Australian Football

Gosford Australian Football Club was established in 1971, and began competing in the Newcastle Australian Football League the following year. The side quickly proved its mettle by reaching a grand final in only its second season, and although it failed to win on that occasion the achievement had the effect of stimulating interest in the code in the Gosford area. In 1976, Gosford was instrumental in setting up a new competition, the Central Coast Australian Football League, based in that locality, and boasting five inaugural member clubs.

Gosford won its first senior grade premiership in 1977, and two years later bolstered its strength by amalgamating with Narara Wyoming. Now playing as the Gosford Wyoming Tigers, the club dominated the CCAFL during the early 1980s, winning further senior flags in 1980, 1983 and 1984. After that, however, there was a prolonged and quite worrying dip in fortunes, which culminated in the club being forced to disband owing to a lack of players in 1996. The following year, however, the Tigers re-emerged looking lean, hungry and purposeful, with both seniors and reserves eventually contesting their respective grand finals. The fact that neither side ended up claiming victory was disappointing, but in no real way diminished the achievement of the small band of volunteers who, in an extremely short space of time, had manufactured a vibrant and competitive organisation from virtually nothing.

In 2000 the CCAFL and NAFL were brought together to create a single controlling body for football in the region. Gosford endured a mixed time in the new competition, known as the Black Diamond Australian Football League, even slumping to the indignity of a winless wooden spoon in 2004. In 2006, they fared rather better, managing 8 wins from 18 matches to finish in fifth place (out of eight) on the ladder. The following year they dropped one place after winning just 6 games before recovering slightly in 2008 when they managed 8 wins, albeit that this was still only good enough for a sixth place finish. The next few seasons saw the Tigers continuing to struggle, and in 2013 they transferred their allegiance to AFL Sydney, the ostensible reason being that they were unable to field a reserve grade side, a prerequisite for inclusion in the Black Diamond competition.

After four seasons of consolidation Gosford retraced their steps in 2016 by rejoining the Black Diamond AFL, which was now a three tier competition comprising Premier, Division One and Division Two. Competing in Division One the Tigers enjoyed a promising season which saw them qualify for the finals in fourth place, which was where they ultimately finished after a loss to Newcastle Bay in the first semi final. A year later the BDAFL was trimmed down to just two divisions with Gosford competing in the second tier, or Plate. The Tigers won eight of their 16 matches in 2017 to finish fifth of nine. The 2018 season saw Gosford participating in a revamped top division consisting of 11 teams in which they won six of their 16 matches to finish in eighth place. A year later the Tigers endured a disquieting campaign which produced just three wins and saw them slump to the wooden spoon.