The Meander Valley region dates back to the earliest colonial times in Tasmania with first settlement taking place in the 1820’s. As a consequence, the region is characterised by English type farming and buildings and has a real colonial atmosphere. With the drift away from urban areas there is a growing interest by families to settle in the district.
The Meander Valley Council area is located in Northern Tasmania, with its geographic centre about 50 kilometres West of Launceston. The Meander Valley Council area includes rural, rural- residential areas and growing urban areas in numerous townships and villages. Rural land is used largely for agriculture, with many current players from a rural background or having jobs in this industry.
The club was formed in 1893 and disbanded in 1998. The Westbury Football Club was briefly named as the ‘Westbury Wanderers’ before settling on the ‘Tigers’ as the clubs name and mascot. During this long history it was seen as an essential component of the local community having gained much local support and participation. During its life the club had a range of teams both junior and senior and was a member or various associations in Northern Tasmania.
In 1964 Westbury Football Club joined the Esk Football Association. The club won many premierships and were known for their fierce rivalry with Deloraine and Hagley as well as being a tough and uncompromising team until the end. The demise of the club in 1998 was largely driven by a falling away of local support, particularly volunteers, at all times the Club was financially viable.
The Hagley Football Club was formed in 1895 and played in the Esk Association. This was a seniors only competition at the time, and the club won 5 premierships in a row. The original guernsey was predominantly black and red, with white shorts and red socks hence the nickname ‘The Robins’. The Club went into recess in 1966 and subsequently reformed and joined the Deloraine Association in 1970. The club colours became black and white and would be known as ‘The Magpies’ winning a premiership in 1976.
The club went into recess after one year in the NTFA Division 1 in 1998 and reformed for 2 seasons in the NTFA Division 2 in 2000 and 2001. Hagley was a successful and well administered club for such a small town and for many seasons in the 1990’s was considered almost unbeatable at the Hagley Ground.
Over the last 20 years there has been a great number of local football teams disappear from the region. This has obviously led to lowering participation rates of both senior and junior football teams. However in recent years, communities such as Westbury have seen some considerable growth driven by the establishment of local businesses. We like the rest of the Meander Valley community believe that it was time to resurrect a club and make a positive contribution to the community’s wellbeing.
Once it became known that there was a plan to revive the local sports activities, those heading the drive to bring it about received considerable support with well-attended community meetings and expressions of support. This support came from such bodies as the local council, regional businesses, other sporting clubs and service organisations.
Since the formation of the club our first year, we have had considerable success for such a young club. In our first season (2012) we were victorious in the Leven Football Association grand final defeating Mole Creek. We were the first team in the history of Tasmanian Football to win a premiership in its first season and backed this up with a second grand final appearance in 2013, unfortunately losing by a goal.
During the Leven era our players won numerous awards, with Braden Crosby winning the clubs first best and fairest trophy, as well as The Leven Association best and fairest, best U’21 association player, best on ground in the grand final and best on ground in the association team. Alex Wadley won the league goal kicking in 2012 with 109 goals as well and was Vice-Captain of the Leven Association Team. Our club contributed eight players to the association team in both of 2012 and 2013, the most of any club.
At the end of the 2013 season it was decided that the club would move into the NTFA Division 2 competition. In doing this we gained the services of several local products including Danny and Josh Bennett who led the club in its inaugural two years in the NTFA competition. The club improved from 6 club wins in 2014 to 15 in 2015 with the seniors half a game out of a maiden finals appearance and drawing with Evandale who were ladder leaders at the time. Thomas Mitchell notably won the reserves association best and fairest award.
A recent development in our clubs history is our first women's team. The Meander Valley Allies played out of Westbury and Prospect in 2018, and were as much a part of our club as the reserves and seniors, however in 2019 we decided to become one with our women's team competing under the Suns banner. Falling an agonisingly 2% short of finals, it is fair to say this side has an exciting future!
One of the benefits of starting a club from the ground up, is despite our history through the Hagley and Westbury Football Clubs, we are also able to define our own history through the decisions we make now without the weight of expectation or stigma from the past that other clubs sometimes face. Our club has put-in considerable time and effort into building a culture of expected behaviour that our players, committee members and helpers, and supporters exhibit. Each year our playing group sits down and establishes these ‘requirements’ that must be met in order for one to be involved in the Meander Valley Football Club. At this point in time it is acknowledged by rival clubs and impartial observers that our club is safe, family-friendly and well-disciplined on-field.