The 1988 TFL Statewide League premiership season was an Australian rules football competition, staged across Tasmania, Australia over eighteen (18) roster rounds and six (6) finals series matches between 2 April and 17 September 1988. This was the third season of statewide football and the League was known as the Cascade-Boags Statewide League under a dual commercial naming-rights sponsorship agreement with both Cascade Brewery in Hobart and Boag's Brewery in Launceston.
Participating Clubs
Burnie Hawks Football Club
Clarence District Football Club
Devonport Football Club
Glenorchy District Football Club
Hobart Football Club
New Norfolk District Football Club
North Hobart Football Club
North Launceston Football Club
Sandy Bay Football Club
South Launceston Football Club
1988 TFL Statewide League Club Coaches
Warren "Putt" McCarthy (Burnie Hawks) Billy Picken (Clarence) Roland Crosby (Devonport) Robert Groenewegen (Glenorchy) Mark Browning (Hobart) Michael Hunnibell (New Norfolk) Garry Davidson (North Hobart) Steven Goulding (North Launceston) Andy Bennett (Sandy Bay) Ian Paton (South Launceston)
Midas Mufflers League (Reserves) Grand Final
Glenorchy 19.13 (127) v North Hobart 14.18 (102) – North Hobart Oval
Medibank Private League (Under-19's) Grand Final
New Norfolk 10.9 (69) v North Launceston 8.18 (66) – North Hobart Oval
Leading Goalkickers: TFL Statewide League
Chris Reynolds (Devonport) – 111
Wayne Fox (Hobart) – 110
Byron Howard Jnr – (North Hobart) – 60
Peter Hardman – (South Launceston) – 56
Note: Hobart's Wayne Fox led the goalkicking at the completion of the roster series, but Devonport's Chris Reynolds later equalled Fox during the finals series, Reynolds booted his only goal in the Grand Final in the final quarter to move ahead of Fox by a single goal.
Medal Winners
Adrian Fletcher (Glenorchy) & Michael Seddon (Sandy Bay) – William Leitch Medal
Steven Hay (Glenorchy) – George Watt Medal (Reserves) Steven Byers (New Norfolk) – V.A Geard Medal (Under-19's) Paul Banks-Smith (New Norfolk) – D.R Plaister Medal (Under-17's)
Interstate Matches
Foster's NFL Shield Grand Final (Saturday, 21 May 1988) Queensland 13.16 (94) v Tasmania 11.9 (75) – Att: 3,675 at North Hobart Oval
Interstate Match (Saturday, 11 June 1988) Tasmania 11.12 (78) v VFA 7.16 (58) – Att: 2,262 at North Hobart Oval
Season Summary
The 1988 TFL Statewide League Season was a momentous season in Tasmanian football, and one which would see the TFL Premiership Cup head North for the first time in history.
The season got underway on 2 April, North Hobart, Glenorchy, Hobart and Clarence were the early season flag-favourites in the eyes of most football experts, nobody predicted the rise of Roland Crosby's Devonport, a team which had performed credibly in the first half of 1987 but, owing to a lack of fitness, fell away badly in the second half to miss the finals, the Blues had been in the doldrums for many years having won only one flag since their 1938 NWFU premiership.
Hobart started in magnificent form with Wayne Fox booting 13-goals (six in the third quarter) on the opening day, the Tigers routed New Norfolk with a 20.12 to 2.3 second half in recording a 121-point win while the remaining favourites all started with victories.
Devonport and the Burnie Hawks had started the season well, the Blues booted 36.7 (223) with a 14.4 second quarter to smash a helpless New Norfolk by 175-points in round three whilst in Hobart the Hawks demolished Glenorchy at KGV on the same day by 77-points to set up the Coastal Showdown on 24 April.
A TFL Statewide League record crowd of 5,423 rolled up to West Park Oval, (a record which stood until 2000), to watch the two sides slug it out with the Hawks coming away with a narrow victory, with over 12,000 attending the round of matches the future of the competition looked to be a rosy one.
Violence was to rear its ugly head at several matches in 1988, the round five clash between New Norfolk and Glenorchy at Boyer Oval featured several ugly incidents on-field and during the last quarter a brawl erupted in the main grandstand, play was halted as up to 100 people surged across the ground to join in the melee as spectators seated in the stand scattered to escape the violence, a large group of fans milled around the boundary line in front of the stand to hurl abuse which was eventually broken up by police officers.