Australian Football

Sandy Bay

Having gained admission to the TFL on that competition’s resumption after World War Two the Seagulls made an immediate impact, reaching the grand final in their debut season, and winning a flag in their second.1 Admittedly, there were only three other clubs in the league at that point, but even so it is difficult to think of many other teams making similarly auspicious starts.

Once the competition expanded to six clubs in 1947, however, Sandy Bay began to find life tougher. They eventually rediscovered the winning touch in 1952 with a 12.9 (81) to 9.9 (63) grand final victory over Hobart followed by a losing grand final against New Town in 1953. Another grand final defeat at the hands of the Magpies, who were known by this time as Glenorchy, followed in 1958 before the Seagulls returned to the victors’ rostrum in 1964 with a dour 2 goal grand final defeat of New Norfolk.

It was during the 1970s, however, that the Sandy Bay Football Club really came into its own, embarking on a sustained period of dominance that few TFL clubs ever matched. Sandwiched in between third place finishes in 1970 and 1979 the Seagulls contested eight consecutive grand finals for five wins and three losses. Especially towards the end of this period the side was well nigh indomitable, as the scorelines of the grand finals bear out:

The Seagulls were the only TFL club to secure three consecutive post-war senior premierships, but sadly there were no subsequent additions to the honour board prior to the club’s compulsory exclusion from the competition at the end of the 1997 season. Sandy Bay’s demise was a simple matter of economics: the TFL had outgrown itself and there was no longer a place for clubs which first and foremost were about enjoying football - like, quintessentially, Sandy Bay - rather than about achieving success in business terms. The new, trimmed down TFL was leaner, meaner and supposedly better equipped to withstand the inevitable rigours and pressures of the new century. However, according to the subjective criteria to which many genuine football supporters still subscribe the departure of Sandy Bay - and Hobart, and Launceston - left the TFL a considerably poorer football environment.

Three years later it was all academic anyway as the Statewide League collapsed. It is hard to see how the sport of Australian football in Tasmania will benefit from the creation of a de facto state team to compete in a glorified AFL reserves competition, unless you happen to believe, as an ever increasing number of people appear to, that ‘AFL’ and ‘Australian football’ are synonyms.

Arguably the greatest of the many fine players to have given service to the Seagulls was Tony Martyn, who made his TFL debut with the club in 1976 and immediately stamped himself as a performer of immense potential, and no small amount of skill. Named the TFL’s rookie of the year that season, he capped things off by helping his team to a 21.10 (136) to 9.9 (63) grand final annihilation of Glenorchy. After playing in further premiership teams in 1977 and 1978, and winning the club’s best and fairest award in the latter year, he transferred to Melbourne where he gave solid service in 32 VFL games over the next two and a half seasons. Midway through the 1981 season he joined Port Adelaide, playing a total of 14 SANFL games including that year’s winning grand final against Glenelg when he was one of the best players afield.

Martyn returned to Sandy Bay in 1982 a much more accomplished and assured player. Equally effective when playing across the centre, on a half forward flank, or on the ball, he was the dominant player in the league in 1982 and 1983, winning the William Leitch Medal both seasons. He also won consecutive best and fairest awards for the Seagulls, and the Lefroy Medal as Tasmania’s best player in interstate matches in 1982. The last of his 129 senior games for Sandy Bay was the losing grand final of 1986 against Glenorchy.