Burnie Dockers Football Club


Burnie Dockers Football Club is an Australian rules football club in Burnie Tasmania, Australia. The club currently competes in the North West Football League.

Club history

The Burnie Dockers were formed as a result of a merger between former TFL Statewide League club Burnie Hawks and NTFL club the Burnie Tigers. After several years of bitter hatred in the city between the two rival clubs, both clubs were struggling both on-field and financially by the early 1990s.
In late 1993 the Burnie Hawks absorbed the Burnie Tigers and merged, however the club still played as the Burnie Hawks until, with the arrival of former North Melbourne champion Peter German, the club adopted a new emblem, colours and jumper designed to appease both sides of the divide.
From 1995 the Burnie Dockers were successful, making the 1996 and 1997 Grand Finals, but ultimately losing both to Southern powerhouse, Clarence. Shortly after, the Dockers found themselves in serious financial trouble and facing extinction until a late bailout by the Burnie City Council saved them. The Dockers participated in the Tasmanian Football League until 2000 when it announced it would be pulling out of the fledgling competition, the League therefore folding and the Dockers joined the Northern Tasmanian Football League in 2001.
Success was never far away and the Dockers became arguably Tasmanian football's most powerful domestic club during the early part of the 2000s, winning five consecutive NTFL premierships from 2001 to 2005. After two lean years, the Dockers bounced back in 2008. Playing in a thrilling NTFL grand final, the Dockers fought tenaciously against the all-conquering Launceston Blues, but fell short by 13 points in front of 5,274 fans at Latrobe.
Burnie rejoined the newly re-established Tasmanian State League competition in 2009, and has played there since. Since 2015, its reserves team has competed in the North West Football League seniors, and it has also fielded teams in the junior grades of that competition.
Burnie Dockers first fielded a women's team in 2013 in the Tasmanian Women's League. The Dockers competed in 3 consecutive grand finals taking out the TWL premierships in 2014 and 2016.
In 2017, Burnie withdrew from the NWFL seniors and reserves competitions due to lack of players. In 2018, they withdrew from the Tasmanian Football League and rejoined the NWFL seniors, citing lack of players and raising questions about AFL support of local footy.

Club song

The club song is "We're a happy team at Burnie" which is based on "The Yankee Doodle Boy".

Statistics and records

Affiliations – Burnie Tigers:
  • 1885–1912 – North West Football
  • 1913–1921 – Burnie Football League
  • 1922–1931 – North West Football Union
  • 1932–1933 – Burnie Football League
  • 1934–1940 – North West Football Union
  • 1945 – Burnie Football League
  • 1946–1986 – North West Football Union
  • 1987–1993 – Northern Tasmanian Football League
Affiliations – Cooee Bulldogs/Burnie Hawks:
Affiliations – Burnie Dockers:
  • 1995–2000 – TFL Statewide League
  • 2001–2008 – Northern Tasmanian Football League
  • 2009–2017 – Tasmanian State League
  • 2015–2016, 2018–present – North West Football League
Home ground:
  • West Park Oval
Formed:
  • Burnie Tigers: 1885
  • Cooee Bulldogs: 1894
  • Burnie Dockers: 1995
Colours:
  • Purple, green, red and white
  • Purple and white
Emblem:
  • Dockers
Premierships – Burnie Tigers:
  • 1899, 1911, 1927, 1928, 1937, 1939, 1954, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1974, 1992
Tasmanian State Premierships:
  • 1963
Premierships – Cooee Bulldogs:
  • 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1941, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1982
Tasmanian State Premierships:
  • 1964, 1978
Premierships – Burnie Dockers:
  • 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
TSL Premierships:
  • 2012
Cheel Medallists:
  • 1928 – Charlie Hallam –
S.L Alford Medallists:
  • 1937 – Clem Riggs –
Wander Medallists:
Baldock Medallists:
  • 2003 – Nick Probert –
  • 2008 – Kade Munday –
  • 2012 – Jason Laycock –
All-Australians:
  • Nil
NWFU leading goalkickers:
  • 1947 – G. Goninon – 67
  • 1948 – B. Quirk – 52
  • 1961 – M. Morse – 60
  • 1971 – D. Hodgetts – 79
  • 1972 – D. Hodgetts – 73
  • 1979 – L. Barnes – 82
  • 1952 – D. Anderson – 89
  • 1957 – L. Hayes – 51
  • 1972 – S. Beaumont – 73
  • 1973 – A. Hodgetts – 73
  • 1975 – D. Shepherd – 60
  • 1976 – D. Shepherd – 102
  • 1978 – S. Beaumont – 94
  • 1984 – S. Beaumont – 143
NTFL leading goalkickers:
  • 1991 – C. Reynolds – 76
  • 1992 – C. Reynolds – 96
  • 2001 – A. Hering – 102
TFL Statewide League leading goalkickers:
Highest scores:
  • Burnie Tigers 30.21 v Penguin in 1963
  • Cooee 31.22 v North Launceston 6.13 in 1982
  • Burnie Dockers 49.35 v Smithton 0.1 in 2001
Most games:
  • 265 – David Langmaid –
  • 288 – Anthony 'Tom' Lee –
Record finals attendance:
There is a list of past and present Burnie Dockers players who have played at AFL:
  • Cameron Cloke
  • Brad Davis
  • Robbie Fox
  • Peter German
  • Brady Grey
  • Andrew Hill
  • Tom Hislop
  • Jason Laycock
  • Andrew Lee
  • Brad Pearce
  • Justin Plapp
  • Keenan Reynolds
  • Russell Robertson
  • Luke Russell
  • Luke Shackleton
  • Eli Templeton
  • Lachie Weller
  • Maverick Weller
  • Grant Williams
  • Brody Mihocek