Lauderdale Football Club is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

club based in the

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

, beachside suburb of

Lauderdale Lauderdale is the valley of the Leader Water (a tributary of the River Tweed, Tweed) in the Scottish Borders. It contains the town of Lauder, as well as Earlston. The valley is traversed from end to end by the A68 road, A68 trunk road, which run ...

History

The Lauderdale Football Club was formed in 1979 and were known as the Lauderdale Magpies, competing in the Tasman Football Association for two seasons.
In 1981, the club changed their emblem and uniform to the Cats and joined the Tasmanian Amateur Football League (Southern Division) where they remained until that competition collapsed after the 1995 season.
Lauderdale joined the new Southern Tasmanian Football League (now known as the SFL) in 1996, it remained as the Cats until 2004 when

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

team

Essendon Bombers The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

aligned with Lauderdale, changing the club's name to the Lauderdale Bombers. The club was a founding member of the Southern Tasmanian Football League in 1996 after previously being a member of the Tasman Football Association (1979–80) and Tasmanian Amateur Football League (Southern Division) from 1981-1995.
The club won their only senior premiership title in the 1991 TAFL (Southern Division) Grand Final over Claremont at Abbotsfield Park and were runners up (to Claremont) at the same venue in 1993. The Southern Tasmanian Football League changed its name in 1998 to the Southern Football League.
In the years between 1996 and 2001, Lauderdale had little success and struggled with a success rate of just 30.2%.
In 2002, the league was split into two divisions and Lauderdale was placed into the Regional League.
The club finally had some success, making the Grand Final in both 2002 and 2003.
Although beaten by Cygnet in both of the club's Grand Final appearances it was parachuted into joining the SFL Premier League to replace Sorell Football Club, who went into recess prior to the 2003 season and rejoined the competition the following year, this time in the Regional League.
The

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

alignment coincided with the clubs entry into the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

's Premier League and the club started the 2004 season as the Lauderdale Bombers.
After disappointing campaigns in 2004, 2005 and 2006 the Bombers finally started to make inroads into the competition in 2007, missing the final five by only 12% from

and collected some impressive scalps along the way, beating both Clarence and North Hobart during the roster season and finished fourth in 2008 finals series.
In 2009 the club joined the new

Tasmanian State League The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the Tasmanian Football League (TFL), was the highest-level Australian rules football competition in the state of Tasmania. It disbanded following the end of the 2024 TSL season, 2024 season ...

and were a highly competitive outfit for much of the competition's sixteen year stint, making Grand Final appearances on four occasions between 2017 and 2024, however they were unable to capture a premiership title in that time.
After the axing of the

following the 2024 season, the Bombers rejoined the

Southern Football League (Tasmania) The Southern Football League (SFL) is an Australian rules football league based in the state of Tasmania, Australia, Tasmania. History Beginning and growth The Southern Tasmanian Football League (STFL) was founded in 1996. The league's orig ...

from the start of the 2025 season as a member of the SFL Premier League.

Identity

Guernsey and colours

This is the current 2009 jumper design. From 2009 a clash jumper was introduced to be worn against the North Launceston Bombers. The Lauderdale Football Club were originally known as the Cats and wore a blue and white hooped jumper until becoming the Bombers in 2005. The current clash jumper is a homage to the clubs historical colours and moniker.

Club song

The Club's theme song is the same as Essendon's theme song and is named "''See the Bombers Fly Up''" and is based on the tune of

Johnnie Hamp Johnnie Hamp (sometimes referred to as John Hamp, or Johnny Hamp) is a British television producer, now retired. He is responsible for the early British television appearances of such acts as the Beatles, Burt Bacharach, Cannon and Ball, Paul Da ...

's 1929 song "''Keep Your Sunny Side Up''" at an increased tempo. The lyrics are as follows: ''See the Bombers fly up, up!''
''To win the premiership flag.''
''Our boys who play this grand old game,''
''Are always striving for glory and fame!''
''See the Bombers fly up, up,''
''The other teams they don't fear,''
''They all try their best,''
''But they can't get near,''
''As the Bombers fly up!''

Club Records

Southern Football League – Premiers * Nil Southern Football League – Runner-Up * 2002, 2003 Tasmanian State League – Premiers * Nil Tasmanian State League – Runner-Up * 2017, 2018, 2019, 2024 Tasmanian Amateur FL – Premiers * 1991 Tasmanian Amateur FL – Runner-Up * 1993 Alistair Lynch Medalists: (TSL) * 2020, 2022 & 2023 - Sam Siggins TSL Media Player of the Year: * 2022 & 2023 - Sam Siggins Walter Howard Medalists: (TAFL) * 1994 – Leigh Franklin Lefroy Medalist (BOG in a State Game): * 2023 - Sam Siggins (Tasmania V Queensland) Peter Hodgman Medalists: SFL Regional * 2002 – Brad Marsland Club Record Games Holder: * Matthew Coulson – 464 games Club Record Attendance: * Not available Club Record Score:
* Not Available

The club

Home ground: * Lauderdale Oval – 1979–present Colours: *Red and black (formerly navy blue and white) Emblem: *Bombers (formerly Cats and Magpies)

Notable former/current player

*Hugh greenwood Mitch Robinson * Jacob Gillbee * Andrew Phillips * Matt McGuinness * Josh McGuinness * Paul Hudson II * Allen ChristensenTasmanian State Leagu
Christensen Gets Back to Spark Lauderdale Revival
/ref> * Sam Siggins * Andy ‘Kermie’ Matthews * Josh Spaulding * Alex Hill * John ‘Jim’ Dunham * Nicholas Grubb

References

External links

Official websiteLauderdale Bombers – Australian Football National website
{{Tasmanian Sports Teams Australian rules football clubs in Tasmania 1948 establishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs established in 1948 Tasmanian Football League clubs