Darwin Football Association

The Darwin Football Association is an Australian rules football league in Tasmania. The clubs belonging to the association are from localities close to Burnie and on the West Coast of Tasmania. This includes Queenstown, making this competition the only competition in Australia to play some of its games on a gravel surface.

The current form of the Darwin Football Association (DFA) was created in 1951. A previous version existed from 1938 to 1944 but appears unrelated despite two of the DFA's foundation clubs being in the competition. The first season featured just four clubs: Yeoman, Tewkesbury, APPM and Montello.^[1] Yeoman and APPM were previously members of the North West Football Union^[2] and Tewkesbury a member of the Ridgley Football Association.^[3] But in 1952 the numbers increased by three with the inclusion of Somerset, Mooreville and Ridgley.^[4] The arrival of Myalla and Yolla in 1953 increased the number again to eight clubs combined with the departure of Tewkesbury.^[5]

In 1955 the number of clubs dropped back to six with Montello and Somerset departing,^[6] and then following season APPM changed their name to South Burnie.^[7] In 1959 Mooreville had merged with Somerset to form the Cam FC^[8] as the competition remained more or less stable.

In 1965 the folding of the Riana Football Association brought Natone and Cuprona to the competition.^[9] This brought the competition up to eight clubs, and has never dropped below that number since. Another period of stability followed with only Cam reverting to Somerset FC in 1973^[10] to create any ripples.

In 1982 the competition expanded to ten clubs with the inclusion of Sprent and West Ulverstone from the Leven Football Association.^[11] The DFA introduced a final five in 1986.^[12] In 1994, Queenstown "Crows"—a merger of the Queenstown-based clubs from the Western Tasmanian Football Association—joined the competition.^[13]

Numbers started to fall in 1996 when Sprent departed for the North Western Football Association,^[14] and then the following season South Burnie decided to try their luck in the Northern Tasmanian Football League,^[15] but they returned in 1999.^[16] In 2002 West Ulverstone followed Sprent to the North West Football Association, and in 2006 after many years in existence Myalla folded^[17] bringing the number of clubs back to eight for the first time since 1981.

Due to a shortage of players Natone went into recess for the 2019 season.^[18] Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic during 2020, the complete 2020 DFA Season was cancelled. Natone have re-joined the league for the 2021 season.

Natone re-entered recess prior to the 2024 season.^[19]

Colours	Club	Nickname	Years in DFA	Premierships
	Cuprona	Bulldogs	1965–	1977, 2000
	Queenstown	Crows	1994–	1997, 2014, 2021, 2024
	Ridgley	Saints	1952–	1955, 1956, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1989, 2007, 2008, 2009
	Somerset formerly Cam	Kangaroos	1952–1954, 1959–	1960, 1961, 1963, 1972, 1982, 2010, 2019
	South Burnie originally APPM	Hawks	1951–1996, 1999–	1954, 1959, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1994, 1995, 2004, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023
	Yeoman	Robins	1951–	1951, 1952, 1978, 1993, 1998
	Yolla Originally Tewkesbury	Demons	1951–	1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 2005, 2006, 2022

Colours	Club	Nickname	Years in DFA	Premierships
	Natone	Magpies	1965–2018, 2021-	1973, 1990, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2011

Colours	Club	Nickname	Years in DFA	Premierships
	Myalla	Tigers	1953–2006	1957, 1958, 1974, 1975, 1976, 2003

• Queenstown Oval, Tasmania

• Darwin Football Association: Fifty Seasons of Football, 1951-2000 : Jubilee Record. Burnie, Tasmania: The Jubilee Committee. 2000.

• Darwin Football Association official website Archived 1 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
• DFA scores repository
• Football Tasmania list of associations