Port Lincoln FL

The new Railways club was refused admission in 1939 as they did not have a home ground and it was not in the best interest of the Port Lincoln association to add another team.

When football resumed after WWII, the Port Lincoln association sought nominations for teams to participate in the 1946 season. Wayback, Tasman, Marble Range, Freezers and the combined Kirton/Railways club expressed interest in joining. The association expressed that their wish was for a three team competition. This resulted in Wayback and Marble Range joining forces and Tasman and Freezers agreeing on a union. Kirton and Railway had already merged and would play under the title of Lincoln South.

After WWII, the Gynell medal was presented in the absence of the Mail Medal. In 1946 Darcy Harvey (Wayback) won the Gynell Medal, Terry King (Tasman) won it in 1947 and his brother Brian King (Tasman) took it out in 1948. Terry and Brian King were better known as ‘Dobbie’ and ‘Nooshy’.

The Mail Medal was reintroduced in 1949 and was presented to the winner in conjunction with the Gynell Medal. To distinguish between the two, the Mail was presented to the fairest and most brilliant and the Gynell for the most outstanding and most useful. As the umpires were responsible for awarding votes for the Mail Medal, the voting for the Gynell was decided by the timekeepers who awarded one vote each.

There had been talk of including an aboriginal team in the Port Lincoln league for a number of years. When Tumby Bay moved to Great Flinders in 1981 the opportunity presented itself for the inclusion of the Mallee Park Football Club. Mallee Park played in their first grand final in just their second season and won their first premiership in 1985. They have since gone on to win 16 premierships in 37 seasons. Many great players that originally played for Mallee Park have succeeded at AFL level including their current coach Graham Johncock, Shaun Burgoyne, Lindsay Thomas, Byron Pickett, Harry Miller jnr. and Daniel Wells. A significant amount have also played in the SANFL.

Port Lincoln is the home of the Mortlock Shield which is an annual interleague competition played by the leagues of Eyre Peninsula and West Coast. The first Mortlock Shield was played in 1936 and has been played on 68 occasions with the Great Flinders league most successful winning the shield 24 times. For all but 17 Mortlock Shields, Port Lincoln has played as two separate entities. Lincoln City has won eight Mortlock Shields and Lincoln Districts seven. The Mortlock Shield is held on the June long weekend and in recent times has included leagues from Kangaroo Island and Woomera/Far North. In 2015 an interesting inclusion was the EP Shark Warriors which consisted of former Eyre Peninsula and West Coast players who were currently playing in other areas of the state.