North West Coast Football

1881

Football on the North West Coast commenced when Formby and Latrobe clubs formed 12 a-side teams. Results of this first match: Latrobe  3.20 to Formby  0.15.

1884

Latrobe club, on the North West Coast, played a team from Waratah in the first recorded game at Burnie, on the old Montello racecourse, now a housing development.

1887

The Ulverstone Football Club was formed on the North West Coast.

1894

North West Football Association was formed on the North West Coast. Its headquarters were at Devonport.

Foundation teams included: Devonport, Latrobe, Mersey, Ulverstone and Wesley Vale.

1908

North Western Football league formed on the coast on 8th August, with boundaries from Latrobe to Burnie.

Teams in the League were:  Latrobe, Penguin and Ulverstone.

1909

Turmoil on North West coast

A major dispute arose on the North West Coast in the formation year of the North West Football Union. A heavy debate and disagreement took place between the Latrobe, Ulverstone and Mersey Football Clubs that had been raging since a mid-season roster match between Ulverstone and Mersey, which developed into a brawl. At a Special Meeting of the North West Football Association, which was the main body on the coast at the time, the Ulverstone Club was disqualified and Latrobe, which supported Ulverstone in the dispute, withdrew from the competition.

When no reconciliation was possible, Ulverstone and Latrobe combined with Penguin to form the North Western Football League.

On April 17th both the NWFA and the NWFL applied to the TFL for affiliation, the NWFA was accepted, but the NWFL was refused because Ulverstone and Latrobe were disqualified clubs. The battle continued until the TFL sent a delegate to the coast to resolve the matter.

To cut a long story short, after a tiring period of investigation and decision making, the League advised the two bodies to come together and form one strong Union to govern the game on the coast.

1910

Was an important year for football in general as the differences in the North and North West were healed, with the formation of the North West Football Union at Latrobe on 3rd May, as a new governing body of football on the coast following dissatisfaction with the NWFA.

First roster matches played on 14th May. With teams from Latrobe, Mersey, Penguin, Ulverstone and Wesley Vale competing. Although Wesley Vale withdrew early in the season.

Ulverstone won the Union’s first premiership.

1911

The make-up of the NWFU had changed from the previous season ie: Devonport, Latrobe, Mersey and Ulverstone joined from a local Junior association. Penguin withdrew from the Union and entered the Burnie Football League (BFL).

The BFL consisted of: Ridgley, Wanderers, Wynyard and Yeomen until Penguin joined.

1913

Another change took place with the NWFU when its four clubs were joined by Wanderers from the BFL.

1915

Football abandoned until 1919 because of World War 1.

At this time, the Wanderers club was disqualified, because of a non-payment of dues and returned to the BFL.