The Sandy Bay Football Club was an Australian rules football club based in

Sandy Bay, Tasmania Sandy Bay is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, located immediately south of the central business district, and adjoining the suburb of Battery Point. Sandy Bay is bounded on the east by the Derwent River, and has several b ...

. The team participated in the

Tasmanian Football League The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the "Tasmanian Football League (TFL)" (formerly known as the "Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL)" and several other short-term names) is the highest ranked Australian r ...

from 1945 to 1997.

Club history

The club was founded in November 1944 as a result of a meeting called by the late Bill Barwick at Wrest Point Riviera (now Wrest Point Casino). With World War II in its final stages it became clear that some former TANFL clubs would not survive and as a result, the League's Constitution was amended to provide for district football. In 1945 four clubs, Sandy Bay, North Hobart, New Town and Hobart, took part in the revamped competition. Sandy Bay adopted the colours of Royal Blue and White, the playing jumper was Royal Blue and White with a white seagull on the breast. This was used by the club between 1945–1966 and from 1967 onwards, the club wore a Blue and White vertical striped playing jumper. Sandy Bay was given permission by the Hobart City Council to use

Queenborough Oval Queenborough Oval is the home headquarters of the Hutchins Old Boys Football Club and the South Hobart/Sandy Bay Cricket Club. The ground is a former Tasmanian Football League venue, being the former home of the Sandy Bay Football Club (now ...

in Sandy Bay as its home ground and a weatherboard changeroom was erected on the site of where the Graeme Mackey Stand and Pavilion would be built twenty years later. Sandy Bay's emblem was the Seagull, generally thought to be named after all the seagulls that hung around the waterfront suburb where the club was located. Sandy Bay participated in the

with a strong degree of success in its first three decades in the competition, participating in fifteen TFL Grand Finals between 1945–1978 (including eight consecutive Grand Finals from 1971–1978) and winning the

Tasmanian State Premiership The Tasmanian State Premiership was an Australian rules football tournament which was contested at the conclusion of the season, initially between the reigning Tasmanian Football League (TFL/TANFL) and Northern Tasmanian Football Association (N ...

twice in 1946 and 1971. But after losing the 1979 TANFL Preliminary Final by 19 points to Clarence, the club's era of dominance was over. Another problem looming for Sandy Bay was that during their remarkable period of sustained success during the 1970s, the demographic of their area had begun to change to a more upmarket occupancy and as a result, their supporter base withered away badly during this time. Home games at

reflected this trend where their average home attendances had fallen from a 3,823-average in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

to just a 995-average by 1980. It was during this time that the

Hobart Mercury ''The'' ''Mercury'' is a daily newspaper, published in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, by Davies Brothers Pty Ltd (DBL), a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. The weekend issues of the paper are called ''Mercury ...

and other sports commentators began to headlines calls for the club to vacate

and relocate to either the

North Hobart Oval North Hobart Oval is a sports venue in North Hobart, Tasmania, used for Australian rules football. History North Hobart Oval started its existence as Hobart Town's brickfields in 1844 before becoming a convict women's housing site, an immigr ...

or into the Kingborough region, south of Hobart. Despite improving attendances at home in 1981 and 1982, the Seagulls made the move to

in 1983, where they played all of their home fixtures at the ground. Buoyed by increased attendances, the club made it all the way to the Preliminary Final, where it suffered a 53-point loss to

New Norfolk New Norfolk is a town on the River Derwent, in the south-east of Tasmania, Australia. At the 2011 census, New Norfolk had a population of 5,543. Situated north-west of Hobart on the Lyell Highway, New Norfolk is a modern Australian region ...

. But the success of the 1983 season proved to be mirage, as the club sunk back down the ladder, struggling for attendances. With the beginning of the new TFL Statewide League competition in 1986, the Seagulls made a permanent return to

Queenborough Queenborough is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England. Queenborough is south of Sheerness. It grew as a port near the Thames Estuary at the westward entrance to the Swale where it joins the R ...

, and with solid home crowds, the club had a brilliant season. At one stage the Seaguls won 13 matches in succession under

Andy Bennett Andrew Bennett (born 30 March 1955) is a former Australian rules footballer who played 110 games for South Adelaide Football Club in the SANFL from 1974 to 1979 and 35 games for Hawthorn and St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL) f ...

, leading them into their first Grand Final since 1978. But the Seagulls juggernaut stopped in spectacular fashion on Grand Final day, where they trailed badly all day en route to a 32-point defeat at the hands of Glenorchy. From 1987 onwards, it was a case of doom and gloom for the struggling Seagulls. Their supporter base was continuing to fall and the club was struggling financially, despite a strong finish to the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

season, in which they made it to the First Semi Final and held a 38-point lead early in the match before being overrun by eventual premier, Hobart by 33 points. The bottom fell out of the club only eighteen months later. During the 1992 season, Sandy Bay required an immediate cash injection of $70,000 in the middle of the season in order to keep the club afloat until the end of the season. A 'Save The Bay' campaign was hastily organised and charity matches took place in order to raise funds for what was now an ailing club. After various TFL and media-driven merger attempts over a number of years, the Bay moved back to

in 1994, when the club made its last finals appearance. After finishing second on the ladder during the roster season, they would make it to the Preliminary Final, but the club suffered from a dreadful start to the match and despite a second half rally, ultimately bowed out to

by 26-points. From 1995 the Seagulls battled on as more merger attempts were foist upon them, but no more success came its way. In 1997, president Bill Sorell, announced that the club would be wound up at the completion of the season. The Seagulls final home match at

took place on Sunday, 27 July 1997, when they hosted Glenorchy. Sandy Bay were beaten convincingly by 101-points. Three weeks later it would be all over for the Sandy Bay Football Club, their final match taking place at

Bellerive Oval Bellerive Oval, known commercially as Blundstone Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Bellerive, a suburb on the eastern shore of Hobart, Australia, holding 20,000 people it is the largest ...

on 16 August 1997, when they suffered a 76-point defeat to

Clarence Clarence may refer to: Places Australia * Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division * Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow * Clarence River (New South Wales) * Clarence Strait (Northern Territory) * City of Clarence, a l ...

amid emotional scenes and a standing ovation from the crowd as they left the ground for the final time. A short time later, the club was wound up and closed down.

Summary

* Home ground –

* Established – 1945 * Playing colours – Blue & White * Emblem – Seagulls * Club theme song – "Seagulls, Seagulls, that's our name!" (Tune: " California Here I Come") * Motto – "The Game Above All" * Affiliations – TANFL & TFL Statewide League (1945–1997) * Total matches played – 1,037 (522–502–13) * includes 12 matches played in State Preliminary Finals, State Grand Finals and Winfield Statewide Cup (5–7–0)

Statistics

Club record games holder

* 315 – Bob Lahey

Record home attendance

* 7,976 – Sandy Bay v North Hobart at

on 19 April 1965 * 6,070 – Sandy Bay v Glenorchy at

on 9 May 1964

Record match attendance

* 20,775 – Sandy Bay v

on 12 September 1964 ( 1964 TANFL Grand Final)

Club record score

* 30.12 (192) v Launceston 9.14 (68) at

on 21 August 1994.

Honours

Club

** Premierships (8): 1946, 1952, 1964, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1978 ** ''Runners-Up (8)'': 1945, 1953, 1958, 1963, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1986 *

s (2): 1946, 1971

Individual

Medal winners: William Leitch Medalists * 1946 – Ernie Pilkington * 1950 – Bill Smart * 1953 – Terry Cashion * 1956 – Bob Lewis * 1959 – Murray Steele (Tied) * 1963 – Geoff Whitton * 1969 – Roger Steele * 1970 – Roger Steele * 1971 – Rodney Olsson * 1973 – Rodney Olsson * 1982 – Tony Martyn * 1983 – Tony Martyn * 1986 –

* 1988 – Michael Seddon (Tied) * 1995 – Geoff Wiggins (Tied) George Watt Medal winners * 1947 – A.Neil Clarke * 1950 – R.Toulmin * 1951 – R.Toulmin * 1961 – B.Beckett * 1969 – L.Pilkington * 1976 – John Mundy * 1978 – Henri Pastoor * 1986 – Craig Randall & Mark Radford. V. A. Geard Medal winners * 1975 – Michael Seddon * 1980 – Alistair Davies * 1982 – Peter Sherwood * 1983 – Robert Newton * 1985 – Sam Synnott D. R. Plaister Medal winners * 1987 – Paul Burnell Lefroy Medal winners * 1954 – Gordon Bowman * 1959 – Rex Geard * 1971 – Kerry Doran * 1981 – Chris Saunders * 1982 – Tony Martyn

Competition leading goalkickers

TANFL & TFL Statewide League Leading Goalkickers: * 1947 – Lance Collins – (50) * 1948 – Ian Westell – (57) * 1950 – Ian Westell – (83) * 1952 – Ian Westell – (66) * 1954 – Ian Westell – (68) * 1955 – Ian Westell – (88) * 1969 – Brent Palfreyman – (51) * 1970 – Brent Palfreyman – (67) * 1973 – Rod Adams – (96)

Sandy Bay Football Club: Senior Coaches

*1945: Jack Rogers *1946: Lance Collins *1947: Lance Collins *1948: Ernie Pilkington *1949: Ernie Pilkington *1950: Jack Rogers *1951: Bert Lucas *1952:

Gordon Bowman Gordon Richard Bowman (10 February 1927 – 14 September 2013) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne and Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Bowman, originally from East Malvern, was a member of Melbourne's ...

*1953:

*1954:

*1955:

*1956:

*1957:

*1958:

*1959: Terry Cashion *1960: Terry Cashion *1961: Terry Cashion *1962: Stan Booth *1963: Rex Geard *1966: Rex Geard *1967: Ray Giblett *1968: Ray Giblett *1969: Ray Giblett *1970: Rodney Olsson *1971: Rodney Olsson *1972: Rodney Olsson *1973: Rodney Olsson *1974: Rodney Olsson *1975: Rodney Olsson *1976: Paul Sproule *1977: Paul Sproule *1978: Paul Sproule *1979: Graeme Mackey *1980: Graeme Mackey *1981: Graeme Mackey *1982: Gary Linton *1983: Paul Sproule *1984: Paul Sproule *1985: Tim Maxwell *1986:

*1987:

*1988:

*1989:

Shane Williams Shane Mark Williams, (born 26 February 1977) is a Welsh rugby union player most famous for his long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. He also played scrum-half on occasion. Williams is the record tr ...

*1990:

& Geoff Whitton *1991: Paul Jeffrey *1992: Paul Jeffrey *1993: Chris Fagan *1994: Chris Fagan *1995: Michael Hibberd & L.Spaulding *1996: Lance Spaulding *1997: Troy Clarke

Bibliography

Club profile at Fullpointsfooty.net
*''Football: The People's Game'' by B. T. 'Buck' Anderton (2004)

References

{{TFL clubs Australian rules football clubs in Tasmania Australian rules football clubs established in 1944 Australian rules football clubs disestablished in 1997 1944 establishments in Australia 1997 disestablishments in Australia Sport in Hobart Tasmanian Football League clubs Sandy Bay, Hobart