Australian Football

After achieving noteworthy success in junior competitions prior to world war one Yeoman was invited to represent the municipality of Wynyard in the North West Football Union when that competition resumed operations in 1920. That the club was thriving at the time is shown by its ability to field two strong teams each weekend, one in the NWFU, and the other in the Table Cape Football Association. In 1925 it was decided to rename the NWFU side Wynyard in order to emphasise the competition’s district structure. Muddying the waters somewhat was the fact that there was already a Wynyard Football Club in existence, and indeed had been since 1890. In a perverse touch of irony, this club was a member of the TCFA, and in 1928 contested, but lost, the season’s flag decider against Yeoman.

In 1933 Wynyard-Yeoman was forced into recess because of the economic depression. When it resurfaced in 1940 it was as a single team concern, with that team competing, alongside Wynyard, in the Darwin Football Association. Wynyard’s presence meant that the club had to revert to its original name of Yeoman. As chance would have it, both Yeoman and Wynyard fought their way through to the ultimate match of the season, with victory, as on the previous such occasion, going to the Robins.

After the war, both Yeoman and Wynyard gained entry to the NWFU, with ‘naming rights’ being conferred on the latter. Wynyard went on to become a mainstay of the competition, but Yeoman’s NWFU involvement only lasted another six years. In 1951, the Robins were back in the DFA, where they have since enjoyed a modicum of premiership success, and where they remain to this day. That said, it is now two decades since they last claimed a senior grade flag and recent fortunes have been almost uniformly unremarkable, although they did at least enjoy finals participation in 2018 when they finished fifth.