Australian Football

When the Benalla and District Football League was re-established after world war two, Tatong was one of six founder member sides, and one of three to make the transition from the pre-war Tatong and Thoona Football Association.

In the ten seasons that the TTFA existed, Tatong was highly competitive, winning a premiership in 1934 thanks to a 21 point grand final defeat of Goorambat, and coming close on several other occasions. The Magpies reached their first BDFL grand final in 1952, but lost a thriller to Tolmie by 2 points. Further losing grand finals followed in 1953, against Benalla All Blacks, and 1959 against Goorambat, before they broke through for their first flag in 1960 courtesy of a 13.9 (87) to 10.8 (68) grand final victory over North Wangaratta. This was the first of three successive premierships for Tatong which thereby became the first BDFL club to achieve the feat.

The Magpies’ record since the early 1960s has been quite superb, and overall they have vied with Goorambat for the honour of being the most consistently successful club in the competition. Their tally of eleven senior premierships included another hat-trick between 1994 and 1996, but since the last of these triumphs, success dried up. After the turn of the century, the Magpies tended to struggle, although they did reach the preliminary final in 2004. 

In 2010, Tatong lined up in the Ovens and King Football League, following the dissolution of the BDFL; the competition had been closed down as it could not meet the Victorian Country Football League’s requirement of having at least six member clubs. The Magpies did not fare well in the OKFL, and in July 2013 an AFL North East Border review recommended a three-way merger between Tatong, Swanpool and Goorambat. Both Tatong and Swanpool preferred instead to leave the league than lose their identity, and departed the OKFL after the 2013 season.

By March 2014, Tatong and Swanpool had committed to forming a new merged entity together and made a last-ditch entry to join the Picola & District league, but had missed the imposed deadline. Their efforts resulted in a new club, the Samaria Suns, being formed in May 2014 from members of Tatong and Swanpool with the new goal of joining the Picola league in 2015. However, this bid was also unsuccessful, and the Suns exist only as a Masters team in the Benalla over-35s league.