1996 STFL season  The 1996 Southern Football League (STFL) premiership season was an Australian rules football competition staged across Southern Tasmania, Australia, over twenty-one (21) roster rounds and six (6) finals series matches between 29 March and 21 September 1996. This was the inaugural season of the Southern Tasmanian Football League. It was formed in early 1996 as a replacement community football competition after the collapse of the Tasmanian Amateur Football League (both Southern and Northern Divisions) after 64 years at the completion of the 1995 season. The STFL comprised eight founding clubs, six of those from the former Southern Amateurs and two clubs (Kingston and Channel) who defected from the Huon Football Association, it was originally intended to take all clubs from the Huon Football Association on board from 1996 as an amalgamation between it and the HFA but Kermandie, Franklin, Huonville and Cygnet all voted against the move preferring to continue on in their own Huon competition. The new STFL competition also had its member clubs work closely with the southern-based TFL Statewide League clubs in their zones. Kingston and Channel were aligned to Sandy Bay, Lindisfarne were aligned with Hobart, Sorell were aligned with North Hobart, Lauderdale were aligned with Clarence, Claremont aligned with Glenorchy, Lachlan and Brighton aligned with New Norfolk  The STFL also took over the abandoned TFL Fourths (1976-1994), using the players from that competition as the Under 18's in the STFL. It was deemed of very high importance to have strong leagues in both the north and south of the state underpinning the TFL Statewide League to provide a pathway to state league level for elite junior players in each area, especially given the TFL's submission to gain entry for a Tasmanian team in the Australian Football League. From the start of this season, the former Mangalore Football Club (founded in 1885) rebranded itself as Brighton Football Club in order to reflect its wider municipal area. STFL Reserves Leading Goalkicker  STFL Under-18's Leading Goalkicker   Kingston 14.13 (97) d Claremont 7.9 (51) at Abbotsfield Park. Claremont 7.9 (51) d Lauderdale 7.6 (48) at Abbotsfield Park. (Saturday, 1 June 1996)  NTFA: 4.6 (30) | 7.8 (50) | 9.9 (63) | 13.12 (90)  SFL: 4.2 (26) | 5.6 (36) | 8.9 (57) | 12.12 (84)  At North Hobart Oval  (Saturday, 29 March 1996)  Channel 27.25 (187) d Lauderdale 8.6 (54) at Lauderdale Oval.