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The AFL this year has introduced its 17th team, Gold Coast Suns, and next year there will be an 18th team, Greater Western Sydney Giants. But what’s next?
The AFL has continuously rejected a Tasmanian team, even back in the VFL days. The Tasmanian Bid Team has always raised controversy, in 2008 the Government of Australia launched a senate of Australia, which AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou and chairman Mike Fitzpatrick both declined to attend.
After the Tasmanian bid team got rejected twice in 2008, when the AFL chose Gold Coast and GWS, Kerry O’Brien brought to the AFL’s attention that the game might be taken over by the popularity of soccer. He also questioned the AFL’s commitment to Tasmania.
Tasmania was the second state to play Australian football and has produced a lot of great football players. Tasmania also has two functional grounds, Aurora Stadium, Launceston and Bellerive Oval, Hobart.
Last year Tasmania introduced the TFL, which combined the North and South, which has always been an issue, that the two are to isolated from each other and people from the north don’t go to the south and vice versa. The TFL takes away the differences between the two and the population is over 500,000.
So does this mean that a Tasmanian team is the next option?
The AFL has a lot of support in Northern Territory, but the NRL has a fair share of that support, so could Northern Territory be the next option. Northern Territory has the highest participation rate in Australia (second in the World to Nauru).
Northern Territory has produced a lot of great AFL players and has six good quality football leagues (NTFL, CAFL, BDFL, KDFL, GAFL and TIFL). Northern Territory also has two good grounds TIO Stadium, Darwin and Tragaer Park, Alice Springs, which have had/have regular premiership/pre-season games there each year.
Another possibility is a Canberra team.
While this might be put off because the new GWS Giants, who have signed a deal with the Canberra government to play four games (three premiership season games and one pre-season game) a year there over 10 years, there has always been a big possibility of having their own team.
Australian football was once (before 1982) the most popular sport in the territory, along with rugby union, then rugby league. In 1982 after the AFL announced the new Sydney Swans team, the NRL quickly reacted and made a team from Canberra.
And Australian Rules Football’s popularity dropped and since 1996 the AFL have been playing games in the nation’s capital, but in the same year rugby union announced the ACT Brumbies and Australian football dropped to the third most popular game – and hasn’t changed.
Australian football enjoys a good participation rate and gets a capacity crowd whenever there’s an AFL game there.
Many people believe that if the AFL were to expand to the nations capital and get there own team, Aussie Rules would regain the honour of being the most popular sport in Canberra. Especially because of close-by regions that enjoy great success with Aussie Rules, such as the Riverina, Sapphire/South Coast, Albury/Wodonga, Queanbeyan, Wagga Wagga, Narrandera, Griffith and western NSW, like Broken Hill.
Does this mean this could be a contender for AFL’s future expansion teams?
Could Perth be a contender for future AFL expansion?
Perth has two teams in West Coast Eagles (1987) and Fremantle Dockers (1995). Perth has an increasing population and a population very capable of having another team. The WAFL is a very strong league and gets good crowds. But maybe the third Western Australian team might go to a regional area of WA, with a capable population, like Bunbury, Albany or, most likely, the city of Rockingham, which has a population of 60,000 and is only 47km south of the middle of Perth.
Could this mean it’s a reasonable possibility to have the right to be the 19th, 20th or 21st team in the AFL?
Australian Rules Football has become very popular in Far North Queensland and in particular Cairns. AFL Cairns is a semi-professional league which has produced players into the AFL. Gold Coast Suns this year and the next two years have organised to play a game a year at Cazaly’s Stadium. Cazaly’s Stadium is a good ground and is more then capable of hosting Premiership AFL games there.
If there were to be a team from Cairns, it could capture the heart and minds of people from all over Queensland, especially Townsville which is nearby, which has a professional NRL team.
Could this make it a contender for a team in the AFL?
New Zealand? Yes, New Zealand.
In the past few weeks there has been discussion about a New Zealand AFL team, which was originally brought up by Andrew Demetriou in 2009, but recently brought up again by Hawthorn President Jeff Kennett. Should Australian Football have a team from New Zealand?
The only way that it could possibly gain a license is if the AFL was desperate to gain popularity outside of Australia. So could this give New Zealand a chance to gain a license?
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