The 1896 Tasmanian Football Season Pictorial Record

Three teams played in the 1896 NTFA premiership, with Fitzroy taking out the title against Launceston and Railways. In the STFA Railway created a record with four successive premierships from 1893. The STFA 1896 clubs were: Railway, City and North Hobart. The Fitzroy and Kingston Clubs had disbanded from the 1895 season. There were no north v south matches during the season. It was an absence for the first time in many seasons that the anticipated matches did not take place. The matches had commenced in 1883. The lack of funds by the NTFA was accounted as the reason for the games not going ahead. 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.