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SCOTTSDALE
Affiliated: Various junior competitions 1889-1947; NTFA 1948-86; NTFL 1987-99; NTFA 2000-present Home Ground: Scottsdale Recreation Ground Formed: 1889 Colours: Black and white Emblem: Magpies Premierships: 1912, 1919, 1926-27-28, 1937, 1939, 1946, 1964-65, 1968, 1970-71, 1973, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1989, 2001 (20 total) Tasmanian State Premierships - 1973 (1 total) Tasman Shield Trophy Winners: Charlie Dennis 1952 (1 total) Hec Smith Memorial Medallists: Max Headley 1972; Stephen Nicholls 1977; Ricky Rattray 1978; David Noonan 1979; Jamie Dennis 1982 & 1984 (5 Medallists/6 Medals) Ovaltine Medallists: Peter Roozendaal 1990; Ricky Hanlon 1992 (2 total) All Australians: Jim Leitch 1972 (1 total) NTFA Top Goalkickers: R.Lethborg (55) 1965; M.Taylor (57) 1966; M.Hadley (81) 1972 & (70) 1973; P.Bennett (75) 1983 (5 total) NTFL Top Goalkickers: M.Nichols (71) 1990; S.Blackwell (71) 1996 (2 total) Scottsdale's Official 'Best Team 1960 to 2000': Click here Highest Score: 36.28 (252) vs. George Town 14.8 (90) in 1980 Most Games: 408 by Greg Lethborg Record Finals Attendances: 9,276 for the 1977 NTFA grand final at York Park: Scottsdale 15.19 (109); North Launceston 10.10 (70)
If, as some contend, Tasmania has become the forgotten or neglected jewel in Australian football's crown then it is arguable that few clubs exemplify this state of affairs better than Scottsdale.
Scottsdale qualified to contest the 1973 Australian club championships after a superb season in which it failed to win just 1 of its 20 roster matches (a draw against North Launceston), beat North Launceston twice to secure the NTFA flag, annihilated TFL premiers Hobart by 65 points in the state preliminary final, and scored a heart stopping 11 point win over Cooee (NWFU) to clinch the state premiership in front of a predominantly hostile crowd of 8,269 at Burnie. Scottsdale had dominated the NTFA for much of the preceding decade, but this was the club's first state premiership. Trailing by 32 points at the final change of the state grand final the side looked set for another disappointment. However, the move of key defender Ron Hall to centre half forward altered the game completely, as he provided the Magpies with a much needed focal point in attack, enabling them to secure victory by adding 5.9 to 0.2 in a barn-storming last quarter performance. Scottsdale's 'day in the sun' at Adelaide was brief and, measured by objective standards, unimposing, as losses were predictably sustained against both Subiaco and Glenelg. However, the side was competitive, especially in its opening game against the Lions, and for a brief time at least, the tiny Tasmanian town of Scottsdale was indefatigably 'on the map', a state of affairs unlikely ever to be repeated. (In 2005, Scottsdale's 1973 combination was immortalised when it became the first team to be inducted into AFL Tasmania's 'Hall of Fame'.)
Comparative obscurity is by no means new to Scottsdale, however. The club was originally formed as long ago as 1889, but it spent its first sixty years competing, with modest success, in a variety of junior competitions. The club's profile was raised significantly in 1948, however, when it gained admission to one of Tasmanian football's three main senior competitions, the NTFA. After a prolonged 'bedding in' period which yielded just one (losing) grand final appearance in sixteen seasons the club, which had changed its colours from red and white to black and white on entry to the NTFA, and was known as the Magpies, emerged as a fully-fledged force in 1964 with a breakthrough premiership. Moreover, it was no flash in the pan, as the side emphatically proved over the ensuing decade which spawned five further flags from seven grand final appearances, and a reputation as one of Tasmanian football's strongest ever combinations.
Scottsdale's thirteen season involvement in the NTFL was by no means inglorious, with a premiership in 1989 and losing grand finals in 1990 and 1993, and an overall success rate of 62%. However, as has been repeatedly noted elsewhere in this website, on field achievements are no longer the principal determinant of a club's viability nor, indeed, its 'success', and in 2000 the Magpies were forced to 'jump ship' when they were no longer capable of meeting the basic running costs necessary to function in the relatively high profile, semi professional NTFL.
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