AFL Townsville

Early matches in Townsville

A Townsville representative team travelled to Cairns in 1884 to play one of the earliest recorded matches in Far North Queensland.^[1] It is not known how long the Townsville team began playing prior to this.

Australian Football is recorded to have been played regularly in Townsville in 1886.^[2]

The game was short-lived in Far North Queensland as shortly following the folding of the governing body, the Queensland Football Association Rugby Union grew rapidly in popularity across the north of the state with new clubs being formed in areas where the QFA clubs has been and players switching codes.

During World War I in 1942 and 1943, several matches were played among service teams.^[3][4] A league briefly existed including teams RAAF, Cavalry, Army and Essential Services.^[5] However support soon petered out.^[6]

Townsville Australian Football League

The current league was launched with three teams, RAAF, Hermit Park and South Townsville in 1954, after a series of exhibition matches were played at RAAF Oval and Gill Park and an exhibition game at the Townsville Showgrounds. All clubs were founded with juniors.

The Garbutt club was formed in 1956. In 1961, Currajong replaced the RAAF who withdrew due to a struggle for numbers. Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War led to the Army entering the scene in 1968 when 6 RAR and a revived RAAF side expanded the league to 6 teams.

The Wulguru club was established in 1968 and entered senior sides, bringing the league up to seven teams. As Australia's involvement in Vietnam wound down, the Army withdrew. The competition remained with six sides from 1976 to 1982 until a team from Burdekin increased the numbers to seven in 1983. Burdekin, made up of converted rugby players, had almost no support apart from the management of the Delta Hotel. The demise of Wulguru followed in early 1984 when the league made a decision with significant consequences. Four seasons of summer football followed, and while the “Darwin” seasons attracted some top players, junior development was stifled.

Currajong in 1990 swallowed up a penniless Townsville Swans, who had switched from South Townsville in June 1982 to become the Curra Swans. The nomination of the Hawks club in 1989 caused a stir due to the number of current players recruited from Hermit Park, Currajong and South Townsville using suspect overtures ^{[dubious – discuss]}, although be that as it may the club were premiers by a point in their first season.

The league lost three teams in 1989 and the following year only Hermit Park, West Townsville, Curra Swans, and the University Hawks remained.

In 1999, the Northern Beaches Lions entered the TAFL in an attempt to expand the shattered league. Unfortunately, they endured season after season of enormous defeats. In one match that year, Steve Mazey of West Townsville kicked 27 goals against them. The Northern Beaches Lions were renamed to the Twin City Lions in 2002 and continued to struggle until the end of 2008 when they went into recess with only one win to their credit in August 2004 over Curra Swans. The Lions regrouped and returned with much more solid foundations in 2012 under the banner of "Townsville City Lions". Despite losing every match that year, often at record margins, the determined Lions upgraded their Garbutt facility and won their second Senior match in June 2013 by a goal against University.

Despite the lack of growth in the Seniors, AFL Townsville enjoyed a massive surge in the Junior ranks in more recent years, numbers had increased, and now hundreds of children and teenagers turn out to give their all for their respective clubs.

In 2010, the Thuringowa Bulldogs (former West Townsville) won their first Senior premiership since 2001 in their 40th year and went on to go back to back in 2011.

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4km
2.5miles

Magnetic Island

Garbutt

University

Thuringowa

Northern Beaches

Hermit Park

Curra

   

Locations of the AFL Townsville clubs. Yellow = junior only.

More information Club, Colours ...

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home Ground(s)	Est.	Years in TAFL	TAFL Senior Premierships
						Total	Years
Curra		Swans, Mud Ducks	Muldoon Oval ("The Pond"), Annandale	1990	1990-	4	1996, 1997, 1998, 2020
Hermit Park		Tigers	Neil French Oval, Annandale	1955	1955-	14	1955, 1967, 1970, 1984/85, 1986/87, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021
Northern Beaches		Suns	North Shore Oval, Burdell	2016	2016-	0	-
Thuringowa (West Townsville 1970-2001)		Bulldogs	Riverway Stadium, Kirwan	1970	1970-	15	1971, 1980, 1987/88, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
University		Hawks	Riverway Stadium, Kirwan	1989	1989-	9	1989, 1993, 1994. 1995, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009

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Junior Only

More information Club, Colours ...

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home Ground(s)	Est.	Years in TAFL
Garbutt		Bombers	Harold Phillips Park, Garbutt	1955
Magnetic Island		Magpies	Gifford Street, Horseshoe Bay Magnetic Island

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More information Club, Colours ...

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home Ground(s)	Est.	Years in TAFL	TAFL Senior Premierships		Fate
						Total	Years
2RAR					?	1	1969	Folded
Burdekin		Bulls		1983	1983	0	-	Folded
Currajong		Blues	Centenary Park, South Townsville	1961	1961-1989	9	1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1985/86	Merged with Townsville Swans to form Curra after 1989 season
Garbutt		Magpies	Harold Phillips Park, Garbutt	1956	1956-1988, 2021-2022	7	1958, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1982	Recess between 1989 and 2020, folded after 2022 season
Lavarack					?	1	1972	Folded
Northern Beaches Barras		Barras	North Shore Oval, Burdell		?-2015	Juniors only		Merged with Townsville City to form Northern Beaches Suns in 2016
RAAF				1954	1954-196?	1	1956	Folded
South Townsville / Townsville		Swans	Muldoon Oval, Annandale	1954	1961-1990	6	1957, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1968, 1974	Merged with Currajong to form Curra after 1989 season
Townsville City (Northern Beaches 1999-2002; Twin Cities 2003-2008)		Lions	North Shore Oval, Burdell	1999	1999-2015	0	-	Merged with Northern Beaches Barras to form Northern Beaches Suns in 2016
Wulguru		Saints	Wulguru Oval, Wulguru	1968	1968-1984	1	1981	Folded after 1984 season

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