AFL Cairns
Encyclopedia
The Australian Football League Cairns is a semi-professional Australian rules football
league that includes clubs from the Cairns region in Queensland
, Australia
. It is widely regarded as the strongest regional Australian rules football league in Queensland and has a large base at Cazaly's Stadium
which has staged pre-season Australian Football League
matches.
The league has significant coverage in local media such as The Cairns Post
. Each year the Grand Final
attracts between 2,000-3,000 spectators.
The league has produced many notable players at VFL/AFL level, including Colin Judd (Hawthorn
), Craig Brittain
(North Melbourne
), Troy Clarke
, (Brisbane Bears
), Mark West
(Western Bulldogs
), Che Cockatoo-Collins
, Donald Cockatoo-Collins, David Cockatoo-Collins, Jason Roe, Courtenay Dempsey
and Jarrod Harbrow
.
The Cairns team was :- Jack MacNamara, Tom Swallow, J Swallow, "Little" Draper, Reid, Crawford, Field, Campbell, Warren, Harrison, McClelland, Oldham, Rev.Nobbs, Grcnsen, J.Loridan, Bulcock, Wood, Ärmstrong, C.Loridan, Johnstone, D. Wall, Middlebrook, Schumhronk, Dent, McCarthy, Hogarth.
T. H. LAKE was the secretary.
The Modern league as we now now it formed in 1956 and a local schoolboy competition was also formed resulting in a junior representative trip to Townsville by plane. In 1957 the ANFC, through Bruce Andrew
, purchased land in Cairns for the first dedicated field in regional Queensland which became Cazaly's Stadium
. The initial Senior competition had only two teams, Norths and Souths.
Around 2000, the league affiliated with the Australian Football League
and was re-branded AFL Cairns. The league has grown rapidly in recent years with the ongoing development of Cazaly's Stadium, the success of the Queensland based Brisbane Lions
, and with Cairns hosting exhibition Australian Football League
matches.
The league introduced a Women's Footy competition in 2002.
, a wild and violent bench-clearing brawl erupted after Tigers players charged at their opponents at the end of the pre-match national anthem, and escalated when spectators and team officials became involved. This caused widespread media publicity around Australia, and sparked the biggest investigation in the history of Australian Rules Football.
The instigator, former VFL/AFL player and Tigers coach Jason Love, was suspended for eight years (three years for a string of charges arising from the melee, including striking three opposition players and abusing and threatening the field umpires when they went to report him, and five years for bringing the game of AFL in Queensland into disrepute), and the 22 North Cairns players were suspended for a total of 400 matches, with suspensions ranging from 10 matches to five years, for various charges in relation to starting the brawl. AFL Cairns declared the Grand Final a "no result" and withheld the 2004 premiership.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
league that includes clubs from the Cairns region in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It is widely regarded as the strongest regional Australian rules football league in Queensland and has a large base at Cazaly's Stadium
Cazaly's Stadium
Cazaly's Stadium, also known by its sponsorship name as Bundaberg Rum Stadium, is a sports stadium in Cairns, Australia, that is named after former VFL legend Roy Cazaly....
which has staged pre-season Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
matches.
The league has significant coverage in local media such as The Cairns Post
The Cairns Post
The Cairns Post is a major News Corporation newspaper in Far North Queensland that exclusively serves the Cairns area. It has daily coverage on local, state, national and world news, plus a wide range of sections and liftouts covering health, beauty, cars and lifestyle.It is the oldest business in...
. Each year the Grand Final
Grand Final
Grand Final is a predominantly Australian sport term used to describe a match that decides a league champion.It originated in Victoria and South Australia and has become specifically significant Australian culture...
attracts between 2,000-3,000 spectators.
The league has produced many notable players at VFL/AFL level, including Colin Judd (Hawthorn
Hawthorn Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
), Craig Brittain
Craig Brittain
Craig Brittain is a former Australian rules footballer who played with North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League ....
(North Melbourne
North Melbourne Football Club
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...
), Troy Clarke
Troy Clarke (Australian rules footballer)
Troy Clarke is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Brisbane Bears in the Australian Football League during the 1990s....
, (Brisbane Bears
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
), Mark West
Mark West (footballer)
Mark West is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League during the 1990s....
(Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
), Che Cockatoo-Collins
Che Cockatoo-Collins
Che Cockatoo-Collins is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.Che was born in Brisbane Queensland where he spent his childhood before moving to Cairns, Queensland where he began playing junior football with the Cairns City Cobras Australian Football Club...
, Donald Cockatoo-Collins, David Cockatoo-Collins, Jason Roe, Courtenay Dempsey
Courtenay Dempsey
Courtenay Dempsey is a professional Australian rules footballer for the Essendon Football Club of the Australian Football League.-Early life:...
and Jarrod Harbrow
Jarrod Harbrow
Jarrod Harbrow is a professional Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League currently contracted to the Gold Coast Suns.-Early life:...
.
History
An article in Cairns Post Page 3 Thursday, September 3, 1885 titled "Football Match" describes a game of football played at the then cricket grounds, believed to have been in the precinct around Munro Martin Park and the Civic Theatre. This game was between Cairns, led by Jack MacNamara (believed to have been a representative of Victoria at first intercolonial match) and Townsville, led by F Rendall. References are made of "Little Marks" and the final score after 2 hours was Cairns, 1 goal 7 behinds to Townsville, 1 goal 3 behinds. The Cairns umpire was AJ Draper.The Cairns team was :- Jack MacNamara, Tom Swallow, J Swallow, "Little" Draper, Reid, Crawford, Field, Campbell, Warren, Harrison, McClelland, Oldham, Rev.Nobbs, Grcnsen, J.Loridan, Bulcock, Wood, Ärmstrong, C.Loridan, Johnstone, D. Wall, Middlebrook, Schumhronk, Dent, McCarthy, Hogarth.
T. H. LAKE was the secretary.
The Modern league as we now now it formed in 1956 and a local schoolboy competition was also formed resulting in a junior representative trip to Townsville by plane. In 1957 the ANFC, through Bruce Andrew
Bruce Andrew
Cyril Bruce Andrew was an Australian rules footballer, who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League before becoming a football administrator and television commentator....
, purchased land in Cairns for the first dedicated field in regional Queensland which became Cazaly's Stadium
Cazaly's Stadium
Cazaly's Stadium, also known by its sponsorship name as Bundaberg Rum Stadium, is a sports stadium in Cairns, Australia, that is named after former VFL legend Roy Cazaly....
. The initial Senior competition had only two teams, Norths and Souths.
Around 2000, the league affiliated with the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
and was re-branded AFL Cairns. The league has grown rapidly in recent years with the ongoing development of Cazaly's Stadium, the success of the Queensland based Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
, and with Cairns hosting exhibition Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
matches.
The league introduced a Women's Footy competition in 2002.
2004 Grand Final brawl
In the 2004 Grand Final between the North Cairns Tigers and the Port Douglas CrocsPort Douglas AFC
The Port Douglas Crocs Australian Football Club is an Australian Rules Football club in the AFL Cairns League. Whilst the league is based in Cairns, Queensland, the Crocs is based to the north of that region in Port Douglas, Queensland and is the most far-northern AFL club on the east coast of...
, a wild and violent bench-clearing brawl erupted after Tigers players charged at their opponents at the end of the pre-match national anthem, and escalated when spectators and team officials became involved. This caused widespread media publicity around Australia, and sparked the biggest investigation in the history of Australian Rules Football.
The instigator, former VFL/AFL player and Tigers coach Jason Love, was suspended for eight years (three years for a string of charges arising from the melee, including striking three opposition players and abusing and threatening the field umpires when they went to report him, and five years for bringing the game of AFL in Queensland into disrepute), and the 22 North Cairns players were suspended for a total of 400 matches, with suspensions ranging from 10 matches to five years, for various charges in relation to starting the brawl. AFL Cairns declared the Grand Final a "no result" and withheld the 2004 premiership.
Premiers
- 1956 South Cairns
- 1957 Tinaroo Falls
- 1958 North Cairns
- 1959 North Cairns
- 1960 Aloomba
- 1961 Babinda
- 1962 Babinda
- 1963 Souths/Balaclava
- 1964 Souths/Balaclava
- 1965 Souths/Balaclava
- 1966 Souths/Balaclava
- 1967 Centrals/Aloomba
- 1968 Souths/Balaclava
- 1969 Centrals/Aloomba
- 1970 Babinda
- 1971 Souths/Balaclava
- 1972 Souths/Balaclava
- 1973 Centrals/Aloomba
- 1974 Centrals/Aloomba
- 1975 Centrals/Aloomba
- 1976 North Cairns
- 1977 North Cairns
- 1978 Centrals/Aloomba
- 1979 Centrals/Aloomba
- 1980 North Cairns
- 1981 North Cairns
- 1982 City United
- 1983 City United
- 1984 North Cairns
- 1985 North Cairns
- 1986 North Cairns
- 1987 Manunda
- 1988 North Cairns
- 1989 Centrals/Trinity Beach
- 1990 Centrals/Trinity Beach
- 1991 Port Douglas
- 1992 Centrals/Trinity Beach
- 1993 Centrals/Trinity Beach
- 1994 Cairns Saints
- 1995 Cairns Saints
- 1996 Cairns Saints
- 1997 Centrals/Trinity Beach
- 1998 Cairns Saints
- 1999 Cairns Saints
- 2000 Cairns Saints
- 2001 Port Douglas
- 2002 Cairns Saints
- 2003 South Cairns
- 2004 No Premiers
- 2005 Port Douglas
- 2006 Manunda
- 2007 Manunda
- 2008 Cairns Saints
- 2009 Cairns Saints
- 2010 Cairns Saints
- 2011 Manunda
Current
| Club | Colours | Years in competition | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cairns City Lions | Navy Blue, White | 1990- (Previously known as City United; 1970, 1972–1989) Cobras 90- | |
| Cairns Saints | Red, Black, White | 1993- | |
| Centrals-Trinity Beach Bulldogs | Red, blue and white | 1962- (merger of Centrals and Aloomba, known until 1988 as Centrals-Aloomba) | |
| South Cairns Cutters |  |
Foundation member, 1956- (known as Souths/Balaclava Swans from 1963 to 1984) | |
| Port Douglas Crocs | Dark blue and white | 1989- | |
| North Cairns Tigers | Black and yellow | Foundation member, 1956- | http://www.northcairnstigers.com.au/ |
| Manunda Hawks | Brown, Yellow | Formed 1984- | http://www.manundahawksafc.com.au/ |
Former
| Club | Colours | Years in competition |
|---|---|---|
| Aloomba-Gordonvale | 1957-1960 (merged with Centrals to form Centrals-Aloomba) | |
| Babinda Magpies | Black, White | 1958–1971 |
| Balaclava |  |
1960-1962 (merged with South Cairns to form Souths-Balaclava) |
| Centrals | 1958-1961 (merged with Aloomba to form Centrals-Aloomba) | |
| Innisfail Roos | Red, White | 1958, 1980, 1982–1983 |
| Mareeba Saints | Red, White Black | 1980–1982 |
| Tinaroo Falls/Tolga-Tinaroo | Dark Blue, White, Light Blue | 1957-1958 (under each name for one season) |
Junior
- Centrals Trinity Beach
- South Cairns Cutters
- Port Douglas Crocs
- North Cairns Tigers
- Cairns Hawks Juniors
- Pyramid Power
- Redlynch lions
- Cairns Saints
- Tableland Pythons