An odd thought occurred while watching AFL in recent weeks: has Tasmania been taken for granted? Do they deserve their own team?
When Caroline Wilson made a comment to the effect the AFL is trying to end Hawthorn’s deal with Tasmania as “it had not developed”, I felt anger on behalf of Tasmanians wanting a team. The Hawthorn plan was an unfair experiment.
I am not sure how many Tasmanians have played for Hawthorn. I am sure there are many Tasmanians who follow a Melbourne-based team because their local hero played in the VFL or AFL, such as ‘Percy’ Jones at Carlton or Max Walker at St Kilda.
The recent game Greater Western Sydney game in Tasmania highlighted why the Hawthorn experience may not replicate a Tasmanian-based team outcome. Firstly, if you follow a team other than Hawthorn or GWS, would you pay X dollars to watch the game? If your weekly ritual is to go with mates to a local ground to watch players you know, paying only Y dollars, what would break your routine?
West Australian fans have shown what happened when they had their own team in AFL.
A lot of my friends fly to interstate games to watch GWS play. Melbourne games are popular for the ability to fly there and back in the same day. Very few go to Tasmanian games for varying reasons – cost, flight times, flights via Melbourne, school holidays.
The Sydney derby had me thinking of the cliche quote ‘build it and they will come’. It is true for the second team in Sydney, as it probably would be for Tasmania. Who would have thought a team located in working class rugby league heartland would be a success? But the game of two Sydney sides had gate A open with long queues to enter.
I remember the 2012 game at the Olympic Stadium. Nearly every family at Auskick had access to free tickets. In 2017 GWS home games get larger crowds than rugby league games. Free tickets to GWS games are not so easy to obtain.
In 2013 at a fan forum Kevin Sheedy discussed the fact that GWS was happy for all fans to come to watch its games and that if they have two teams to follow, that’s okay. He expressed the hope that fans would eventually follow only GWS. Most GWS fans I know used to support another team. I still follow two teams.
The boost to the broadcast rights allocated after the inclusion of GWS and Gold Coast well and truly covered any losses incurred by the two teams.
If Tasmania had its own team, another would be required to prevent a weekly bye, but perhaps there is a way to test the waters before including a new state into the AFL fold.
Why not add another team to AFLW? St Kilda, Geelong and North Melbourne want to be included, and Tasmania would make that group an even number. Yes, there are only two expansion slots for 2019, but we weren’t supposed to have AFLW until 2020. Rules can be broken.
The addition of a fully-fledged Tasmanian AFL team would make the competition truly national. The time is now for the dream to become a reality.
Beny Iniesta
Guest
Could be onto something there, but to go truly national, we need to include the parts of the country that haven't yet joined the Federation - like the North & South Islands. The AFL should admit a "Southern Stars" team playing 3 games in Launceston, 3 games in Hobart, 3 games in Auckland, 1 game in Wellington & 1 game in Christchurch. This team could tap into a market of over 5 million people - more than GWS & Gold Coast combined and would surely be a great success representing the Southern areas of Australiasia. They could sell heaps of 3 game memberships - except in Melbourne where they might play 5 or 6 games they could sell 5 or 6 game memberships. They would be a Goliath!
Beny Iniesta
Guest
Truly national? What about Darwin and the tens of thousands of people that live there! Pfft.
republican
Guest
........if Canberra the NT and Tassie are considered unviable then NZ is certainly a bridge too far, yet the AFL hold to a double standard that touts them as a future option in this respect. This sort of irresponsible and damaging expedience is what has turned me off the AFL over the years. They have lost the plot in terms of principled and equitable governance. They are without sentience in their avarice to grow their empire, which flies in the face of any virtue or duty of care of our indigenous code and its long suffering devoted. In short, they are unworthy of this honour.........
republican
Guest
.........Canberra will be viable in the near future, subject to criteria. I also believe GWS & GC are less viable than either Tassie or Canberra, which exposes the double standard in terms of expansion. The Storm are a good analogy in that the code has not grown an iota, in GR terms in that demographic, despite its huge market based on pop and considering the time they have been ensconced in Melbourne. While it could be said that the Storm brand is successful they derive this support purely from television since there are more who support their 'brand' long distance than do locally I believe. It is moot as to whether or not this business model is enough to sustain the longevity of any sporting business if you believe that to disenfranchise your core historical support & cultural DNA will compromise growth long term. We will agree to disagree however I do believe it would be a folly for the AFL to expand prematurely. They need to consolidate for at least 25 years or more and look to relocating some Melbourne entities in the interim as painful as that process will be........
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Keep believing that Birdman. Keep believing that despite what everybody else says and knows!
Birdman
Guest
it already is.
Mark
Guest
That's actually the definition of economic.
Birdman
Guest
UTAS stadium (cap 18k) and Blundstone (cap. 22k). AFL subsidises all club by meeting player payments. Tas govt would also kick in.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
We obviously disagree about what is a viable demographic and what infrastructure may be needed to sustain an AFL team! I agree that there should be NO expansion ... even a contraction so as the clubs with a viable demographic are not hammered into the ground in the interests of supporting those that do not have a viable demographic and appeal to the socialist ideal of equalisation. I also believe that we do not need any additional clubs that do not have a viable demographic and that covers Tassie, NT and Canberra!
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
I believe in climate change. I don't believe that Tassie will ever be a desirable place to live.
republican
Guest
.......no its actually empirical scientific truth, as inconvenient as you may find that PTF.........
republican
Guest
.........no, relocate them to viable demographics, i.e. Tassie and Canberra, as opposed to Mars or NZ, or are you proposing zero expansion for the foreseeable future, in which case I support that as well if its unconditional........
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Big enough given their intense support of their club and the adjacent football supporting public in that place called Melbourne!
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Hogwash (is that akin to "bollocks") So we are in agreement then - Get rid of a couple of the basket case Melbourne Clubs (Roos, Bulldogs, maybe Melbourne), as well as 1 or 2 of the franchise clubs (Gold Coast and GWS) and NO new side in Tassie or Canberra.
republican
Guest
.......bollocks. No less viable than half of the Melbourne based clubs..........
republican
Guest
........yep & they are expedient of the nations capital in exactly the same way and have been for decades........
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Lobby your State Goverment to stop buying those games and when that happens both the Roos and the Hawks will quickly disappear. That is the point, without an ongoing subsidy (most likely from the Tassie Govt or AFL fans elsewhere) a Tassie team will not be viable in a national competition.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Yeh right. Ifs, Buts and Candy Nuts!
fair suck of the sav
Guest
I agree the treatment of Tasmania by the continent centric AFL has been appalling. I feel like gagging everytime I see a Melbourne based team with Tasmania on their jumper.. If you are going to represent a place live in that place. The current arrangement smacks of neo colonialism with the Tasmanians treated as second class citizens. Time for a Tassie team.
Nick Symonds
Guest
The AFL need to get in before the NRL do. The Tassie Titans has a good sound don't you think? It would create a Bass Strait derby with Melbourne Storm.