The Sorell Football Club, nicknamed the Eagles, is an
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
club currently playing in the
Southern Football League
The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...
in
Tasmania, Australia. In 2022 the Eagles made finals for the first time in 12 years, finishing 5th on the ladder. They were subsequently knocked out by
Dodges Ferry
Dodges Ferry is a rural / residential locality in the local government area (LGA) of Sorell in the South-east LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about south-east of the town of Sorell. The 2016 census recorded a population of 2467 for t ...
in the first week of finals. Nic Baker took out the 2022 best and fairest count followed by runner up Jacob Smith who also was the leading goal kicker for the year with 50 goals.
Origins
The Sorell Football Club was founded in 1883 and originally played in the South Eastern District Football Association (SEDFA) until 1962.
In 1963 the Eagles joined the TAFL (Southern Division) where they won three premiership titles in 1966, 1983 and their most recent premiership in 1990, they remained a member of that competition until the League collapsed at the end of the 1995 season.
In the 1990s Sorell switched from playing in their traditional Red, White and Black playing uniform to a West Coast Eagles-style Blue and Gold uniform which they currently still use.
Since 1996 Sorell have been a member of the
STFL/SFL and were a participating club in the SFL Regional League when the competition split into two divisions (2002-2008) apart from 2002 when the club played in the SFL Premier League and in 2003 when the club went into recess for one season due to a lack of volunteers to run the club before rejoining the Regional League in 2004.
Sorell's time in the SFL has seen little success, the Eagles' have made the finals a number of times and participated in two grand finals which resulted in a 77-point drubbing at the hands of Cygnet in 2004 and a narrow 10-point loss to South-Eastern rival, Dodges Ferry in 2006.
The club is based in a growing semi-rural township 27 km east of Hobart and takes in many small towns in its district, they play their home matches at Pembroke Park, where they have been based since 1992.
Previously the club played its home matches at the Sorell Memorial Oval from 1967-1991 until they were ejected by the Sorell Council, prior to that they played their matches at the Sorell Racecourse Ground (where Pembroke Park stands today) until 1966 when it was destroyed by fire in the 1967 bushfires.
Entered STFL/SFL
1996
STFL/SFL Premierships
Nil
STFL/SFL Runner Up
2004, 2006
TAFL (Southern Division) Premierships
1966, 1983, 1990
State Amateur Premierships – Condor Shield
1966
South Eastern District FA Premierships
1960, 1961, 1962
Clarence Sub-Districts FA Premierships
1952
Pembroke FA Premierships
1937, 1938, 1939
Walter Howard Medal winners
(Best and fairest player in the TAFL (Southern Division)
1968 – Graeme Jones
1982 – Lindsey White
1987 – Lindsey White
1988 – Michael Waller
1990 – Michael Waller
1991 – M. Kerslake
Games record holder
Mark Clothier (410 games)
References
External links
Southern Football League
Australian rules football clubs in Tasmania
1883 establishments in Australia
Australian rules football clubs established in 1883
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