The Southern Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Tasmania, Australia.
History
Beginning and growth
The Southern Tasmanian Football League (STFL) was founded in 1996. The league's original clubs were those of the recently defunct Tasmanian Amateur Football League (Southern Division) (Southern Amateurs) and two clubs from the Huon Football Association.
In the first season, the competing clubs from the Tasmanian Amateur Football League (Southern Division) were Mangalore (Brighton), Lauderdale, Lindisfarne, Claremont, Sorell and Lachlan, and those from the Huon Football Association were Kingston (Kingborough) and Channel.
Despite the lopsided results in many of the matches in its first two seasons, the STFL soon began to rival its long-established counterpart, the TFL Statewide League for attendances, community involvement, players, and money, as players and fans alike became tired of the politics and negativity that permeated the floundering TFL at that time.
With the demise of the 114-year-old Huon Football Association at the end of the 1997 season, and financially crippled former TFL club Hobart opting to pull out of the Statewide League at the end of the same season and voting to join the STFL, the league was ready for an influx of new teams as one of its foundation clubs, Lachlan, went out of business at the end of 1997.
Kermandie (then known as the Robins) and Cygnet (then known as the Magpies) were forced to change playing uniforms and emblems (to Bushrangers and The Port respectively) owing to clashes with already established clubs Brighton and Claremont.
Huonville Bulldogs merged with fellow Huon Football Association rival Franklin Lions to become the Huonville Lions and thus joined the STFL in 1998. Hobart (then known as the Tigers) were forced to change their emblem and playing strip owing to a clash with Kingston (Kingborough).
From 1998, the STFL became known as the Southern Football League. As the league continued to go from strength to strength, the TFL was sinking as crowds continued to slide and clubs sank further into the financial mire.
New Norfolk District Football Club, a member of the TFL since 1947, left the TFL at the end of 1999 and joined the SFL in 2000 as the New Norfolk 'Derwent' Hawks.
In early 1999 the Australian Football League funded a new governing body of Tasmanian football under recommendations through the AFL-instigated Biggs Report into the substantial crises facing Tasmanian football at that time, with the TFL being liquidated due to massive debts.
The new governing body was known as Football Tasmania and it was to control and fund the new TSFL competition and a year later, a new SWL competition.
In December 2000, the Burnie Dockers pulled out of the SWL to rejoin the NTFL, as did Devonport and Northern Bombers, leaving Football Tasmania little choice but to close down the Statewide competition as the AFL decided to redistribute its funding into placing a Tasmanian team in the Victorian Football League in 2001 which left Clarence, Glenorchy and North Hobart Football Clubs without a competition to participate in.
After numerous meetings and much debate it was decided to accept the three orphaned clubs into the league in early 2001 to create a 15-team competition for that season.
Premier League and Regional League split
In 2002 the SFL split into two conferences – Premier League and Regional League.
The Premier League consisted of former TFL clubs Clarence, Glenorchy, North Hobart, Hobart and New Norfolk along with Kingston, Brighton and Sorell.
The Regional League consisted of Cygnet, Channel, Huonville Lions, Kermandie, Claremont, Lauderdale, Lindisfarne and former Tasman Football Association club Dodges Ferry, admitted into the league after the TFA folded at the end of the 2001 season.
In early 2003 the Sorell Football Club was forced to leave the Premier League after the club was unable to find enough volunteers to run the club and therefore went into recess for that season, its Premier League position was taken over by Lauderdale the following year.
Two new additions to the SFL Regional League in 2006 saw former Oatlands District Football Association clubs Oatlands, Kempton and Bothwell merge to create the Central Hawks while east coast club Triabunna (also from the ODFA) also were included.
Six clubs leave the SFL to join the State League and OSFA
In 2008 AFL Tasmania announced plans to reintroduce the Tasmanian State League starting in 2009.
Under the plan Clarence, Glenorchy, North Hobart, Hobart and Lauderdale Football Clubs from the Premier League were targeted to join.