Tasmanian team [merged]

[one-eyed]

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/sport/vfl-clubs-have-been-told-a-tasmanian-team-will-likely-join-the-competition-in-2021/news-story/0d076d7437cba9ebcbc9032cf3ef5222

[one-eyed]

TASMANIA will have a TAC Cup team of its own from next year and has been granted a provisional VFL licence for 2021 as part of a fresh $1.4 million investment in the state by the AFL.

Administrative hubs in the north, northwest and south will be created, women's football will be pushed along and the TSL will be properly funded as part of a series of sweeping recommendations from a steering committee chaired by AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.

Pathway programs will commence at under-12 level and will extend through to the under-18 level.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-07-03/big-boost-for-tassie-with-tac-cup-vfl-teams

[taztiger4]

so back to what Tassie had 10,15, 20 years ago !!

Devils in VFL 2001-2008

Mariners in TAC 1995 - 2002

[Diocletian]

Out: Gold Coast

In: Tassie

[mightytiges]

It's all about TV rights, corporate sponsorship and population growth. That's why Tassie does not have a team. If a national competition had started 100 years ago in an amatuer/semi-pro era then things might have been different (Tassie most likely would've had two teams: one in Hobart and another representing Northern Tasmania). However, now days Tasmania's population is only 500k and stagnating (Hobart 250k, Launceston 130k), it struggles in terms of the corporate dollar, while its TV audience is considered only a "regional" one by the TV rating agencies. Compare that to the Gold Coast which is approaching 1 million people, has immense corporate interest, and is included in both the Brisbane metro and Northern NSW regional ratings figures.

In professional sport, money talks! The head Soccer body in Australia (FFA) over the past week also rejected a Tasmanian bid for their own team in the A-League. David Gallop openly talks about "fishing where the fish are" when it comes to adding new teams. Sadly for Tassie, the sporting bodies see the fish only in the capital cities on the Eastern mainland.

[Diocletian]

Tasmania will rate about the same in NSW & QLD as Gold Coast & GWS ever will - i.e. 9/10ths of stuff all and they'll rate higher in the AFL states where they'll probably be everyone's second team...and even if they don't make money, they at least won't lose as much as Gold Coast & GWS does and always will do...they'll probably even manage to keep more of their players too....


BTW Tasmania has become very fashionable of late and trending upwards - house prices & rents are among the fastest growing in the country - they even had their first net population increase re:arrivals v departures in decades last year. 

[mightytiges]

A traditional footy state like Tasmania rating the same as in NSW/Qld kind of justifies why there isn't a Tasmania team. Population is too small and spread out for its own AFL side and its growth rate is a fraction of that in NSW & Qld. In an ideal world, the AFL would want Tassie's population and support for footy to triple. 750k in Hobart plus 500k in Launceston (with 750k catchment across North Tassie) would be the trigger for a Tassie team (or two to generate a intrastate rivalry).

A Tassie team in the current era would also require massive $$$ from the AFL to prop it up as it wouldn't generate the $40-50 million in revenue required to sustain an AFL club these days. The required corporate dollar just isn't there in Tassie.

A Tasmanian team would still face the go home factor from Vic/SA/WA kids that the NSW/Qld sides do. It would be lucky to have a handful of AFL standard home grown Tassie kids on its list. The bulk of its list would come from interstate just as the northern state clubs do.

[one-eyed]

The prospect of a standalone team in Tasmania was discussed at the AFL CEOs meeting in late November with Tigers CEO Brendon Gale urging the AFL to use criteria wider than mere economics when determining whether a standalone team in the state was necessary.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/hawthorn-important-to-tasmania-s-economy-and-social-fabric-kennett-20181212-p50lnx.html

[one-eyed]

It’s Tasmania’s time

Matthew Richardson
playersvoice.com.au
6 June 2019

I don’t think doing away with the thuggish parts of the game diminishes at all the proud history of our code. I grew up in an area that’s as proud about footy as they come and I know the passion for the game burns there now as brightly as it ever has.

On the rocky north-west coast of Tassie there’s a stretch of about 60 or 70 kilometres, from Devonport to Wynyard, in which there’s four or five towns and maybe 100,000 people. It’s an absolute footy heartland. So many champions of the game have come out of that area.

I remember in the mid-90s, our team had five guys from that stretch. It’s pretty extraordinary. Five guys in one AFL team from a small area like that.

Our family ended up there because my dad, who’d grown up in country Victoria, near the South Australian border, went to coach in Tassie and loved the lifestyle. He went for two years and stayed 25. All us kids were born there.

I’m glad I grew up in Devonport because it helped put footy front and centre for me. Dad played for Richmond and there was never really a doubt in my mind that I wanted to follow in his footsteps. But to have had a childhood in such a football-orientated environment was a real advantage.

Just about all those 100,000 locals has a team they support and most young boys, when I was growing up, played cricket in summer and footy in winter. It’s just what you did.

For an area that’s so passionate about the game, that’s produced so many players – for a state that’s got such a love of AFL football – it seems only right that the next big progressive move in the game should be to establish a team there in the national competition.

It’s a long argument to get into, about why it hasn’t happened yet, but at the heart of it it’s always been based around numbers and money. With the AFL’s expansion in recent years, they’ve wanted to expand into areas that weren’t grassroots heartlands and you can understand that.

But I think you also have to remember your foundation areas, like Tasmania. And, if it really is about money, you’ve got the Tasmanian government sponsoring Hawthorn, so why couldn’t they sponsor their own team?

One thing I can guarantee is that a team out of Tasmania would be as tough as they come. When I was playing state under-19s, I remember you’d get on the bus at Devonport at 5 o’clock in the morning, drive four hours to Hobart and kick the dew off the ground at 10am at KGV Oval at Glenorchy.

You’re at the foot of Mount Wellington, a howling wind coming down off the snow. That’s the definition of cold. And you’ve got to be pretty single-minded to push through that.

It makes 5am at Elwood Beach in mid-July seem balmy.

https://www.playersvoice.com.au/matthew-richardson-bring-tassie-cold/2/

[one-eyed]

The Tourism Industry Council Tasmania submission says a Tasmanian AFL team would have to "embrace Tasmania's decentralisation".

"TICT believes a Tasmanian AFL team [should] play out of both the North and South of the state, with a relatively even number of games in both Hobart and Launceston each year," it reads. "We believe this principle must be accepted as fundamental to further discussion about an AFL team in Tasmania to completely destruct any perceptions of a 'Southern' or 'Northern' team.

"Rather than seeing this as a challenge in the formation of the team, we see it as one of its strengths in being a unifying force within the state and maximising the resources of all regions."

https://www.examiner.com.au/story/6296117/states-peak-tourism-body-enters-tasmanian-afl-team-debate/

[one-eyed]

Tasmania to be AFL's 19th team in 2023, according to Russell

By SEN
22 Aug 2019

Sportsday’s Dwayne Russell is reporting that North Melbourne and Hawthorn will sever ties with Tasmania to make way for the state becoming the AFL's 19th team in 2023.

Russell believes the AFL is currently looking into this idea while insisting the Suns will remain on the Gold Coast.

“I’m hearing no Hawthorn and no North Melbourne in Tassie after 2021,” he said Sportsday.

“I’m hearing no games at all in Tassie in 2022 with the idea that Tassie would get its 19th team into the AFL in 2023.

“It’s a pencilled plan, it’s a plan being investigated but it’s nothing new, we’ve been talking about a Tassie team for a while.

“I’m told the AFL’s long-term plan is that the Suns survive.

“They’re going to be the Suns on the Gold Coast, that’s it, forget about it.”

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2019/08/22/tasmania-to-be-afls-19th-team-in-2023-according-to-russell/

[one-eyed]

Secret report reveals case for Tassie AFL team

Brett Stubbs
Herald Sun
February 7, 2020

A Tasmanian AFL team would be based in Hobart but initially play clashes against the big teams in Launceston.

A business case handed to the State Government, but yet to be made public, says a Tasmanian team would be economically feasible on a member base of 35,000 and an average home crowd of 14,000.

The Tasmanian Government’s AFL Taskforce recommended the team be based in the state capital as a vital weapon in player retention, but as compensation, the first infrastructure spend would be at University of Tasmania Stadium in Launceston to boost capacity from about 20,000 to 30,000.

Launceston would then host Tasmanian home matches against the likes of Collingwood, Richmond and Essendon while the club becomes established and become a truly statewide body.

It is understood the taskforce has even sounded out the University of Tasmania in regard to its Sandy Bay campus and its adjacent sports grounds as the team’s high-performance centre and administrative base as the education centre relocates to the city centre.

Player retention was a focus of taskforce member Nick Riewoldt, who witnessed the impact on culture as captain of St Kilda when the Saints left their traditional home at Moorabbin for Seaford.

The case also includes a Tasmanian taxpayer contribution of $8 million a year, with an emergency fund of $2 million.

With 11 home games a season, this public contribution would work out cheaper per game than the current deal of $8.5 million a season for eight AFL roster games shared between North Melbourne in Hobart and Hawthorn in Launceston.

The entire business case is built around the premise of a 19th AFL licence.

Earlier this week, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said it was unlikely a Tasmanian team would enter the competition within five years, but this time frame fits in the taskforce’s plan to build a successful team and club for post-2025.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said he was keen to continue current deals with the Kangaroos and Hawks – set to expire at the end of the 2021 season – to continue post next year as the state transitions into its own AFL team.

Eventually, the business case recommends a new stadium be built at Hobart’s Macquarie Point, but the report points out this would require federal funding.

With light rail to the northern suburbs, ferries from the eastern shore and the south and a short walk from the central Hobart, a Mac Point stadium would be ideal from transport perspective as well as following the success of Adelaide Oval and Perth’s Optus Stadium as venue’s close to the city centre.

However, after much speculation the State Government ruled out a new football stadium at Mac Point late last year.



https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/tasmanian-government-report-outlines-case-for-tasmanian-afl-team/news-story/908bc342e1ee61787bbee48da242fa2c

[one-eyed]

A Tasmanian Legislative Council committee has handed down its final report into AFL in Tasmania:

* A Tasmanian AFL team would cost approximately $45m to establish. Ongoing annual support of approximately $15-17m from an AFL dividend and $7-8m from the Tasmanian Government would be required. The estimated Tasmanian Government contribution may not exceed the current annual funding to host Hawthorn and North Melbourne matches.

* A survey conducted by the AFL Licence Taskforce indicated that the potential membership of a Tasmanian AFL team could be in excess of 64,000 members.

* It is not necessary to develop a new, large capacity stadium at Macquarie Point [on Hobart's waterfront]. Upgrading UTAS and Blundstone stadiums, and establishing a new club, would be more valuable investments in the future of Tasmanian football than developing a new venue.

* The suggested optimal time for Tasmania to establish an AFL team is 2025 in line with negotiations for new television broadcasting rights.

* It is estimated that the economic benefit of a Tasmanian AFL team would be approximately $110m per annum and create more than 300 jobs.

https://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/29145271/tasmanian-legislative-council-report-urges-government-push-afl-club

[one-eyed]

AFL statement regarding a Tasmanian team

* Independent consultant to lead a detailed review of the Tasmanian team submission
* Review to be completed late 2021/ early 2022.
* AFL continues to commit to elite matches in Tasmania
* AFL proposes to deal directly with Hawthorn and North Melbourne regarding any implications for them in 2022

https://www.afl.com.au/news/550318/statement-afl-response-to-tasmanian-premier-the-honourable-peter-gutwein

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Tassie's response:

AFL rejects Tasmanian demand, premier furious

The AFL has rejected Tasmania’s demand for a clear timeline towards a standalone team in Tasmania with a furious state premier Peter Gutwein saying the league’s response added “insult to injury” and was “simply not good enough”.

That decision has enraged Gutwein who has said he is unwilling to extend multimillion-dollar deals with Hawthorn and North Melbourne to play games in Tasmania beyond 2021 unless a timeline is provided.

He said it “beggars belief” that the league was yet to formulate a considered response having had the submission since early last year just before COVID-19 struck, saying “the response received from the AFL is simply not good enough”.

“As a footballing heartland state we have paid our dues and deserve much better. We have supported the AFL and before them the VFL, providing some of the best talent to play the game and it’s now time for the AFL to treat Tasmania fairly,” Gutwein said.

“As there is significant interest in this matter in Tasmania I am releasing the response from the AFL and I will be seeking a meeting with Mr McLachlan at the earliest opportunity to continue to press our case.″⁣

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-rejects-tasmanian-demand-premier-furious-20210219-p5745h.html

[one-eyed]

Tasmania’s bid for its own team has accepted that the state’s best chance for an AFL licence will come through relocating an existing club, rather than a 19th team.

In a turning point that has shifted the focus back onto North Melbourne ... the powers behind the Tasmanian government-appointed task force believe the AFL Commission will not consider expanding the competition to 19 teams in the wake of savage cuts to the game forced by COVID-19.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/tasmanian-push-may-put-focus-on-north-melbourne-20210312-p57aa1.html

The Kangaroos once again had the smallest membership of the 10 Victorian clubs last season and already play multiple games each season in Tasmania. Their women’s team is officially the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos and also plays games in the state.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2021-afl-relocation-tasmania-afl-team-north-melbourne-kangaroos-19th-team-caroline-wilson-report-news/news-story/1de6879522c8e9cbcd2788480b27aa72