The Wagga Tigers Football and Netball Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based at Robertson Oval in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. Its senior men's team competes in the Riverina Football Netball League. It also fields a women's team in the Southern NSW Womens League, junior teams in the Wagga & District Junior Football Association and a women's netball team. Formed as the Federal Football Club in 1861, it is the oldest football club in New South Wales and the oldest outside of Victoria. The club has won more than 22 senior football premierships, the first of which was in 1887.
| Wagga | ||
|---|---|---|
| Names | ||
| Full name | Wagga Tigers Football and Netball Club | |
| Former name(s) | Federal Football Club (1861–1947) | |
| Club details | ||
| Founded | 1861 | |
| Colours | ||
| Competition | Riverina Football Netball League | |
| President | Paul Lucas | |
| Coach | Murray Stephenson | |
| Ground(s) | Robertson Oval (capacity: 9,000) | |
| Uniforms | ||
| ||
| Other information | ||
| Official website | waggatigers.com.au | |
History
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The Federal Football Club was formed at the Imperial Hotel in Wagga Wagga in 1861, making it the oldest Australian rules football club outside of Victoria, however little else of the early history of the club.[1] Its first recorded interclub matches did not appear for at least another decade.[2][1] Federal wore red and white vertical stripes. It appears to have organised scratch intraclub scratch matches and early records appear to indicate that it aligned with the Victorian Rules of football.[3]
In response to the rapid growth of the Victorian code the newly formed Sydney based Southern Rugby Football Union (SRFU) in 1874 instituted a ban on its member clubs from playing any matches under those rules. Wagga were left with little other option than to organise local scratch matches[4] as most surrounding clubs had by then begun adopting rugby.
Its first recorded interclub match was in 1881 against the Albury Football Club in Wagga,[5] just a year before the first rugby matches were held in the region.[3] Despite the SRFU ban, the Victorian code was rapidly growing in popularity and by 1882 there were two more clubs in Wagga. Local competition between clubs commenced in earnest in 1884 around Wagga Wagga which became the Wagga Football Association.[3]
In 1949, the Richmond Football Club provided jumpers and the club was renamed the Wagga Tigers. The club has gone on to sustained success with consistent premierships in each decade since.[citation needed]
Premierships
edit1887, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2016, 2019, 2020
AFL/VFL players
editThere is a list of players who have played at AFL/VFL:
References
edit- ^ a b "Club History | Wagga Tigers". waggatigers.com.au.
- ^ Almanac Footy: Bill Mohr – The Wizard from Wagga Wagga 10 November 2021
- ^ a b c A Brief History of Football in Wagga. The Riverina Weekender. 23 February 2013
- ^ "Advertising". Wagga Wagga Advertiser. Vol. IX, no. 333. New South Wales, Australia. 27 July 1878. p. 4. Retrieved 9 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "1881 – Football". Wagga Wagga Advertiser. Wagga Wagga Advertiser (NSW). 2 August 1881. p. 2. Retrieved 23 February 2022.