North West Football Union

The North West Football Union (NWFU) was an Australian rules football competition which ran from 1910 to 1986. In its time it was one of the three main leagues in Tasmania, with the Tasmanian Football League and Northern Tasmanian Football Association representing the rest of the state. Burnie, Latrobe and Ulverstone were the most successful clubs with 12 premierships each.

The league disbanded after the 1986 season after major clubs such as Cooee and Devonport defected to the TFL Statewide League. In 1987 the NWFU merged with the Northern Tasmanian Football Association (NTFA) to form the Northern Tasmanian Football League, which exists today as the North West Football League.

NWFU premierships

Winners by year

The NWFU intrastate representative team in Hobart, 1930 This is the TFL (southern) team photo. Charlesworth in front and Gorringe 3rd from the end. players in a North vs South fixture at Hobart, 1927 Joe Littler played as many as 500 league games, mostly in the NWFU Year Premiers Year Premiers 1910 Ulverstone 1952 Wynyard 1911 Mersey 1953 Ulverstone 1912 Mersey 1954 Burnie 1913 Latrobe 1955 Ulverstone 1914 Devonport 1956 Ulverstone 1915 Devonport 1957 Ulverstone 1916-19 - 1958 Burnie 1920 Latrobe 1959 Burnie 1921 Diggers 1960 Burnie 1922 Latrobe 1961 Cooee 1923 Ulverstone 1962 Burnie 1924 Latrobe 1963 Burnie 1925 Devonport 1964 Cooee 1926 Latrobe 1965 Cooee 1927 Burnie 1966 Burnie 1928 Burnie 1967 Wynyard 1929 Circular Head 1968 East Devonport 1930 Latrobe 1969 Latrobe 1931 Latrobe 1970 Latrobe 1932 Penguin 1971 Latrobe 1933 Latrobe 1972 Latrobe 1934 Devonport 1973 Cooee 1935 Ulverstone 1974 Burnie 1936 Devonport 1975 Wynyard 1937 Burnie 1976 Ulverstone 1938 Devonport 1977 Penguin 1939 Burnie 1978 Cooee 1940-44 - 1979 Wynyard 1945 APPM 1980 Penguin 1946 East Devonport 1981 Devonport 1947 Ulverstone 1982 Cooee 1948 East Devonport 1983 Smithton 1949 APPM 1984 Cooee 1950 Ulverstone 1985 Penguin 1951 Ulverstone 1986 Ulverstone Most premierships NWFU representative coach Ivor Warne-Smith Club Premierships Burnie 12 Latrobe 12 Ulverstone 12 Cooee 7 Devonport 7 Penguin 4 Wynyard 4 East Devonport 3 APPM 2 Mersey 2 Circular Head 1 Diggers 1 Smithton 1 Tasmanian State Premiership This was contested semi regularly between the premiers of the Tasmanian Football League, Northern Tasmanian Football Association and the NWFU. The six winners from the NWFU were - 1955 - Ulverstone 1963 - Burnie 1964 - Cooee 1970 - Latrobe 1976 - Ulverstone 1978 - Cooee Best and Fairests The Wander Medal was awarded annually to the best and fairest player in the NWFU, every year from 1948 to 1986. Prior to 1948, the league's best and fairest award was known under various names and given out semi regularly. From 1945 to 1947, an award was given to best and fairest player from the western region but the name of it is unknown. Len Hayes won it in the first two years and Alan Crawford the last. Wander Medal 1948 - Dave Jeffrey 1949 - Len Hayes 1950 - Lou Redman 1951 - Jack Rough 1952 - Max Berryman, Peter Gillam 1953 - Darrel Eaton 1954 - Ray Stokes 1955 - Arthur Hodgson 1956 - Joe Murphy 1957 - Darrel Baldock 1958 - Colin Moore 1959 - Darrel Baldock 1960 - Terry Pierce 1961 - Lloyd Robson 1962 - Jock O'Brien 1963 - John Bingley 1964 - Wally Clark 1965 - Len Lawson 1966 - Bob Hickman 1967 - Bob Hickman 1968 - Brian Waters 1969 - Darrel Baldock 1970 - John Jillard 1971 - John Jillard 1972 - Ricky Smith 1973 - Graeme Shephard 1974 - Cec Rheinberger 1975 - Ricky Watt 1976 - Kerry Coates 1977 - Ricky Smith 1978 - Jim Prentice 1979 - Tom Lee 1980 - Lindsay Bell 1981 - John Murphy 1982 - Richard Lynch 1983 - Stephen Parsons 1984 - John Korporshoek 1985 - Neville Muir 1986 - Peter Borlini Cheel Medal 1923 - Stan Trebilco 1924 - Fred Odgers 1925 - Bill Berryman 1926 - Rupert Stott 1927 - Nip Smith 1928 - Charlie Hallam 1929 - Tas Langmaid Royal Medal Awarded only to players from the eastern region of the NWFU 1930 - Bill Berryman, Jim Brown Wright Medal Awarded only to players from the western region of the NWFU 1930 - E.O'Brien, Jack Stewart 1931 - Gerry Plapp Alford Medal 1937 - Clem Riggs References Full Points Footy: NWFU Summary Chart 1910 to 1986