Hervey Bay

Originally known as the Sea Hawks, and boasting red and green colours, Hervey Bay was established in 1977, and won a senior premiership, in the Bundaberg Australian Football League, on debut. Three more senior flags in this competition followed in 1982-3-4.

The 1985 season brought both a change of image, with the adoption of the Bomber emblem and Essendon-style black and red playing uniforms, and competittion, as the club transferred to the Wide Bay Australian Football League. One thing that did not change was the club’s habit of success, as evidenced by further senior grade premierships in 1985 and 1986.

In 1987 the WBAFL and the BAFL merged to form the Bundaberg Wide Bay Australian Football League. The Bombers contested a grand final in the new competition’s first season, but lost to West Bundaberg. By way of making amends they then proceeded to claim the next five flags in succession, plus a couple more in the ensuing four years, an achievement that few senior clubs anywhere in Australia have managed, in any era.

Despite the hiccups of grand final losses to Across The Waves in 2006 and 2008, Hervey Bay’s status as the predominant football force in the Bundaberg Wide Bay area shows no real sign of abating. Since the turn of the century, the Bombers have won six out of the eight available flags, and their overall tally of thirteen senior BWBAFL premierships is more than double that of their nearest rival.