Midlands Football Association

The Midlands Football Association was an Australian rules football competition based in the Tasmanian Midlands. The MFA was unique in being the only Tasmanian football competition to feature clubs from both the north and south of the state.

The Midlands FA began in 1924 with Campbell Town, Cleveland, Ross and Tunbridge competing.^[1] This first iteration of the competition would only last two seasons and the MFA would enter recess between 1926 and 1930. The competition was re-formed in 1931 without Tunbridge.^[2] Cleveland were replaced by Tunbridge in 1932,^[3] while Oatlands joined for the first time in 1933.^[4] Tunbridge would again drop out of the competition in 1934.^[5] The competition would lapse after the 1936 season, with Campbell Town and Ross forming the Northern Midlands FA and Oatlands the Southern Midlands FA.^[6] The 1930s were dominated by Campbell Town, who won 5 out of 6 premierships.

The MFA was re-formed in 1946, with six clubs participating - Campbell Town, Ross, Mount Pleasant, Oatlands, Tunbridge and Tunnack.^[7] The competition was reduced to 4 clubs in 1948 when Oatlands left for the Southern Districts Football Association and Tunbridge for the Pyke Trophy.^[8] Oatlands would return the next year, replacing Mount Pleasant.^[9] The four-club line-up of Campbell Town, Ross, Tunnack and Oatlands would remain the same for the rest of the MFA's existence. Ross won four premierships in a row between 1956 and 1959, and achieved another hat-trick between 1966 and 1968. Oatlands would win the last three premierships of the MFA in a row. After the 1971 season the competition disbanded, with Campbell Town joining the Fingal District FA, Ross the Esk FA, Tunnack the South East District FA and Oatlands the TAFL Southern Division.