Tasmania officially bids to field own AFL team

[Fishfinger]

Well Tassie has gone from no chance to a future chance

Maybe Andy & co are starting to realise that a 2nd team in Sydney is more like 40 years off than 4.

The swans have been in the finals 6 years running, including 2 GF's and a premiership, yet attendances are slumping along with memberships and corporate support.

[Hellenic Tiger]

We have not got 1 team in Sydney right. It had to have concession after concession to at least get them to a flag and now the novelty is wearing off. The economic crisis will see no Gold Coast West Sydney nor Tassie in the next few years at least. Too risky.

[bushranger]

The only one I would say that is a shame to is the Tasmanian team.
As I really think that they could hold their's in these times.
If i lived there and I was a member else where, and a team was coming out of my state I would
get behind them.
So yes I think the Tassie one is the shame that it might be put on hold for now.

[torch]

i really hope "Tasmania" has an AFL Club.

one would do.

hopefully in 2013.

Gold Coast - okkkk

Western Sydney - not sure

[one-eyed]

Tassie bid relies on relocation
Michael Gleeson | February 17, 2009

TASMANIA'S aggressive bid to claim its own AFL team appears to hinge on a struggling club choosing to relocate or the AFL adding an unlikely 19th team to the competition after the AFL Commission yesterday remained unmoved by the island state's persuasive bid.

The commission stuck firm to its pre-Christmas declaration that the new 17th and 18th licences were committed to the Gold Coast and western Sydney and that it saw no reason to change that position.

Despite the seriously altered economic circumstances from the time the AFL first raised the prospect of the two new teams in challenging unconverted markets, the league yesterday remained committed to the two developing markets.

The commission said it was impressed with the detail of the Tasmanian Government's licence proposal which it considered at yesterday's meeting but it was not so persuaded as to change its view on where expansion should be.

"The Tasmanian Government understands that they are not competing for the 17th or 18th team licences, which have been decided for the Gold Coast and western Sydney respectively," an AFL spokesman said.

"The AFL Commission has reviewed the submission and the next step will be to prepare a response to the Tasmanian Government submission in the coming weeks."

Tasmania may yet persuade the league that the worsened economic circumstances should force a switch in thinking on the expansionist dream of western Sydney and consider the safety of a franchise underwritten by the State Government. But yesterday's decision will have done little to encourage those hopes.

For now Tasmania's best chance of securing a licence would appear to be in the possible relocation of a struggling existing team.

It will simultaneously continue to lobby for the 18th licence, given how nervous club officials already are at the zealotry of the evangelism for western Sydney at a time of such economic uncertainty.

Privately there appears a suggestion the AFL may be cooling on western Sydney. The commission has asked the executive to revise and further justify all figures on which the western Sydney forecasts and estimates were made.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/tassie-bid-relies-on-relocation/2009/02/16/1234632736079.html

[bushranger]

If they are after a struggling team then Melbourne would be the front runners to it I would think.
But If I was the Hawks I would be making the move there to stop anyong taking what they have built up over a long time.
So I would hope the Hawks move there and stop all threats from taking their position there. I know it would affect their Loacl members but I think with the state behind them they would do better in the hip pocket to.

[mightytiges]

With 40-45k members of which only 4-5k are Tassie-based members it's hard to see the Hawks relocating totally to Tassie. I think bushy you may more right about someone like the Dees or North heading South although Tassie possibly could start from scratch as they are a football state. However it starts, Tassie deserves their own team and would make the AFL truly national.

If the AFL are still obsessed about Western Sydney due to their fear of Soccer then they'll need another Vic club to relocate north like the Swans did. No way in the current climate could they start a side up there from scratch. It would've been nigh on impossible in the boom times to start from scratch let alone now. Even the Swannies almost died up there in the recession of late 80s/early 90s and that was with the city to themselves and old South supporters as Vic-based members.

[one-eyed]

The Age has Richo in a Tassie guernsey...


Ray of hope for Tassie team
Samantha Lane | April 2, 2009

ANDREW Demetriou has stated Tasmania is the "next port of call" to house an AFL team after travelling to the state and delivering feedback on the Tasmanian Government's pitch for a club.

Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett sat alongside Demetriou after their 40-minute meeting in Launceston yesterday.

Bartlett said he believed the dream could materialise within three to four years.

Demetriou travelled south for the launch of Tasmania's new statewide football competition the day after he was in Queensland for the announcement of the provisional licence granted to the Gold Coast team.

The league chief proclaimed it a "historic day" for Tasmania before elaborating on how impressive the State Government's proposal for an AFL side was.

The document prepared by sports consultancy outfit Gemba was not a "stunt", Demetriou said, rather it was "first class, responsible and professional".

"It certainly makes people think, and it certainly puts the Tasmanian Government and Tasmania in the spotlight as a place where if, in the future, there's another football club, the next port of call would have to be Tasmania," he said.

Full article at:
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/ray-of-hope-for-tassie/2009/04/01/1238261648990.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1