Australian Football

Glenorchy

The first club bearing the name of the Hobart district of New Town was actually formed as early as 1878, but it was not until 1919 that a club of that name participated in the TFL, albeit only at junior level. After achieving outstanding success at this level, the club was admitted to senior ranks in 1921, but once there it found success much harder to come by. Indeed it was not until 1935 that New Town broke through to record its first senior premiership with an 18.9 (117) to 15.13 (103) grand final win over North Hobart in front of a crowd of 6,021. One of the stars of the win was New Town’s captain-coach, the legendary Roy Cazaly, who was ably supported by Langford (7 goals), the Rooke brothers, and Ferguson.[1]

The 1935 triumph was to be New Town’s only success prior to the TANFL’s introduction of district football in 1944. Since then, however, the club has enjoyed regular premiership success. Officially reconstituted as the New Town District Football Club when the district system was implemented in 1945, the club also discarded its old green and gold playing uniforms in favour of black and white. The side’s first post war grand final appearance came in 1946, but league newcomers Sandy Bay were comfortable winners by 42 points, 12.16 (88) to 5.16 (46).

In 1948 Roy Cazaly returned to the club as non-playing coach and he reaped immediate success. In the grand final that year New Town defeated North Hobart by 16 points in a hard, slogging game of poor standard in which numerous injuries were sustained. Final scores were 11.15 (81) to 9.11 (65), with Fox, Smith (5 goals), Kelly, Tonks and Conway among New Town’s best. The team then went on to claim the state premiership thanks to a 2 point defeat of NTFL premier North Launceston at North Hobart Oval.

The 1949 season brought back to back flags after a 10.8 (68) to 4.12 (36) grand final win over Hobart. Kelly, Rough, Witzerman and Loring were the best players. In the state premiership play off, however, North Launceston achieved revenge for the 1948 result with an emphatic victory at York Park.

A 2 point grand final defeat against Hobart in 1950 was followed a year later by a 20.14 (134) to 9.9 (63) annihilation of North Hobart for the club’s most convincing premiership victory to date. New Town were particularly well served on this occasion by Fox, Garwood, Scott, Chick, Conway and Lewis (7 goals). The state premiership was not contested in 1951, but New Town would surely have been hard to beat if their form in the grand final was anything to go by.

Bill Fox took over from Cazaly as coach in 1952 but he lasted only a year as the side slumped to third. The following season, however, under Fox’s replacement, Jack Rough, the side returned to the top with an 11 point grand final triumph over a resilient Sandy Bay combination. The Magpies’ best in their 16.18 (114) to 15.13 (103) triumph included Garwood, Strange, Lewis, Conlan and Robson.

Hobart took the honours by 10 points in the 1954 grand final but this proved to be just a temporary hiatus as New Town roared back to claim successive flags in 1955 and 1956. The 1955 grand final was a ‘revenge’ mission with Hobart the victims by 35 points, 15.11 (101) to 8.18 (66). Best players for New Town included Stockell, Strange, Rough, Johnston and Shadbolt. A year later New Town and North Hobart treated a 12,000 crowd to a nail-biting tussle in which New Town led by less than a goal at every change before squeezing home by just 3 points, 8.7 (55) to 7.10 (52). Despite inclement weather conditions it was a high standard game with Webster, Eade, Griffiths, Lewis and Rough shining for New Town. The side went on to win its second state premiership this year, making up for a disappointing failure in 1955. Another highlight of the 1956 season was Barry Strange’s selection in the All Australian team selected after the Perth carnival; Strange remains - and is certain ever to remain - the only New Town/Glenorchy player to be so honoured.

The 1957 season was a seminal one in the club’s development as it saw a relocation to the King George V Oval in Glenorchy and, following an ostensible amalgamation with the club already based there, a re-christening as the Glenorchy District Football Club. On the field the team continued to do well, losing the 1957 grand final by 2 goals against North Hobart before, in 1958, annexing another premiership with a 15.15 (105) to 11.11 (77) grand final defeat of Sandy Bay. Conlan, Johnston, Eade, Siely and Churchill were among the best players in a side which went on to lift the state premiership with wins over Longford in Hobart and Burnie at Devonport.

A plethora of injuries saw the Magpies slump to the unaccustomed indignity of last place (of six) in 1959, and when this performance was repeated after a comparatively injury free 1960 season the club hierarchy decided to ring the changes. Former player John Chick returned as senior coach in 1961 after a 119 game, 29 goal VFL career with Carlton, and under his astute guidance the Magpies played off in the grand final, losing by 36 points to North Hobart. This proved to be something of a false dawn, however, as the side slipped down the ladder to fifth in 1962 before collecting another wooden spoon a year later.

Bob Parsons succeeded Chick as coach in 1964 and after a season of re-building the side broke through for a premiership in 1965 thanks to a 10.15 (75) to 6.8 (44) victory over North Hobart. Best players were Marney, McMahon, Kingston, Johnston and Baker. A win in the state premiership at the expense of Scottsdale followed.

Parsons guided Glenorchy to another grand final a year later but the result was a soul-destroying 1 point loss to Hobart. However, Parsons commented that “all things considered 1966 was a happy and successful year for the club and to reach the grand final was indeed an achievement.”[2]

The 1967 season brought a second successive grand final loss, this time against North Hobart by 14 points, and thereafter it gradually became clear that the team was on the slide. Fourth place in 1968 was followed by a drop to fifth in 1969 under new coach Graeme Gahan. When this result was repeated in 1970 Gahan departed to be replaced by experienced East Fremantle player and Western Australian interstate representative Trevor Sprigg, but in four seasons as coach he was unable to lift the side above third position.

The big news prior to the start of the 1975 season was the appointment of Tasmania’s and one of Australia’s greatest ever goalkickers, Peter Hudson, as senior coach. Hudson was to have a pronounced impact on the team’s fortunes, both as coach and player. In the latter capacity he kicked 81 goals for the year to top the league list, while in the former he steered the Magpies to their first grand final in eight years and their first premiership in ten. Glenorchy’s victims on grand final day were Sandy Bay. Hudson kicked 7 goals to be one of his side’s best players, while others to do well included 1975 Leitch Medallist Sprigg, obviously revelling in his new found freedom from the burdens of coaching, Parish, Linton and Johannsen. Scores were Glenorchy 15.16 (106) downed Sandy Bay 10.7 (67).

After adding the state premiership to that of the TFL the Magpies journeyed to Adelaide for the Australian Club Championships where they performed creditably in sustaining only narrow losses to Norwood and West Perth.

With Hudson still at the helm a year later there seemed good reason for optimism but the side floundered badly on grand final day against Sandy Bay, going down by 97 points. It was a similar story in 1977 under Jack Rough, Hudson having returned to Hawthorn in the VFL that year, with the Seagulls’ grand final winning margin on that occasion being 91 points. The 1978 grand final was a much more evenly contested affair, but not even the return of the mighty Peter Hudson to the Glenorchy camp could prevent Sandy Bay from registering an 11 point triumph.

The 1979 season brought a fifth successive grand final appearance and a change of opponent in Clarence. However, there was no change in fortune as the Roos won by 3 points thereby consigning Glenorchy to a fourth consecutive grand final defeat. Peter Hudson officially retired after the grand final although he was to make a brief 3 game come back two seasons later. All told, Hudson played a total of 289 senior games for New Norfolk, Hawthorn and Glenorchy between 1963 and 1981, netting 1,721 goals at an average of 5.95 goals per game. He also kicked a further 317 goals in other games such as interstate matches for Tasmania and Victoria, intra-state football for the TFL, night games, state and Australian championship matches, and so forth, for an Australian record career total of 2,038 senior goals.

Colin Tully replaced Jack Rough as senior coach in 1980, but once again the team was bested on grand final day, this time by Hobart. In addition, the Magpies took part in a prototype Statewide knock-out competition involving TFL, NTFA and NWFU clubs and got as far as the semi finals before losing to eventual winners Hobart.

Peter Hudson was back as coach a year later, ostensibly in a non playing capacity, but as mentioned above he did make a brief come back at full forward late in the season when the team was struggling and managed 30 goals in 3 games. The side finished third.

The 1982 season saw Peter Hudson give way to Gary Davidson as coach and also saw the Magpies filling their now familiar role as bridesmaids in going down by 11 points to New Norfolk in the grand final.

A year later, however, they swept all before them in one of the most outstanding seasons in the club’s history. In round twenty they kicked a club record 34.21 (225) against Hobart, and several weeks later in the grand final they gave an equally dominant performance to overturn New Norfolk by 92 points, 28.19 (187) to 14.11 (95), with Peters, Webster, Excell, Pearce (5 goals) and Stephens starring.

Glenorchy claimed the minor premiership in 1984 but then lost the grand final by 26 points against Clarence.

In 1985 the club broke with recent practice by appointing a local, Danny Ling, as senior coach, and he met with immediate success as Glenorchy defeated Clarence by 4 points in a fiery grand final played in front of a crowd of 16,561. There were noteworthy performances from Pearce (7 goals), Curley, Coleman, Excell and Collis.

In 1986 the league expanded to include two Launceston-based teams and Glenorchy made history by securing premierships at every level. The reserves downed North Hobart by 51 points; Clarence succumbed in the thirds by the same margin; and in the fourths it was Hobart who went down by 25 points. At senior level the Magpies proved too good for Sandy Bay to the tune of 32 points, 14.20 (104) to 9.18 (72), with prominent showings from Klug, Coleman, Hay, Tovey and Gilham.

The TFL expanded still further in 1987 with the admission of two NWFU clubs in the Burnie Hawks (formerly Cooee) and the Devonport Blues. Glenorchy remained a force to be reckoned with but lost a high scoring grand final against North Hobart by 52 points. It was a similar story twelve months later under new coach Robert Groenewegen, with the Devonport Blues defeating the Magpies by 43 points, 15.7 (97) to 8.6 (54).

Danny Ling returned to the coach’s hot seat in 1990 but, with the club announcing a massive financial deficit of over $200,000, he was clearly going to be up against it from the outset. Glenorchy plummeted to ninth (out of ten) in 1990, heralding a decline in fortunes which was to continue for most of the rest of the decade. However, by 1999 the Magpies, under Paul Hamilton, were once again in a position of pre-eminence, and a 15.9 (99) to 7.11 (53) grand final victory over the Northern Bombers (North Launceston under a new, if only temporary, name) seemingly heralded a great future.

Sadly, however, this was not to be. In January 2001 the Tasmanian State Football League collapsed, leaving Glenorchy, Clarence, Hobart and North Hobart with nowhere to go. All were ultimately accepted into the recently formed Southern Football League, although in Glenorchy’s case - as in that of New Norfolk before them - the price was distressingly high: the league ruled that, as a condition of affiliation, Glenorchy must change both its emblem and its colours. This was because both the Magpie emblem and the black and white playing uniform were already in use by Claremont Football Club (not to be confused with the Perth-based club of the same name). The Glenorchy Magpies thus became the Glenorchy Storm, supplemented the black and white in their uniform with green, and girded their loins to confront an unknown, but in all probability infinitely less auspicious, future, although a grand final appearance in their debut season in the new competition may have afforded a minuscule glimmer of solace.

In November 2003 there was considerable rejoicing among diehard Glenorchy supporters when it was announced that the club would be reverting to its traditional nickname (Magpies) and colours (black and white) from 2004. The change was made possible by virtue of the fact that the SFL now operated a two division system, with Glenorchy in the premier division and Claremont in the regional division. As a result of this split the two clubs no longer had to play one another, and so the ‘colour clash’ which had forced Glenorchy to break with tradition no longer applied.

Glenorchy’s first grand final appearance in the SFL had come in the club’s debut season of 2001 and had resulted in a 44 point loss to Clarence. It was a similar story five years later when the same two sides confronted one another on grand final day. The Magpies stayed in touch until the long break, but during the second half the Roos added 10 goals to 6 to win with disconcerting ease. In the grand final of 2007, however, it was a vastly different story as, in front of 7,091 supporters, the Magpies comprehensively defeated their 2006 nemesis to the tune of 68 points, 14.22 (106) to 4.14 (38). Piuselli, Crouch, Curran, McIver, Newett and Kamaric were Glenorchy’s best. It was a highly satisfying season all round for Glenorchy as both the reserves and colts sides also reached their respective grand finals, with the reserves emulating the seniors by going top.

Twelve months later the Magpies enjoyed back to back premiership success for the first time in over two decades when they accounted for North Hobart in the grand final by 9 goals. A fortnight earlier the Demons had won a tight, low scoring second semi final between the two sides by 14 points but there was no denying Glenorchy when it mattered most. Echoing 2007, the seniors’ accomplishment was matched by the reserves who overcame Clarence in the grand final by 17 points, 10.18 (78) to 9.7 (61).

The 2009 season saw the launch of a new statewide competition known as the Tasmanian State League (TSL) and Glenorchy were among the ten founder member clubs. In their debut season the Magpies headed the ladder after the roster matches and went on to contest what proved to be a thrilling grand final against Clarence. Five goals down at the main break the Magpies chipped away at the Roos' lead in the third term before surging back into contention in the last. The longer the final quarter went on the more ragged and tired the 'Roos looked, but Glenorchy squandered chance after chance and in the end fell short by a single goal. The following season saw the same two sides contesting the grand final but on this occasion Clarence proved much too strong and surged to victory by 57 points, 15.13 (103) to 6.10 (46). 

Glenorchy have been consistently competitive since 2010 but did not again qualify for a grand final until 2015. The opposition on this occasion came in the shape of North Launceston who prevailed after a fiercely fought clash by a couple of goals. The Magpies again reached the grand final in 2016 and finally broke the ice for a first ever TSL flag by accounting for North Launceston in a low scoring affair by 20 points. At half time the Magpies trailed by a goal but then added 6.6 to 2.4 over the remaining two terms to win well. Final scores were Glenorchy 9.6 (60) defeated North Launceston 5.10 (40) with the Glenorchy backline comprising the likes of Ben Reynolds, Jordy Hayden, Tom Cleary, Tim Butterworth, and the Arnold brothers Jordy and Josh heavily instrumental in the win. Nevertheless it was Clinton French, the only multiple goal kicker in the match (he booted 4), who earned the Baldock Medal for best afield. It was an excellent season all round for Glenorchy as Jaye Bowden won both the Lynch Medal (successor to the ineptly named Tassie Medal) for competition best and fairest and the Hudson Medal for the league's top goal kicker. Bowden had also won both awards in 2015.

In 2017 the Magpies suffered a disappointing decline which saw their season brought to an end at the elimination final stage by Launceston. A year later they did slightly better, getting as far as the preliminary final in which they lost to Lauderdale by three straight kicks. This was followed by a fourth place finish in 2019 and a disappointing slump to last place in 2020.