Hope still for Hobart AFLSEAN STEVENSON
April 22, 2010 09:16amAN AFL club boss believes Melbourne clubs would consider a proposal to transfer home games to Hobart.
Richmond chief executive and former Tasmanian Brendon Gale said yesterday: "If the opportunity presented itself you would certainly have a look at it."
"Our home ground is the MCG but having said that we are a big club with a national footprint."
Gale said clubs had a responsibility to develop their national following.
"One of our greatest ever players [800-goal legend Matthew Richardson], who retired last year, was Tasmanian," he said.
Former premier Paul Lennon, who masterminded Hawthorn's current $15 million deal to play four games a season in Launceston in 2007, believes the Hawks' penetration of the Tasmanian market had reached saturation point and a second club playing games out of Hobart was the only possible way of expanding AFL in Tasmania in the short term.
Mr Lennon said this week that Hawthorn had a firm hand over Aurora Stadium, and it was unlikely it would be able to play more than four games in Tasmania in the forseeable future.
He said there was a large unmet demand for AFL in the south of the state.
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has poured scorn on the suggestion.
Kennett said Hawthorn was much more than a fly-in, fly-out club and he would hate to see Tasmania become a dumping ground for broke AFL clubs merely seeking a financial windfall.
Gale, who also serves as a voluntary director on the board of AFL Tasmania, said the Tasmanian Government had made the point very clear that it regarded Launceston as the home of AFL in the state.
But he saw positives in games being played in Hobart.
"If there is an opportunity to take AFL football to the whole of Tasmania that would be great for the state," Gale said.
He said any move for Richmond to play games in Hobart would require the support of the Tiger's board, members, the Tasmanian Government and the AFL.
Richmond, which boasts a huge fan base despite its modest success on the field in recent times, does not have a history of selling games interstate like other clubs such as the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne.
Gale said while he could not speak for other clubs, selling games interstate was not as attractive an option as it was a couple of years ago.
"The AFL has worked hard on stadium deals [at the MCG and Etihad Stadium]," Gale said.
"That probably reduces the likelihood [of teams wanting to move home games]."
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2010/04/22/141455_afl.html
