SMITHTON

Affiliated: Circular Head Football Association (CHFA) 1919-48 & 1952-79; NWFU 1949-51 & 1980-86; NTFL 1987-present

Home Ground: Smithton Football Ground

Formed: Circa 1919

Colours: Red, white and black

Emblem: Saints

Premierships: 1925, 1929, 1949, 1952, 1954-5-6, 1958-9-60, 1962-3-4, 1966-7-8, 1971,1978, 1983, 1991 (20 total)

Wander Medallists: Stephen Parsons 1983; John Korporshoek 1984 (2 total)

Ovaltine Medallists: Mark Thorp 1988; Dean Tuson 1989; Darren Denneman 1991; Tony Crennan 1994 (4 total)

NWFU Top Goalkickers: A.Macguire (93) 1982 & (110) 1983 (2 total)

Highest Score: 39.18 (252) vs. George Town 8.4 (52) in 1989

Most Games: 250 by Garry Young

Record Finals Attendance: 9,828 for the 1985 NWFU grand final at West Park, Burnie: Penguin 21.9 (135); Smithton 13.9 (87)

Formed shortly after the end of World War One (the precise date is not certain) Smithton Football Club participated in the Circular Head Football Association when, unusually for Tasmania, that competition resumed after the war in 1919, in spite of the fact that there was an influenza epidemic raging (see footnote 1).  Smithton lost the grand final that year to Irishtown, as it was to do again on four consecutive occasions between 1921 and 1924.  The club's first flag came with a 7.13 (55) to 3.1 (19) grand final defeat of Stanley in 1925.

In all, Smithton's fifty-nine season involvement in a competition in which the standard of play was regarded as being just below that of Tasmania's three major leagues (see footnote 2) yielded a total of eighteen senior premierships from thirty-seven grand finals.  When the club moved up a level by joining the NWFU in 1980 it did not take it long to find its feet (see footnote 3).  In 1983, it reached the grand final for the first time and, after a classic, 1980s style 'shoot-out', overcame the challenge of Cooee by the smallest margin possible, 20.17 (137) to 21.10 (136).  Not satisfied with this, the Saints (as they had become known on their elevation in 1980) also provided the season's Wander Medallist in the shape of Stephen Parsons, and the top goal kicker in Tony Maguire, who booted 93 majors for the year.

Smithton continued to challenge strongly for the flag in each of the NWFU's final three seasons, albeit without further success after grand final losses against Cooee (by 9 points in 1984), Penguin (8 goals, 1985) and Ulverstone (15 points, 1986).

Since 1987 the club has competed in the NTFL, reaching the grand final three times, in 1989 (lost to Scottsdale by 3 goals), 1991 (won by 8 goals against Ulverstone) and 2009 (lost heavily to Ulverstone).  The last of these grand final appearances came in a competition truncated by the departure of its strongest clubs to the newly formed statewide league.

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Footnotes

1.  The TFL, NTFA and NWFU, for example, all suspended operations during 1919, although the much more informal TFL reserves competition carried on more or less as usual.  Return to Main Text

2.  In 1950, for example, Ron Phillips of CHFA club Stanley was selected in Tasmania's squad for the Brisbane Carnival.  Return to Main Text

3.  This was actually Smithton's second stint in the NWFU.  The club had previously been a member between 1949 and 1951.  Return to Main Text