NSW/ACT Club of the Week: North Coffs

North Coffs AFC was started by a group of expat Victorians and footy lovers who wanted to have a kick around and enjoy the mateship they enjoyed in their youth.

They went down to the oval every week with their mates and kids and started spreading the word before finally organising a game.

The first-ever Australian football match played in Coffs Harbour was in 1977 between a University of New England team and Coffs Harbour on March 12 at the Coffs Harbour Racecourse, with the University side winning the match 13.12 (80) to 4.13 (37).

The Coffs Coast Advocate reported that the match attracted about 50 spectators and “despite the heavy conditions was enjoyed by everyone there”.

Some club scratch matches were played that year but the match at Coffs Harbour racecourse was the only official match played in Coffs in 1977. A North Coast team made of players from Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie played in the Northern NSW Country Championships at Gunnedah in May 1977 but lost both matches to New England and a North-West team.

It was decided at these championships to play the 1978 series at Coffs Harbour to promote the game on the North Coast.

The Coffs Harbour club joined the New England AFL for the 1978 season. The competition had four teams based around the New England University and Uralla who had also entered the New England competition that year.

There were two major challenges for the Coffs Harbour club now that it had a competition to play in. The first hurdle to overcome was to secure a ground to train and play on. The second issue was to travel for away games across to Armidale almost 180 kilometres away via Dorrigo Mountain with a large unsealed section of road at Ebor.

Through town planner Mike Cain, also a committee member, the club secured England’s Park as a home ground. Coffs Harbour enjoyed almost immediate success in this league finishing third in its initial season in the New England league then taking out the premiership in 1979.

Even in its infancy the Coffs club administrators knew that the future for Australian Rules on the Coffs Coast was on the coast. Therefore, it entered two teams in the New England AFL in 1980 – Souths and Norths, but under the one administration with a view to eventually forming a North Coast League.

As the original Coffs club had worn blue and white vertical stripes the same as VFL club North Melbourne (Kangaroos) it was agreed to call one team ‘Norths’ and the other ‘Souths’, based on the-then VFL club South Melbourne (now the Sydney Swans) and have it wear white with a red V.

The first ever local derby between the North Coffs and South Coffs was played in 1980 on May 18 “in fine spirit before a large, enthusiastic crowd at England’s Park”. The final score saw North Coffs 10.5 (65) defeat South Coffs 9.10 (64).

The New England AFL had provided a competition for the Coffs Harbour teams but it was time to move on and develop a coastal league. With the formation of the North Coast AFL in 1982 the two Coffs Harbour teams became clubs in their own right.

North Coffs President Danny McFadden said the modern North Coffs club has some amazing people that have been involved since the mid-nineties and are still involved today.

“To describe North Coffs club, you have a club that has a history that we should be proud of,” McFadden said.

“This club was built on passion and a never give up attitude, so that is why we have been involved in the senior competition in every season since the North Coast AFL was formed, the only team in the league to do so. 

“We were there in the first game played on the North Coast and helped AFL become available to the players that enjoy it in the junior and senior leagues today. 

“Without North Coffs being formed, there may not be a competition today.”

McFadden said football at North Coffs has always been an opportunity to get together and enjoy each others company.

“The faces around North Coffs have become fewer and younger but if we think back to our early days we had dads and their sons, and look what they created out of nothing,” he said.

“North players and their partners always had great fun at the off field functions that allowed many great friendships to develop.

“The Club was formed by mates and families and for the club to go forward those same people need to reconnect to the club and bring back what made this club and developed our history.

“But at the end of the day this game is based on fun so we get out there and enjoy it.” 

Photo from Coffs Coast Advocate