New Norfolk District Football Club
| New Norfolk | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Names | |||
| Full name | New Norfolk District Football Club | ||
| Nickname(s) | Eagles | ||
|
Club song: "We Are The Mighty Eagle Team!" (Tune: "Road To Gundagai") | |||
| 2014 (SFL) season | |||
| After finals | 1st | ||
| Best and fairest | 1878 | ||
| Club details | |||
| Colours | |||
| Competition | Southern Football League | ||
| President | Adrian Graham | ||
| Coach | Jon Murray | ||
| Captain(s) | Mark Horne & Zeb Graham | ||
| Ground(s) | Boyer Oval (capacity: 6,000) | ||
| Uniforms | |||
| |||
The New Norfolk District Football Club, nicknamed The Eagles, is an Australian rules football club currently playing in the Southern Football League, in Tasmania, Australia.
History
Origins
The club was founded in 1878 with the first premiership won in 1891 under the name "Derwent Football Club", which would last until the late 1890s. With the "New Norfolk" name the team won the Southern Country Championship in 1904, the Brown Trophy (1906), the Ellis Dean (1908–1909) and the Corumbene Trophy (1910, 1913).
World War I ceased the club activity. In 1920 New Norfolk defeated Molesworth to win the Derwent Valley Football Association Premiership. Then came the Cyril Nash Trophy in which New Norfolk defeated Scottsdale by three points at York Park in 1921 and Clarence in 1922. The club’s next three premierships came in the Southern Tasmanian Country Football Association in 1928, 1930 and 1933, which would be the last year in the SCFA.
In 1934 New Norfolk played at Southern District Football Association, where it lasted until 1946 (excluding the World War II years). The following year the club entered to TANFL/TFL, where it play the tournaments until 2000 when joining the Southern Football League.[1]
TANFL and District Football
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 at the expense of Cananore and Lefroy which 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 and New Norfolk – formed in 1878) from the Southern District Football Association for a three-year probationary period, on 7 August 1950, the clubs unanimously voted to retain the two clubs as permanent members of the competition.
In early 1986 the TANFL went into liquidation and a newly constituted Tasmanian Football League replaced it as the sport's governing body.
The TFL initiated the new competition as the TFL Statewide League with all six former TANFL clubs involved, North Launceston and East Launceston also joined the competition from the NTFA in early 1986.
However, the new-look competition did not garner the support of the football public at either end of the state at first, with the lowest attendance recorded was 470 at KGV Football Park when New Norfolk hosted South Launceston on 28 June.
In 1987 the Devonport Football Club joined the competition under a new Blues emblem, along with Burnie Hawks (formerly the Cooee Bulldogs), which created a ten-club competition with all three regions now represented. All clubs were required to field teams in seniors, reserves and under-19s competition from that season.
At first the competition appeared well balanced with three different clubs – Glenorchy, North Hobart and Devonport – winning the league's first three premierships and, importantly, the strong level of competition produced a very high standard of football.
Of even greater importance, the league began to be well supported by players, clubs, sponsors, the general public and the media – which had for many years been unenthusiastic about Tasmanian football – was now giving the TFL Statewide League its full support.
The TFL administration had also been lax in their financial control of the competition and by 1992 it was servicing a debt of $300,000 and growing as crowd numbers continued to plummet.
By 1997 the league appeared to be in deep trouble, the level of interest in the TFL had continued to drop as crowds continued to stay away in droves as the competition had evolved into a two-horse race. The preceding five premierships had been won by just two clubs – Clarence and North Launceston.
Faced with enormous debts and dismal attendances, four clubs were to quit the TFL at the end of the 1997 season. By 1998, the TFL was on the brink of collapse. In a leaked document to the Hobart Mercury newspaper, the following was an official list of club debts at the completion of the 1998 TFL Statewide League season: Burnie Dockers ($735,819), Devonport ($709,067), New Norfolk ($431,858), Glenorchy ($267,897), North Hobart ($232,607), Northern Bombers ($167,570), Clarence ($153,441), Southern Districts ($80,000). With the debt level continuing to rise, New Norfolk left the League and sort permission to join the Southern Football League.
When AFL Tasmania decided to commit to a statewide league for the 2009 season former TFL club New Norfolk (1947–1998) was not invited to join the league because of their poor financial position. New Norfolk have dominated in the Southern Football League, playing in ten Grand Finals and winning six of them.
Honour and awards
Team championships
- SCFA
- Premierships (3): 1928, 1930, 1933
- Runners up (2): 1927, 1931, 1932
- SDFA
- Premierships (2): 1939, 1945
- Runners up (1): 1934
- TANFL/TFL Statewide League
- Premierships (2): 1968, 1982
- Runners up (7): 1959, 1964, 1970, 1972, 1981, 1983, 1994
- SFL
- Premierships (6): 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014
- Runners up (4): 2000, 2004, 2011, 2015
State Premiership (1): 1968
Leading goalkickers
TANFL/TFL Statewide
- 1963 – Peter Hudson – 79
- 1964 – Peter Hudson – 86
- 1965 – Peter Hudson – 110
- 1966 – Peter Hudson – 103
- 1983 – Wayne Fox – 135
- 1984 – Wayne Fox – 93
- 1985 – Wayne Fox – 130
- 1987 – Paul Dac – 80
- 1990 – Paul Dac – 103
- 1991 – Paul Dac – 133
SFL
- 2003 – Matthew Smith – 67
- 2005 – Sean Salter – 72
- 2009 – Adrian Burdon – 106
- 2012 – Michael Thompson – 101
- 2014 – Josh Hall – 112
William Leitch Medallists
(Best and fairest player – TFL and SFL premier senior football)
- 1948 – Jim Brown
- 1952 – Cliff Busch
- 1954 – Bruce Roe
- 1955 – Rex Garwood
- 1958 – Rex Garwood
- 1961 – Roger Browning
- 1962 – Roger Browning
- 1972 – Ricky Graham
- 1974 – Tony Browning
- 1981 – Robbie Dykes
- 1985 – Graham Hunnibell
- 1990 – Ricky Hanlon
- 1993 – Rene Peters
- 2004 – Brock Ackerley and Roger Belcher (tied)
- 2007 – Brad Carver
- 2009 – Roger Belcher
- 2011 – Nathan Ross
- 2012 – Michael Thompson
- 2013 – Nathan Ross
- 2014 – Caden Wilson
Darrel Baldock Medallists
(Best player afield – TFL Statewide League Grand Final)
- 1994 – Jason Wilton
Lefroy Medallists
(Best Player Afield – Interstate Football)
- 1965 – Peter Hudson
- 1982 – Graham Hunnibell
- 1983 – Michael Hunnibell
- 1984 – Wayne Fox
- 1985 – Wayne Fox
Weller Arnold Medallists
- 1966 – Barry Browning
- 1970 – Ricky Graham
George Watt Medallists
(Best and fairest player – TFL Reserves Football)
- 1953 – T. Maddox
- 1964 – Ken Latham
- 1965 – Ken Latham
- 1967 – Robert Wilton
- 1970 – L. Barratt
- 1973 – G. Richardson
- 1974 – R. Wylie
- 1979 – N. Bester
- 1983 – Steven Sutton
- 1986 – Robbie Crane
- 1991 – Brendan Skelly
- 1992 – Justin Rainbird
- 1993 – Adrian Jeffries
Vic Geard Medallists
(Best and fairest Player – TFL thirds football)
- 1976 – Steven Sutton
- 1977 – Dan Munnings
- 1986 – Jason Taylor
- 1988 – Steven Byers
- 1995 – Ricky Braslin
Doug Plaister Medallists
(Best and fairest player – TFL fourths football)
- 1975 – P. Jarvis
- 1980 – L. Brooks
- 1981 – Mark Hall
- 1982 – Mark Hall
- 1983 – Michael Eiszele
- 1984 – Jason Taylor
- 1988 – Paul Banks-Smith
- 1989 – Paul Barrow
- 1991 – J. Cooley
- 1993 – Ricky Braslin
- 1994 – D. Triffitt
- 1995 – Craig Haremza and D. Triffitt
Club record games holder
- 344 – Luke Joseph
- 340 - Michael Eiszele
Club record senior games
- 273 - Roger Belcher (still playing)
- 264 – Chris Sproule (retired)
- 254 – Hedley Thompson (retired)
Club record reserves games
- 180 – Dean King
All-Australians
- 1966 – Peter Hudson
Club record home attendance
An unofficial crowd just short of 5,000 was reported to have attended a home match against Huonville at Boyer Oval on 16 June 2012 in the Southern Football League.[2]
Club record finals attendance
- 24,413 v Clarence – 1970 TFL Grand Final at North Hobart Oval
Club record score
Most goals in a match by one player
- 18.6 – Brendan Fevola v Huonville on 16 June 2012 at Boyer Oval.[2]
References
- ↑ "Premierships myth busted", 14 Sep 2011
- 1 2 Smith, Adam (17 June 2012). "Brendan Fevola sends record books tumbling at Boyer Oval". Herald Sun. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
- ↑ Sporting Pulse NNDFC Record Retrieved on 2009-09-12.
External links
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