In 1978 the club was one of four teams competing under the banner of the New England AFL, which meant travelling 180 kilometres across Dorrigo to Armidale and Uralla. In those days a large section of the road was unsealed around Ebor. With one committee member, Mike Cain, working as a town planner for the council, his tireless efforts secured England’s Park as the Club’s first home ground. By 1979 the Coffs Harbour Football Club had won the Premiership.
In an interview with the Coffs Coast Advocate on 5th October 1979, Brian Saville stated that having one strong side for a long time would not benefit the growth of our sport in this area and that the aim of the Coffs Club was to have its own North Coast League.
With Brian’s incredible vision and this goal in sight, in 1980 the Coffs Harbour Football Club administrators entered two teams into the New England AFL as Norths and Souths but under the one administration. The South’s team would wear the white with a red ‘V’ colours of South Melbourne and the North’s team would continue with the blue and white stripes of North Melbourne. The first ever game amongst the local teams was played on the 18th May 1980 at England’s Park. North Coffs won the game by one point. 10.5 (65) to 9.10 (64).
North Coffs won the Premiership flag of the New England Australian Rules League again in 1980.
Our Club had its early beginnings from a meeting which was held at the Coffs Hotel on the 6th December 1976. While enthusiasm abounded amongst the twelve attendees wanting to form an AFL Club in the Coffs Harbour area, there were not enough players to form a team. In spite of this training commenced on the St. Augustine’s school oval and the emerging club adopted the colours of the North Melbourne Football Club. Fred Miller was elected President and Brian Saville was voted as Secretary and Treasurer of this new club. Brian would in later years be awarded our first Life Membership for founding membership and many years of service and dedication to the Club.
Two players Noel and Phil Dehnert provided the timber saplings to be used as goal posts. The first AFL match played in Coffs Harbour was held at the racecourse on the 12th March 1977. The competing teams were Coffs Harbour Football Club and a University of New England team, with the university side winning by 43 points.
In the early 2000’s it was North Coffs turn to shine, starting with the Under 18’s Premiership in 2000. The Seniors went from strength to strength taking out the flags in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 but sadly this run came to an end in 2005 when our beloved Roo’s lost to Sawtell. The Under 18’s won in 2003 and 2004. Life Memberships awarded up until 2015 included Mark Kelly, Brendan Drum, Steven Kelly, Pat Walsh, Brad Greenshields, Rhoma Kelly, Trevor Windmill, Josh Drum, Pete Watson, Tim Joseph, Dave Bone, Don Markey, Tom Merrick, Jason Mayer, Brad Giri, Jamie Coad, Tim Heather & Danny McFadden.
There are so many others over the years who gave countless hours of their time and support to make our Club legendary. Starting with thousand and more players who put their bodies and skills on the field every week throughout the season, to our many generous sponsors, without their financial support we wouldn’t exist. Then there were those who served on committee, helped at training and on match day, the coaches, the canteen workers, the raffle sellers, the social club organisers, the newsletter writers, the boundary umpires, the scoreboard keepers and the jumper washers.
1981 from the minutes - The inaugural meeting of North Coffs Australian Football Club was held at Coffs Harbour Catholic Club on Wednesday 7th October 1981 at 8.15pm.
Present: Ralph Hall, Ben Klein, Graeme Curtis, Ian Mason, Derrick McVey, Gary Evans, Ron Dunkley and Geoff Simper.
The following office bearers were elected:
President – Brian Saville
Senior Vice President – Ralph Hall
Junior Vice President – Ben Klein
Secretary/Treasurer – Geoff Simper
Sponsors – Hoey Moey, North Coast Butchery
The committee moved that a new club be formed and that it be called North Coffs Australian Football Club – 7/10/1981
.png)
With membership numbers gradually declining, by 2015 the League made the decision to merge the two struggling Coffs Harbour teams, North Coffs and South Coffs to form the Breakers.
In 2021 a plan was created, by a small but dedicated group consisting mainly of past life members who truly love our Club, to raise North Coffs to its former glory. With the words of Brian Saville still holding inspiration today that having one strong side for a long period of time will not benefit our game in this area. We have made our start with successful seasons of Auskick in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Please come on board our wonderful Club and help us achieve our goals.