901 and 1902 respectively winning convincingly against the NTFA.
A third top-level league, although not recognised as such until later, was the North West Football Union, contested by teams on the north-western coast of the state west of Latrobe, which began in 1910.
Victorian club Collingwood FC again visited Launceston in 1923 and played against the NTFA.
The leagues were small in the pre-WWI era, with only three clubs competing in the TFL and NTFA, and four in the NWFU. Intrastate games between representative teams in the leagues were a regular fixture during these years. In the 1920s, the TANFL (as the TFL was now known) and NFTA expanded to four teams apiece, and the NWFU to six.
In 1929, Victorian club Collingwood FC again visited both Launceston and Hobart, playing against the NTFA and SFA respectively.
Postwar boom After World War II, all leagues underwent further expansion. The TANFL switched to a district-based selection, and expanded to six clubs. The NFTA also expanded to six teams. The NWFU expanded from six teams to as many as fourteen, with a short-lived incorporation of four Circular Head-based clubs, but eventually contracted back to eight.
The local leagues were extremely popular and attracted large crowds. The TANFL Grand Final between Glenorchy and Clarence at the North Hobart Oval in 1979 attracted a record crowd of 24,968 which, although ostensibly small in comparison to mainland crowds, represented 15% of Hobart's population at the time.
Reformatted statewide competition: 1978- There were always attempts made to somehow consolidate the major Tasmanian leagues into one statewide competition. The earliest and longest-lasting was the Tasmanian State Premiership, which began (officially) in 1909 as a single Grand Final game between the TANFL and NTFA premiers, for the right to be the State Premiers. The Hobart-based teams initially dominated, winning the first fourteen such contests. In 1950, the NWFU Premier was also invited to contest for the State Premiership. The final State Premiership was played in 1978.