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(Click pictures to enlarge)
Tasmanian football started producing great footballers almost as soon as the club system and rules become formalised.
EARLY TASMANIAN FOOTBALL LEGENDS
                       
The history of how football started in the state is interesting and the first tentative steps are explained below.
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In 1864 a club existed at New Town but disbanded soon after and also about this time the Derwent and Stowell Football clubs were formed while in 1871 the Break O'Day club was formed.
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In 1875 the Launceston Club was created. Other clubs to start soon after were Longford - 1878, Launceston Church Grammar School - 1876 and Cornwall - 1879 which became City in 1880.
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The City and Richmond clubs were formed in 1877 and the Oatlands and Railway clubs in 1879.
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New Town formally started in 1878 and along with City and Richmond formed the basis of the game in Hobart while in Launceston the abovementioned clubs formed the basis for the NTFA.
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On May 1st 1879, members of the Tasmanian Cricket Association met and decided to form a club for their members which was to be called Cricketers.
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Hobart now had four senior football clubs along with junior teams from the Hutchins and High Schools. The Mercury newspaper also formed a club that year which competed against the junior clubs.
There were arguments and disputes almost as soon as the new roster commenced over rules, so the club secretaries called a meeting to elect club delegates, form an association and decide on a set of rules to meet the approval of all concerned.
The meeting on June 12th, settled the questions over rules
. All the clubs agreed to play under the Victorian rules with some slight modifications.
Goal kicking had to be performed over a bar 10 feet high between the goal posts, similar to Gaelic football's crossbar above the net, but the rule was altered in 1884.
The foundation clubs were Railway, Hutchins, New Town, Cricketers, City, Richmond and High School. It is worth noting that Hutchins, High School and Richmond only played the other senior clubs on a few occasions.
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In 1880 another club was formed in the south called Holebrook and also Bothwell formed a club.
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In the North , the Lansdowne and Waratah clubs were formed.
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In 1881 two more clubs emerged; Pembroke in the Sorell district and on May 12th North Hobart was born. Also this year the Latrobe and Formby clubs started.
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The first State premiership was decided in this year on September 2nd when the Railway club travelled north to Launceston and played Launceston running out easy winners 4.7 to nil.
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Northern Football formed an association in 1882 comprising the Launceston, City and Longford clubs.
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During the years from 1879 to 1885, visiting teams from Victoria travelled to Tasmania to take on the locals with mixed results.
In the first inter-colonial match in July 1881 a combined northern team took on the Hotham (now North Melbourne) club and were defeated 4.18 to 0.2. The Hotham club also travelled to Hobart and played the Tasmanian Football Association. The local boys won the game 3.15 to 2.16.
The first North vs South match was played at Hobart on September 8th 1883 which the South won 6.18 to 1.11. Further matches were played alternatively at Hobart and Launceston between 1883 and 1895 with the South winning 16 to four with three drawn games.
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In 1884, the Wellington club was formed and competed firstly as a junior club although later became a senior club.
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The Midlands association was formed in 1886 catering for teams from Campbell Town, Ross, Hortin College and Oatlands.
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By 1885 many new clubs were functioning in and around Hobart. Among those not playing in the Association competition were; Carlton, Strahan, Fitzroy, Remini, Rosebud, Wellington, Camiola, New Town, Miranda, Cambridge, Bellerive, Derwent, Venus, North Hobart, Southern Star, Trinity Hill, Success Union, New Norfolk, South Hobart, Forcett, Hamilton, St. Joseph's, Wattle Hill, Nelson, Brighton, Harrington, East Hobart, Masons, United Coachbuilders, Rainbow, Bluevale, Parattah, Bridgewater and Bream Creek.
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New Town and Glenorchy clubs amalgamated in 1886, the new club was called Victoria.
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New clubs were still springing up around Hobart during the year, among them Diamond, Kingston, Battery Point, St.Georges Bay, Goulds Country, Commercial and Union Jack club.
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In Launceston, only two senior clubs remained and after a series of meetings, the Northern Tasmanian Football Association was formed with senior teams City, Launceston and Longford and junior clubs in Second Launceston, Second City, Inveresk, Britannia, Orpheus, Union First and United Templars.
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Football became for many years the popular winter pastime in Tasmania. At Hobart the control of the game was in the hands of a very strong and influential body, the Southern Tasmanian Football Association.
Originally all Hobart matches were played on the old battery ground situated in the Queen's Domain, and afterwards on the charmingly appointed ground of the Southern Tasmanian Cricket Association.
Frequent differences between the two bodies over the question of division of the gate takings eventually forced the footballers to procure a ground of their own.
A ground was secured at Cornelian Bay and in 1886 on the Queens Birthday it was opened with a match between visiting Victorian side Essendon and a representative Southern side.
In 1886 the Melbourne Football Club also came for a visit to Hobart to try their luck against the southern association.
The match took place on July 14th and resulted in a win to the Tasmanians against their more experienced opponents.
It was a great morale booster to the Association and its officials.
Final scores were TFA 8.11 d Melbourne 1.9.
The best players for the association were; Hehir, Bagley, MacLeod, Cundy, Dickens, Eady and F.McGinis.
A return match was played on July 18th and this time Melbourne was victorious, 3.12 to 2.6.
Again McGinis featured in the best players.
Fred McGinis got his start in the early days of Tasmanian football. He represented Tasmania in 1887 in the first ever Tasmanian team to play a series of matches in Melbourne. In 1889 at the end of the season he went to Melbourne and joined the Melbourne Football Club and became our first Tasmanian Football Legend.
In 1897 the Southern Tasmanian Football League was formed and adopted the rules of the newly formed Victorian Football League.
In 1899 the efforts of A W Orchard bore fruit and he was able to re establish the NTFA. However in 1900 the body was brought under the control of the Northern Cricket Association and in 1901 the STFL was placed under the control of the Tasmanian Cricket Association.
In 1906 a decision was made to change the name of the existing football body to the Tasmanian Football League to bring it into line with similar bodies elsewhere in Australia. Also that year saw the formation of the Australasian Football Council with W H Gill as the TFL's representative.
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