The
North Western Football Association was formed at a meeting at the Formby Hotel in 1894 and is the oldest continuously running football competition in the state of
Tasmania. The first clubs were
Devonport,
Latrobe, Mersey and
Ulverstone. The NWFA was the senior football body on the coast until a break away group of teams formed the
NWFU in 1910. The NWFA was then looked upon as a junior competition feeding the
NWFU and later the
TFL Statewide League until their demise and later the
NTFL teams. The competition has seen more than fifty teams participate in its history from all parts of the North West Coast indicating the rise and fall and changing fortunes of many towns throughout history. Clubs such as
Burnie Tigers,
Cooee,
Penguin, Mole Creek, Wilmot, Barrington, Don,
East Devonport, Moriarty, Sassafras, Melrose and Gowrie Park are among many to have played in the NWFA. From mid-1938 until it went into recess during World War II, the NWFA played under
VFA rules, a code of rules established by the
Victorian Football Association as a rival to the national rules. This most notably meant that throwing the ball was legal during those years. The NWFA was one of the highest level competitions outside the VFA to play under those rules. Upon its resumption after World War II, the NWFA returned to playing under the traditional rules. The Association currently operates as an eight club competition and the medal awarded to the Association's Best & Fairest player is the Les Hicks Medal. == Clubs ==