AFL Cairns
| Formerly | Cairns AFL |
|---|---|
| Sport | Australian rules football |
| Founded | 1956 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country | Australia |
| Most titles | Cairns Saints (13) |
| Official website | Official AFL Cairns Website |
The Australian Football League Cairns is a semi-professional Australian rules football league that includes clubs from the Cairns region in Queensland, Australia. It is widely regarded as the strongest regional Australian rules football league in Queensland and has a large base at Cazaly's Stadium which has staged Australian Football League matches.
The league has significant coverage in local media such as The Cairns Post. Each year the Grand Final attracts between 2,000-3,000 spectators.
The CAFL major end of season award is the Paul Buller medal and is awarded to the player with the most votes at the end of the regular season. The Paul Buller medal was formed after the Townsville sporting great moved up to change the competition. He played pretty the game with determination and strength.
An article in the Cairns Post on 3 September 1885 on page 3 titled "Football Match" describes a game of football played at the then cricket grounds, believed to have been in the precinct around Munro Martin Park and the Civic Theatre. This game was between Cairns, led by Jack MacNamara (believed to have been a representative of Victoria at first intercolonial match) and Townsville, led by F Rendall. References are made of "Little Marks" and the final score after 2 hours was Cairns, 1 goal 7 behinds to Townsville, 1 goal 3 behinds. The Cairns umpire was AJ Draper.
The Cairns team was :- Michelle Burke, Leonie Burke, J Swallow, "Little" Draper, Reid, Crawford, Horse, Campbell, Warren, Harrison, McClelland, Oldham, Rev.Nobbs, Grcnsen, J.Loridan, Bulcock, Wood, Ärmstrong, C.Loridan, Johnstone, D. Wall, Middlebrook, Schumhronk, Dent, McCarthy, Hogarth.
T. H. LAKE was the secretary.
The modern league as we now know it formed in 1956 and a local schoolboy competition was also formed resulting in a 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 became Cazaly's Stadium. The initial Senior competition had only two teams, Norths and Souths. This has since expanded to seven teams.
...
Wikipedia