North West Football Union

The North West Football Union (NWFU) was an Australian rules football competition which ran from 1910 to 1986 on the north-western coast of Tasmania. In its time it was one of the three main leagues in Tasmania, with the Tasmanian Football League in Hobart and Northern Tasmanian Football Association in Launceston representing the rest of the state. Burnie, Latrobe and Ulverstone were the most successful clubs with 12 premierships each. Prior to 1922 the Union was restricted to the Devonport, Latrobe and Ulverstone municipalities. From 1922 Burnie, Penguin and Yeoman were admitted. Wynyard replaced Yeoman in 1925.

In 1929 Devonport and Latrobe decided to break away from the NWFU . They formed with the addition of Kentish and Deloraine the Central Combine. The NWFU was reduced to four teams. Inter-league matches against Circular Head had the Circular Head winning so it was decided to have invite them compete in the Union's finals series. Circular Head played 3 matches and won them all including the premiership. The following year the Central Combine became NWFU East and so the winners of each division played off for the premiership. In 1931 the grand finalist of both divisions played a knock out competition for the premiership.

The league disbanded after the 1986 season after major clubs such as Cooee and Devonport defected to the TFL Statewide League. In 1987, the NWFU effectively merged with the Northern Tasmanian Football Association (NTFA) to form the Northern Tasmanian Football League, which exists today as the North West Football League.