The North West Football League is an Australian rules football competition in North West Tasmania. The league was previously known as the "Northern Tasmanian Football League" from its inception in 1987 until the end of the 2014 season.
The Northern Tasmanian Football League (NTFL) was founded in 1987 to replace the Northern Tasmanian Football Association (NTFA) - no relation to the current NTFA - and the North Western Football Union (NWFU) which suffered as a result of the defection of clubs joining the new TFL Statewide League in 1986 – the NTFA had lost North Launceston and East Launceston to the TFL Statewide League at the start of 1986, then lost City-South midway through that season when it merged with East Launceston; the NWFU lost Devonport and Cooee to the Statewide League at the conclusion of the 1986 season.
After the collapse of the Statewide League at the end of 2000, the northern and coastal clubs from that competition returned to the NTFL and dominated the competition for the next eight years (Burnie and Launceston won the next eight premierships between them). With the revival of the Statewide League in 2009, the same five clubs left the NTFL again (North Launceston, South Launceston, Launceston, Burnie and Devonport), resulting in the contraction of the league to a six-club coastal composition.
In the early years, the NTFL was contested by a mixture of smaller northern and north-western clubs, but the northern clubs gradually departed, and since 2009 the league has been contested solely by clubs from the north-western coast, all with a NWFU history. Consequently, at the end of the 2014 season, the name of the league was changed to the North West Football League (NWFL).[1]
In 2015, Burnie and Devonport rejoined the competition, each fielding its reserves team in the NWFL seniors while continuing to field its senior team in the Statewide League reserves; this increased the league numbers up to eight.[2] In early 2017, Burnie withdrew from this arrangement, which dropped the number of teams down to seven.[3] Then, in 2018, Burnie and Devonport withdrew their senior teams from the Statewide League and each entered the NWFL proper.[4] The league's senior premiership is now contested by six clubs, following the withdrawal of Circular Head in 2019 and the recess of East Devonport's senior arm in 2021.
^Competing with reserve teams (Devonport 2015-17).
^Burnie Tigers were absorbed by the Burnie Hawks at the end of 1993, the merged club continued to participate as the Burnie Hawks in the 1994 TFL season until the club adopted a new identity and colours from 1995 as the Burnie Dockers.
The Northern Tasmanian Football League is considered to be one of the strongest leagues in the state and has a strong supporter following.
Games in the NTFL average around 500 spectators.
2018
