The 1888 Tasmanian Football Season Pictorial Record

VFA Clubs Carlton and Geelong visited Tasmania for the first time. The NTFA competition reduced from four to three clubs for the 1888 season. In Launceston the Launceston and Tamar Rowing Clubs amalgamated before the commencement of the season. This significantly shifted the power balance in the competition and Launceston was then successful in taking out the NTFA Premiership. Launceston and South Launceston played a draw in the final match of the season. Launceston won the replay. The first club in Hobart was the City Club. In 1888 it won the premiership as it had done in 1886 and 1879. There were four clubs in the STFA. 1887 Union Club became the North Union Club for the 1888 season with the amalgamation with North Hobart. It was not successful in its performances in the competition. The weakness of the Holebrook team saw the premiership as a competition between the City and Railway Clubs. This publication is one of a series that provides details of the season of the Tasmanian Football Association from its inception in 1879 through to the colonial seasons. The early years of Association football in Tasmania have been little published. They should be recognised as the foundation years of football in Tasmania. This series of publications is the result of research to collect and collate the details of the seasons in the first years of organised football competition in Tasmania. These important seasons established Australian Rules football as an integral part of the sporting landscape of Tasmania. It has become very evident that the passion and fervour experienced now as players and followers of the game, was familiar to those connected with the game in this foundation era. The features of the game, attendances and interest in the game made football a very significant feature of the sporting communities of Tasmania at the time. It is hoped that these publications make an addition to the documentation of these pioneering early years of football in Tasmania.