The Burnie Dockers were formed as a result of a merger between former TFL Statewide League club Burnie Hawks (formerly known as Cooee) and NTFL club the Burnie Tigers. After several years of bitter hatred in the city between the two rival clubs, both clubs were struggling both on-field and financially by the early 1990s.
In late 1993 the Burnie Hawks absorbed the Burnie Tigers and merged, however the club still played as the Burnie Hawks until, with the arrival of former North Melbourne champion Peter German, the club adopted a new emblem, colours and jumper designed to appease both sides of the divide.
From 1995 the Burnie Dockers were successful, making the 1996 and 1997 Grand Finals, but ultimately losing both to Southern powerhouse, Clarence. Shortly after, the Dockers found themselves (like many TFL clubs during the 1990s) in serious financial trouble and facing extinction until a late bailout by the Burnie City Council saved them. The Dockers participated in the Tasmanian Football League until 2000 when it announced it would be pulling out of the fledgling competition, the League therefore folding and the Dockers joined the Northern Tasmanian Football League in 2001.
Success was never far away and the Dockers became arguably Tasmanian football's most powerful domestic club during the early part of the 2000s, winning five consecutive NTFL premierships from 2001 to 2005. After two lean years, the Dockers bounced back in 2008. Playing in a thrilling NTFL grand final, the Dockers fought tenaciously against the all-conquering Launceston Blues, but fell short by 13 points in front of 5,274 fans at Latrobe.
Burnie rejoined the newly re-established Tasmanian State League (TSL) competition in 2009, and has played there since. Since 2015, its reserves team has competed in the North West Football League seniors, and it has also fielded teams in the junior grades of that competition.[1]
Burnie Dockers first fielded a women's team in 2013 in the Tasmanian Women's League. The Dockers competed in 3 consecutive grand finals taking out the TWL premierships in 2014 and 2016.
In 2017, Burnie withdrew from the NWFL seniors and reserves competitions due to lack of players.[2] In 2018, they withdrew from the Tasmanian Football League and rejoined the NWFL seniors, citing lack of players and raising questions about AFL support of local footy.[3][4]
Club song
The club song is "We're a happy team at Burnie" which is based on "The Yankee Doodle Boy".
