WAGGA TIGERS
Affiliated: Riverina Football League (RFL) from 2007, having previously participated in the Wagga Australian Rules Football League, the Albury and District Football League, the Farrer Football League 1958-81, RFL 1982-2001, and AFL Canberra 2002-6
Club Address: P.O. Box 2168, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2650
Home Ground: Robertson Oval
Formed: 1928
Colours: Black and gold
Emblem: Tigers
Senior Premierships: 1957-8-9, 1961-2, 1975, 1977-8, 1980-1, 1985, 1993-4-5, 1997-8-9, 2001, 2007 (19 total)
Mulrooney Medallists: D.Jacques 2002; N.McDonald 2004 (2 total)
Most Games: 422 by Gerald Piper
| MINI-BIOGRAPHIES: | Paul Kelly |
Despite boasting a population of only 40,000 or so the Riverina town of Wagga Wagga has produced a disproportionately high number of champions in numerous sports, with football among the best served (see footnote 1). It is hardly surprising therefore that the town's football team, the Wagga Tigers, has performed with consistent credit since being formed in 1928. During the last decade and a half of the twentieth century in particular, the team was prodigiously successful: between 1985 and 2001 the Tigers contested virtually every RFL grand final, winning the flag on no fewer than 13 occasions. The club's dominance was so consummate that it began to seek a more challenging environment in which to flex its muscles. When overtures to the Ovens and Murray Football League foundered, the Tigers were delighted to receive an attractive proposal from the one of the strongest leagues in the country, the ACTAFL.
The Tigers took their ACTAFL bows in 2002, and while it would be fair to suggest that they found the increase in standard somewhat daunting, they were far from overwhelmed. Sixth position in its first four seasons and seventh in its fifth was, on the face of it, nothing to get particularly excited about, but the club proved itself a viable contributor to a vibrant, high standard, professionally run competition. At the conclusion of the 2006 season, however, the decision was taken, for a combination of reasons, to return 'home' to the RFL, where immediate premiership success was attained thanks to an emphatic 16.17 (113) to 6.13 (49) grand final defeat of Narrandera.
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Footnotes
1. The panoply of star players to have either been born or nurtured in the town includes Bill Mohr, Wayne Carey, Geoff Kingston and Paul Kelly. Return to Main Text