1983 TANFL season

The 1983 Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL) premiership season was an Australian rules football competition staged in Hobart, Tasmania over twenty (20) roster rounds and five (5) finals series matches (one was a replay due to a draw - in fact the only drawn game in the TANFL or TSL between 1981 and 1988) between 2 April and 17 September 1983. The League was known as the Winfield League under a commercial naming-rights sponsorship agreement with the Winfield tobacco company.

1983 TANFL Premiership Season
General Information
Founded 12 June 1879 in Hobart, Tasmania
Previous Names TFA (1879–1886)
STFA (1887–1896)
STFL (1897)
STFA (1898–1905)
TFL (1906–1927)
TANFL President Mr John Bennett
Participating Clubs Clarence Kangaroos
Glenorchy Magpies
Hobart Tigers
New Norfolk Eagles
North Hobart Demons
Sandy Bay Seagulls
Stadiums North Hobart Oval
Bellerive Oval
KGV Football Park
Boyer Oval
1983 TANFL Premiership Season.
Premiers Glenorchy 28.19 (187) v New Norfolk 14.11 (95)
Minor Premier Glenorchy (7th as Glenorchy)
Wooden Spooner Hobart (11th)
Grand Final attendance 17,900 at North Hobart Oval
Total Roster Series attendance 117,330 for 60 matches at 1,955
Total Finals Series attendance 52,320 for 5 matches at 10,464
Total aggregate attendance 169,650 for 65 matches at 2,610

Participating Clubs

1983 TANFL Club Coaches

Midas Mufflers League (Reserves) Grand Final

Dux Hotwater Systems League (Under-19's) Grand Final

Leading Goalkickers: TANFL
  • Wayne Fox (New Norfolk) – 135
  • Garry Davidson (Glenorchy) – 61
  • Chris Fagan (Sandy Bay) – 56
  • Robert Dutton (Clarence) – 54

Medal Winners
  • Tony Martyn (Sandy Bay) – William Leitch Medal
  • Steve Sutton (New Norfolk) – George Watt Medal (Reserves)
  • Robert Newton (Sandy Bay) – V.A Geard Medal (Under-19's)
  • Michael Eiszele (New Norfolk) – D.R Plaister Medal (Under-17's)

Interstate Matches

Interstate Match (Sunday, 17 April 1983)

Interstate Match (Saturday, 14 May 1983)

Interstate Match (Saturday, 4 June 1983)

Season Summary

The 1983 Winfield League TANFL season saw Glenorchy as the standout team in a magnificent season for the Magpies.
In a season which saw the Final Four settled fairly early in the piece, Glenorchy finished six wins ahead of its nearest rivals New Norfolk (twelve wins) and Sandy Bay (twelve wins), with a woefully inconsistent Clarence rounding out the Four on ten wins.
Reigning Premier New Norfolk started its campaign by demolishing Hobart at Boyer on the opening day by 145-points and winning six of their opening seven matches including a 70-point demolition of Glenorchy at KGV to sit in top spot.
Glenorchy then went on a rampage winning their final fourteen roster matches to finish on top, New Norfolk began to lose form and suffer from injury concerns while Sandy Bay quietly set about winning matches to maintain second spot, New Norfolk found a purple patch winning four in a row, the last of which saw them booting a TANFL record score of 39.17 (251) against Clarence on 14 July at Boyer to hand the Roos their biggest defeat in their club's history, ironically, Clarence led New Norfolk by 24-points during the first quarter.
This set the stage for a titanic showdown against Glenorchy at KGV the following week where a crowd of almost 5,000 gathered and saw the classy Magpie outfit run out 22-point winners in a high-standard match.
Clarence's staggeringly inconsistent form saw them boot a club record score of 33.23 (221) against Hobart on 23 April at Bellerive, but would suffer from the above-mentioned 173-point loss later in the season to New Norfolk, then two weeks later defeat Hobart by 90-points.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, North Hobart and Hobart occupied the bottom two places and despite being competitive in many matches, were well behind the top four teams in skill and experience, North Hobart were still sitting in bottom position with one quarter to go of the roster season but Hobart were the victim of a new TANFL record quarter score of 16.3 (99) in the final quarter against Glenorchy to suffer a 103-point loss and take the wooden spoon by 1.13%.
The First Semi Final saw Sandy Bay and Clarence fight out a thrilling draw, the replay the following week was a curtain raiser to the Second Semi Final between Glenorchy and New Norfolk with almost 11,000 attending an impressively high-standard double header with Sandy Bay edging out the Roos in a thriller and the Second Semi Final saw an incredible fifty goals scored, New Norfolk's losing score of 24.10 (154) was another TANFL record.
New Norfolk would run all over a tired Sandy Bay by 53-points in the Preliminary Final to book a spot in the Grand Final against the all-conquering Magpie machine.
A crowd of almost 18,000 attended the Grand Final to see if New Norfolk under Captain/Coach Robbie Dykes could go back-to-back or whether the Magpies under Captain/Coach Garry Davidson could erase the dreadful memories of six Grand Finals and one Preliminary Final loss stretching back to 1976.
Glenorchy answering the question in emphatic fashion to lead late in the match by over 100-points, the Eagles getting two late goals to reduce the margin to 92-points at siren time, the Magpies winning their sixteenth consecutive match in taking their first title since 1975.

Under ground rationalisation plans instigated by the TANFL, both Hobart and Sandy Bay Football Clubs would play their home fixtures this season at KGV Football Park and North Hobart Oval respectively after being removed from their home grounds by the League at the end of the 1982 season.

1983 TANFL Ladder
Team Played Won Lost Draw For Against Percentage Points
Glenorchy 20182026161956133.74%72
New Norfolk 20128024131857129.94%48
Sandy Bay 20128019901813109.76%48
Clarence 201010021602159100.05%40
North Hobart 2041601870255673.16%16
Hobart 2041601810251372.03%16

Round 1

(Saturday, 2 April & Monday 4 April 1983)

Round 2

(Saturday, 9 April 1983)

Round 3

(Saturday, 16 April 1983)

Round 4

(Saturday, 23rd & Monday, 25 April 1983)

Round 5

(Saturday, 30 April 1983)

Round 6

(Saturday, 7 May 1983)

Round 7

(Saturday, 21 May 1983)

Round 8

(Saturday, 28 May 1983)

Round 9

(Saturday, 11 June 1983)

Round 10

(Monday, 13 June 1983)

Round 11

(Saturday, 18 June 1983)

Round 12

(Saturday, 25 June 1983)

Round 13

(Saturday, 2 July 1983)

Round 14

(Saturday, 9 July 1983)

Round 15

(Saturday, 16 July 1983)

Round 16

(Saturday, 23 July 1983)

Round 17

(Saturday, 30 July 1983)

Note: New Norfolk kicks the TANFL record score which lasted until 1995, it was also Clarence Football Club's largest ever defeat.

Round 18

(Saturday, 6 August 1983)

Round 19

(Saturday, 13 August 1983)

Round 20

(Saturday, 20 August 1983)

Note: Glenorchy Football Club kicks their all-time record score.

First Semi Final

(Saturday, 27 August 1983)

  • Sandy Bay: 2.4 (16) | 6.8 (44) | 10.15 (75) | 15.16 (106)
  • Clarence: 5.2 (32) | 9.5 (59) | 14.6 (90) | 16.10 (106)
  • Attendance: 5,230 at North Hobart Oval

First Semi Final Replay

(Saturday, 3 September 1983)

  • Sandy Bay: 3.8 (26) | 10.11 (71) | 14.14 (98) | 15.18 (108)
  • Clarence: 3.2 (20) | 8.7 (55) | 10.14 (74) | 14.17 (101)
  • Attendance: 10,921 at North Hobart Oval (Double-Header)

Second Semi Final

(Saturday, 3 September 1983)

  • Glenorchy: 8.6 (54) | 15.7 (97) | 18.9 (117) | 26.11 (167)
  • New Norfolk: 5.2 (32) | 10.5 (65) | 21.8 (134) | 24.10 (154)
  • Attendance: 10,921 at North Hobart Oval (Double-Header)

Preliminary Final

(Saturday, 10 September 1983)

  • New Norfolk: 8.2 (50) | 11.4 (70) | 15.7 (97) | 23.11 (149)
  • Sandy Bay: 1.0 (6) | 10.2 (62) | 11.5 (71) | 15.6 (96)
  • Attendance: 7,348 at North Hobart Oval

Grand Final

(Saturday, 17 September 1983)

  • Glenorchy: 8.6 (54) | 12.11 (83) | 19.16 (130) | 28.19 (187)
  • New Norfolk: 2.3 (15) | 7.5 (47) | 11.6 (72) | 14.11 (95)
  • Attendance: 17,900 at North Hobart Oval

Source: All scores and statistics courtesy of the Hobart Mercury and Saturday Evening Mercury (SEM) publications.

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