Founded 1955 Minor Premiers Thuringowa | Premiers Hermit Park Wooden Spoon Townsville City Lions | |
Leading goal kicker Paul Sanson (Thuringowa) Highest Score West Townsville 69.26.440 (v Hermit Park 1.1.7) - 1992 | ||
AFL Townsville is an amateur competition formed as the Townsville Australian Football League in 1955, the first AFL competition to be formed in Queensland outside of the South East. It is based in the city of Townsville. For a short period in the 1980s, the competition was played during the summer months. The representative team is known as the Eagles and they wear similar guernseys to the Zillmere Eagles' old white and blue guernseys.
History
The League was launched with three teams, RAAF, Hermit Park and South Townsville in 1954, after a series of exhibition matches were played at RAAF Oval and Gill Park and an exhibition game at the Townsville Showgrounds. All clubs were founded with juniors.
The Garbutt club was formed in 1956. In 1961, Currajong replaced the RAAF who withdrew due to a struggle for numbers. Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War led to the Army entering the scene in 1968 when 6 RAR and a revived RAAF side expanded the league to 6 teams.
The Wulguru club was established in 1968, entered senior sides and this made the league up to 7 sides. As Australia's involvement in Vietnam wound down the Army withdrew. The competition was to remain with 6 sides from 1976 – 1982 until in 1983 a side from Burdekin increased the numbers once again to 7. Burdekin was made up from converted Rugby players and the team had almost no support apart from the management of the Delta Hotel. The demise of Wulguru followed in early 1984 when the league made a decision which would have significant consequences. Four seasons of summer football followed and while the “Darwin” seasons attracted some top players junior development was stifled.
Currajong in 1990 swallowed up a penniless Townsville Swans, who had switched from South Townsville in June 1982 to become the Curra Swans. The nomination of the Hawks club in 1989 caused a stir due to the number of current players recruited from Hermit Park, Currajong and South Townsville using suspect overtures, although be that as it may the club were premiers by a point in their first season.
The league lost three teams in 1989 and the following year only Hermit Park, West Townsville, Curra Swans, and the University Hawks remained.
In 1999, the Northern Beaches Lions entered the TAFL in an attempt to expand the shattered league. Unfortunately, they endured season after season of enormous defeats. In one match that year, Steve Mazey of West Townsville kicked 27 goals against them. The Northern Beaches Lions were renamed to the Twin City Lions in 2002 and continued to struggle until the end of 2008 when they went into recess. The Lions regrouped and returned with much more solid foundations in 2012 under the banner of "Townsville City Lions". Despite losing every match that year, often at record margins, the determined Lions upgraded their Garbutt facility and won their first Senior match in June 2013 by a goal against University.
Despite the lack of growth in the Seniors, AFL Townsville enjoyed a massive surge in the Junior ranks in more recent years, numbers had increased, and now hundreds of children and teenagers turn out to give their all for their respective clubs.
In 2010, the Thuringowa Bulldogs (former West Townsville) won their first Senior premiership since 2001 in their 40th year and went on to go back to back in 2011.