The unsuccessful FC Tasmania bid group failed to even come up with a name for its proposed A-League team during its campaign expansion, making it had to attract or engage with fans who might have wanted to sign up as members.
It also made it very difficult to establish the club’s brand and identity. So what might be an appropriate name for a Tasmanian A-League club?
Here’s a shortlist of possible names along with brief descriptions about why each would be suitable.
FC Tasmania
The working title of the current bid. Formal but dull.
Tasmania United
The name of the previous bid, which attempted to join the 2011–12 A-League season. It’s an appropriate name for a club which seeks to represent a whole state.
Bohemians Tasmania
According to a recent Australia Council report, there are more artists and people involved in the creative industries per capita in Hobart than anywhere else in Australia. Tasmania is full of creative types and is also home to the famous MONA, FOMA and Dark MOFO. Tasmania is well known for its pristine wilderness and the quality of its food produce, but the arts sector is also becoming a very big part of Tasmania’s image and reputation.
Tasmania Elemental
Perhaps the essence of Tasmania comes from the elements and forces of nature. Rugged coastlines are weathered by the power of the raging sea while wild rivers slowly meander through the landscape, changing its shape. The clean air from Antarctica is good to breathe but comes with a bite when it’s cold, so you might like to sit in front of a warm fire and watch the flames as they dance and flicker. Tasmania may be pristine and natural but it’s also powerful and wild.
Dynamo Tasmania
Tasmania is full of energy! The state-owned power generators are some of the largest employers and money-earners in the state, and there are plans to make Tasmania a ‘battery of the nation’.
Tasmania Brewers
This one should be obvious. The island’s brewing industry is famous for the quality of its beer and has put Tasmania on the map for drinkers from across Bass Strait and from lands even further afield. Tasmanian hops are used to flavour beers in almost every country in Europe.
Tasmania Maritimo or Tasmania Marinos
Tasmania has a rich maritime history going back to colonial days, when shipping was the only means of connection to the mainland and the other colonies. The state’s maritime heritage is celebrated every two years with the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, which brings together a fleet of over 500 vessels, making it the second-largest wooden boat festival in the world.
Tasmania Rangers
The name ‘Rangers’ is often associated with the club in Scotland, but Tasmania itself has a bit of a Scottish kind of vibe. The misty highlands, fly fishing in rivers, links-style golf courses and whiskey all contribute to this. When you also think that half the state is protected forest managed by rangers of the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service the name Rangers seems quite apt.
(Tony Feder/Getty Images)
What’s in a name?
When it was first announced that there would be a bid from Tasmania, I thought it could add something really interesting and new to the league if they got in. But while the bid team were active in the media, they never really knew how to sell the sizzle – there was no ‘shrimp on the barbie’ moment.
A key reason for this was that there wasn’t an official bid website for FC Tasmania like there was for almost all the other bids, preventing fans from participating in forming the club’s identity.
Having a name is essential in being able to market your brand, and this is especially important in a small-business state like Tasmania, which is heavily reliant on niche marketing. In fact the naming of the state as Tasmania was itself a rebranding exercise to get away from the negative perceptions people had about Van Diemen’s Land and its reputation as a convict colony.
Simply put, it isn’t enough for FC Tasmania to target only Tasmanians. As what would be a niche club in a small market, it is paramount to be able to market the club not just to Tasmanians but also to those on the mainland as well those around the world. It needs to become a cult club with widespread appeal. But you need to have a name, colours and logo in order to do that.
When brand recognition is so critically important for Tasmania, the lack of a bid website was notable and may have been an important factor in the campaign’s failure when Tasmania will be relying on having a unique X factor to overcome its deficiencies in other metrics like population and TV viewership. Hopefully they will learn from this and be better prepared next time.
Hobart only ranked 21 out of 22 geographic regions on an index produced by Deloitte. The only way Tasmania has any chance is to have some kind of X factor, and the bid team failed to clearly identify one.
Tasmania deserves to have a team on participation rates alone – the state has 15,000 registered players among a population of 500,000, which works out to three per cent of all people. That’s more than the Illawarra with 2.4 per cent, Brisbane with 1.3 per cent and Melbourne with 1.2 per cent. Throw in the fact that Tasmania’s economy is 50 per cent larger than the Illawarra and Tasmania becomes the second best ‘new’ location for an A-League team after Canberra.
Unfortunately the FC Tasmania bid team still don’t have an official name for the team, so in the meantime I’ll open it up to you to say what you think a Tasmanian A-League side should be called and whether you think it could become a cult club. Leave your comments below.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
oh, you mean like the AFL excluded existing team names when they expanded into Brisbane
Redb
Roar Guru
The biggest problem for AFL in Tassie, is that most fans already have teams from the VFL days, Hence why Nth Melb and Hawthorn cant really make big inroads. Albeit you would hardly call their crowds small for Tassie. A one team Tasmania would have similar problems for AFL, the A League would not suffer from 'already have teams' problem but the north-south divide combined with a small economy and limited entertainment dollars would struggle to support a team. So it comes down to Hobart or Launceston being able to support team in its own right. This is not a high earning populace.
Punter
Roar Rookie
AFL is the biggest sport in Australia, in some states, their numbers as great as any football code in the world. However, in 2 of Australia's biggest cities, it's no more bigger then a niche sport. The AFL is bigger then the A-League in Sydney, but football is bigger then the sport of Aussies Rules in our fair city.
Tom English
Roar Guru
Ok mate – cite some of these figures for me. The ones I came up with weren't good enough for you. From my experience, AFL is growing, but as kangas said before growth is minimal compared with soccer's growth. If it is an ALT-FACT as you say, where are the real facts. They kinda do have a growing women's game don't they? Yes, the competition is pretty short, because they don't want it and the men's comp to overlap too much, which would push the women's comp into the shadows, much like what happens in football. Actually, there are more teams in the women's comp than in the A-League... No-one really thinks private schools are a fair representative of the population, or that their sports accurately demonstrate it. That's basically the first I've heard of AFL being a private school sport, not saying you're wrong. How's this then: "Take away participation growth in NSW but slight drops in what is the heartland state, huge crowd numbers at most games bar Giants, and huge tv ratings everywhere but Sydney, while in Sydney they still are bigger than A-League's, and you have nothing”
Nemesis
Guest
AFL has - participation growth ALT-FACT - a growing women’s game ALT-FACT You can have your own opinions. You can't have your own facts. AFL clubs are closing their doors in Victoria & Tasmania. AFL women's game is played for a few weeks in the Summer Holidays. In fact, the Summer School Holidays go for longer duration than AFL women's game.
Nemesis
Guest
Don't really care what the Sydney Swans website says. The Swans were exposed lying about participation numbers in Sydney, so no one believes the data they release. Instead of going to the website, go to the actual site. Go to the local parks in Sydney & see what sports are being played. Aussie Rules is growing in private schools only because the AFL pays big money for that privilege. If the money dries up, the schools won't bother any more. And, if you think private school sport is the is a good indicator for the health of a sport, then you must think polo & modern pentathlon are booming in Australia. They ain't.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
It provides an opportunity for American college basketballers to find an easier sport .
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Yeh, but apart from participation growth, a growing women's game, huge crowd numbers, huge TV ratings and massive sponsorship revenue, what else has the AFL got going for it?
Rolly
Guest
Stupid article stupid premise they can't even support an afl team in tassie there is no way a soccer team can succeed there .more deserving areas regions and cities with greater soccer pedigree
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Tom Clubs are folding in the heartland state of Victoria .. There’s some definite participation growth in nsw in partipation but it’s minimal compared to soccer . T v ratings for Aussie rulz in nsw are smalll too. The swans crowds are great , the Giants crowds are embarrassing.
Tom English
Roar Guru
Sydney Swans's site has club participation in NSW as growing by 8.2%. And crowd numbers are very big, I know that much. "Take away participation growth, huge crowd numbers and huge tv ratings, and you have nothing" would be more accurate. Still better on two accounts to football, which only has big participation.
Nemesis
Guest
Answer: No. Don't know about WA or SA, but no, no for other 2 regions.
Dart
Guest
Heart of Tasmania would be good, using the shape of the state maybe? Hobart Hearts is alliterative and it rhymes. Very catchy. My junior club were called Hearts so I like the name.
Leonard
Guest
”People who have probably never even been to Tasmania can’t hope to understand the situation. A split, decentralized population, a weak economy, no ground, no local players able to step up, the south wouldn’t support a northern team etc.” Scores six out of seven in the Tasmania uniqueness scale, with the seventh being Bass Strait, which means every comparison between the nation’s island State and places like Geelong, Gold Coast, Newcastle and Illawarra are no good - largely because it’s too hard to drive or take a train to and / or from the related metro area! The only sports which have succeeded in nationwide competitions are cricket (the BBL’s short seasons and only five Sheffield Shield non-club opponents), and basketball (small teams playing double-up games in a non-contact sport).
Kangas
Roar Rookie
No
Tom English
Roar Guru
"AFL only has big TV ratings to focus on. Take away the big TV ratings & AFL has nothing else." Disclaimer: I'm from Sydney. Doesn't AFL get huge crowds? Isn't AFL participation growing in Sydney, huge in SA/WA/Vic?
Nemesis
Guest
We want A-League to be a national football competition. A competition that engages all of Australia. This means some clubs will be big; some will be small. Savvy businesses know how to operate successfully in big cities & small towns. ALeague needs to be the final step in Australia for the best footballers who embark on a career in football. Hopefully, with a new diverse FFA Board that is more focused on football, we will get strategies that provide this pathway. AFL only has big TV ratings to focus on. Take away the big TV ratings & AFL has nothing else.
George Matthews
Guest
The Devils.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
The Tasmania Fantasy. Because that's all this will ever be. A fantasy. If the AFL cannot find a strong enough commercial case for a team in the state which is dominated by the game then no one else really has a chance.
con tripodis
Guest
because england is a soccer loving country and tassie is a AFL loving state thats why