'Bragging rights forever': Historic Tasmanian rivalry's last chapter

Now, more than 25 years later, it seems the NTFA premier clubs will have to pause hostilities indefinitely following their latest grudge match on Saturday.

"We're going to miss that rivalry and we'll miss the crowds," Bracknell president Neil Philpott said.

He would know better than most.

Having played for four years at Longford, Philpott left the Tigers' den to join the Redlegs shortly after they arrived into the NTFA.

He remembers playing in Bracknell's maiden win against Longford in 1999.

Ever since, he and thousands of others from the two proud football communities have enjoyed the joy and pain, excitement and dread, and of course aftermath in the clubrooms after the match.

"It's very much an intense rivalry on the field, but off the field everyone gets on well," he said.

"Both teams always go into the other's bars afterwards and have a chat and when you win, you stir, and if you lose, you get stirred."

But from 2025 beyond, both clubs will lose their "biggest day on the calendar" after Longford was selected to be a part of the six-team Premier League, while Bracknell's future remains unclear.

And this final chapter has come at an unfortunate time according to Longford president Rob Moore, who recalled how the rivalry has developed since the late '90s.

"These sort of rivalries, that's what footy is all about," Moore said.

"Very early on we hated each other, on and off the field. But I think it's grown into more than that, I think the respect that we have for each other now, the way we get on, it's still the same on the field, but we're more than happy to have a beer off the field, and we get on better than we ever have."

In recent times, the rivalry has taken to the finals stage, with Longford staving off Josh Holland and the fast-finishing Redlegs in a classic elimination final last year.

And then there was 2021, when Bracknell defeated the Tigers in a preliminary final to reach and eventually win the flag.

This year it seems unlikely the clubs will meet up again when the stakes are highest, although a win for the hosts could spark an improbable finals push.

With both clubs recognising the situation as an unavoidable bi-product of Tasmania's changing football landscape, they also understand how important this potentially last match-up will be.

"There's a bit more on the line this time, we don't know how long it'll go for, but you could have bragging rights forever," Moore said.

Philpott added: "If we could knock off a team inside the top five, it'll be really good for the morale around the club.

"It'd be nice to win the last one against them, they won the first one we ever played, so it'd be nice for us to win the last one."