History of Newcastle Junior AFL and Wallsend Swans

Few people realise that Australian Football was played in Newcastle way back in 1883 and owes its origins, in part, to the Duguid Brothers: Jim, John and George, former gold miners from Ballarat in Victoria who moved to the NSW coalfields when the gold rush declined.

These three were the main push for the formation of the Wallsend and Plattsburg Football Club in 1883 along with other ex-Victorians from the same circumstances that played the Victorian Game. A game which by that stage had developed it's own unique characteristics, diverse from its origins in rugby and soccer football.

Newcastle City Football Club was also founded in 1883, joining clubs at Lambton, Singleton, Wallsend and West Maitland. Clubs in those days did not play an organised weekly competition but rather played challenge matches against each other last of a Saturday Afternoon or on public holidays. Some also played clubs from Sydney in a similar manner.

Football authorities in Melbourne were contacted and asked if visiting Victorian Football Association clubs could continue their journey from Sydney (by steamer) to play teams in and around Newcastle. South Melbourne played a composite team in July 1883. Fitzroy visited the coal city in 1888 and Port Melbourne a year later. These teams were eagerly received and lavishly entertained.

In 1886 a combined 'Northern Districts' side (Newcastle and environs was then referred to as Northern Districts) defeated Queensland, the English Rugby Team and in 1888, and a Maroi Rugby side the following year. It was during this period that through these impressive victories the code gained respect and support with large crowds attending matches, even if they were played on unfenced arenas.

The Black Diamond Cup came into existence after the Richmond Tobacco Company for senior competition in the area donated it. This competition itself sparked a phenomenal amount of interest and was for some time dominated by the Wallsend team, a very strong and powerful club of that period. The cup is still in existence and is the trophy competed for each year by the first grade teams in the current competition. It is now housed in the Newcastle Regional Museum at 787 Hunter Street but still presented on grand final day.

Like in Sydney, the game failed in Newcastle in 1895 due to the severe depression of the time causing poverty in and around the area, the closure of pits and the movement of miners. In reality, the Victorian game had little chance of survival in this time of difficulty.

Football was revived on and off over the next fifty years. Sometimes there were clubs, sometimes a competition but when a social tragedy struck the community, like the two world wars and the depression of the 1930s the fragile Australian Football Competition was the first to suffer. Then in 1948, not long after the Second World War, Australian Football was officially reborn in Newcastle with the formation of a four-team competition. The code steadily gained it's feet but not without problems and grew to a position of strength, well strength so far as the local supporters were concerned.

However in the early 1960s it floundered falling to almost rock bottom in 1969. It was then that Bill Elliott a former player and founding member of the 1948 push who hailed from Talbot in Victoria took over as president. His unbridled enthusiasm and tenacity won out against all odds. Clubs came and went but he stuck to his guns to leading a code, which was very much the cinderella sport in the rugby league dominated city of Newcastle. So much so that he was awarded life membership of the league in 1955 and in 1989, an Order of Australia for his services to Australian Rules Football (within the area).

Interest in the code was sparked on the Central Coast in the late 1960s and early 70s as the population blossomed with many people moving from Sydney attracted by cheaper housing close to the beach. In 1971 The Gosford Tigers were formed. Their officials had to choose between affiliating with Sydney or the Newcastle League. They chose the latter because of the interest shown by Bill Elliott at the time but later formed a separate Central Coast competition.

In 1998 at the direction of the AFL Commission the NSW/ACT AFL set up a regional task force throughout NSW. Subsequent evaluation of the task force findings led to a series of recommendations and the formalising of a strategic plan for AFL football in NSW. The Newcastle Junior Australian Football League was established who are responsible for the management of all junior football operations. For the first time participant clubs expanded their base and set up junior committees and the influx in juniors to the game was beyond all expectation and continues to grow each year.

Our Club has been playing AFL for 125 years in 2008. This remarkable achievement deserves celebration. The club began as Wallsend, and later amalgamated with other clubs to form Western Newcastle. When the senior teams folded in the 1970’s, the junior club returned to Wallsend, then known as the Wallsend Demons until 2004, when the current club name was adopted. Many of our club awards carry the names of the players who bought AFL to the region.