- AFL Cairns
The Australian Football League Cairns is a semi-professional
Australian rules football league that includes clubs from theCairns region inQueensland ,Australia . It is widely regarded as the strongest regional Australian rules football league in Queensland and has a large base atCazaly's Stadium which has staged pre-seasonAustralian Football League matches.The league has significant coverage in local media such as
The Cairns Post . Each year theGrand Final attracts between 2,000-3,000 spectators.The league has produced many notable players at VFL/AFL level, including
Colin Judd (Hawthorn), Craig Brittain (Kangaroos),Troy Clarke , (Brisbane Bears ), Mark West (Western Bulldogs ),Che Cockatoo-Collins ,Donald Cockatoo-Collins ,David Cockatoo-Collins , Jason Roe,Courtenay Dempsey andJarrod Harbrow .History
The league formed in 1957 and a local schoolboy competition was also formed resulting in a remarkable junior representative trip to Townsville by plane. In 1957 the ANFC through Bruce Andrew purchased land in Cairns for the first dedicated field in regional Queensland which was to become
Cazaly's Stadium . The initial Senior competition had only two teams Norths and Souths but by a ruse in publicity it was made to seem more impressive by systematically adding in non existent teams Easts and Wests.At one stage the speed of growth concerned a Rugby League journalist wrote that to allow it to continue was akin to allowing "a Taipan in our Midst."Around 2000, the league affiliated with theAustralian Football League and was rebranded to become the AFL Cairns.The league has grown rapidly in recent years with the ongoing development of Cazaly's Stadium, success of the Queensland based
Brisbane Lions and with Cairns hosting exhibitionAustralian Football League matches.The league introduced a
Women's Footy competition in 2005. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/northqld/stories/s1393281.htm Women pull on the jersey] from ABC North Queensland]A wild and violent brawl erupted in the 2004 Grand Final between North Cairns and Port Douglas which caused publicity around Australia, sparking the biggest investigation in the history of Australian Rules Football. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1203277.htm PM - AFL yet to decide fate of brawling players ] ] 22 players involved received a total ban of 400 matches and instigator, former VFL player Jason Love was banned from playing for 8 years. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/AFL/Eightyear-ban-for-exSwan/2005/02/23/1109046993483.html Eight-year ban for ex-Swan - AFL - www.smh.com.au ] ]
Clubs
Current
Former
Junior
*Centrals Trinity Beach
*South Cairns Cutters
*Port Douglas Crocs
*North Cairns Tigers
*Manunda Hawks
*Pyramid Poweree also
*
Australian Rules football in Queensland References
External links
* [http://cairns.aflq.com.au AFL Cairns Website]
* [http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/cairns_afl.htm Full Points Footy profile for AFL Cairns]
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