Australian Football

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KEY FACTS

Official name
George Town Football Club

Known as
George Town

Nickname
Seagulls (prior to 1970)

Formed
1927

Colours
Red, white and black

Emblem
Saints

Affiliation (Current)
Northern Tasmanian Football Association (NTFA) 1996–2024

Affiliations (Historical)
East Tamar Football Association (ETFA) 1946–1969; Tamar Football Association (TFA) 1970–1983; Northern Tasmanian Football Association (Original) (NTFA) 1984–1986; North West Football League (NWFL) 1987–1989; Tasmanian Amateur Football League (TAFL) 1990–1995

Senior Premierships
East Tamar Football Association (ETFA) - 1957-8, 1963, 1965 (4 total); Kerrison Shield - 1956 (1 total); Tamar Football Association (TFA) - 1971-2-3, 1977, 1979, 1982 (6 total); NTFA Division One - 2002-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 (8 total)

Most Games
334 by Dale Crane

George Town

Since the turn of the century George Town has enjoyed consistent success, but such was not always the case. Formed in 1927, the club did not claim a senior grade premiership until thirty years later. Mind you, as breakthrough premierships go, George Town’s of 1957 was pretty emphatic, with its 7.5 (47) to 4.4 (28) grand final defeat of Lilydale coming as the culmination to an unbeaten season, the only one ever achieved in the entire history of the East Tamar Football Association. Not long after the grand final, George Town met and defeated West Tamar Football Association premiers Beauty Point in the Kerrison Shield play-off to determine the premier team of the whole Tamar Valley.

Over the ensuing quarter of a century, George Town amassed an impressive collection of senior flags in both the ETFA and the Tamar Football Association, which was formed in 1970 when the East and West Tamar competitions merged. On commencing in the TFA, George Town adopted the Saints emblem it still uses today. Prior to 1970, the club had been known for many years as the Seagulls.

The TFA was only in existence for fifteen seasons, and the Saint contested the senior grand final in ten of them. Their final tally of six senior premierships made them easily the competition’s most successful club.

In 1984, as the TFA was embarking on its last ever season, George Town commenced a three year stint in the Northern Tasmanian Football Association, followed by three years in the Northern Tasmanian Football League. In 1990 the club transferred to the Northern Division of the Tasmanian Amateur Football League, the competition which in due course would metamorphose into today’s NTFA (not to be confused with the former competition of that name which had disbanded in 1986).

After reaching grand finals in their third and fourth seasons in the amateurs, the Saints’ fortunes dipped, and they did not re-emerge as a force until after the turn of the century. Between 2001 and 2009 they contested every senior grade Division One grand final, and emerged victorious from the last eight of them in one of the most sustained periods of success enjoyed by any team, anywhere and at any time.

Recent seasons have been something of a struggle with the Saints finishing ninth and last in 2015, seventh in 2016, eighth in 2017, bottom of the pile in 2018 and sixth in 2019. The NTFA continued on a reduced scale basis in 2020 but George Town did not compete.

Source

John Devaney - Full Points Publications


 

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.