Members overwhelmingly voted in favour of a recommendation from the club's board of directors to accept AFL Tasmania's invitation to participate in the state league in 2009 and beyond, subject to a number of conditions being agreed to.

Over 80 members of the total club membership of around 200 attended the meeting, which passed the motion with a 91 per cent majority.

Burnie president Shane Walker said he didn't have time to get excited about the result as the board now had a great deal of hard work ahead of it.

"We will continue to work closely with AFL Tasmania and the other nine invited clubs on fine tuning the competition," Walker said.

"We are totally committed to getting this right for the future of the Burnie Football Club."

NTFL general manager Ian Wotherspoon said he was surprised by Burnie's vote.

"I hope the board of the Burnie Football Club get an iron-clad guarantee from AFL Tasmania that it won't send the club broke," Wotherspoon said.

"But Burnie has made its decision and we have to respect the will of its members. While we're not happy about it, the NTFL prospered for seven years before without a team from the city of Burnie in the NTFL.

"We can do it again if we have to, but ideally the city needs to be represented in the NTFL."

AFL Tasmania general manager Scott Wade said the decision gave him renewed confidence the state league would go ahead.

Devonport members will vote on September 1.