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This year we’ll see the debut of the Global Rapid Rugby series, the rebel rugby union tournament set up following the omission of Western Force from Super Rugby in 2017 – and it could pave the way for a Tasmanian AFL team.
Tasmania has been bidding for a licence to be part of the Australian Football League since the 1990s and regularly host home-and-away matches. St Kilda, Hawthorn, Fitzroy and North Melbourne have all played home AFL games on the Apple Isle, but the constant failure of Tasmanian bids to join the competition has become a regular fixture of the AFL.
Tasmania’s last hope was in 2008 when the AFL announced expansion plans, but the league eventually selected the Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney in states already with an AFL presence. With Tasmania and the Northern Territory still without teams of their own, they could choose to join together to create a rebel Aussie Rules league.
Tasmanians have wanted a team in the national league for years and have been knocked back every time, so it’s about time they said, “Enough is enough” and fought for entry in the AFL by forging a rebel league.
A Tasmania and Northern Territory-backed ‘Pacific Football League’ would allow the AFL to expand into the Asia-Pacific Region, something we haven’t seen happen in the AFL before. Forget AFLX – the PFL would connect everyone in the Pacific region together for a new carnival of football.
Rules would be altered to make the game more attractive to newcomers, and with the threat of the PFL becoming the premier football league in Australia, the AFL would be forced to give Tasmania and the Northern Territory a team. Other teams in the league could also come into AFL Expansion.
Tasmania and the NT would spearhead the competition with two teams each. Tasmania could have teams based in Hobart and the north of the state, while the Northern Territory could have teams in Darwin and Alice Springs. New Zealand could join the competition with teams from Auckland and Wellington, and other teams to make up the 12-team league would come from Canberra, the Sunshine Coast, Singapore, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, with possible expansion into Indonesia, Samoa, Tonga, Japan and Sri Lanka.
This league could launch the next phase of AFL expansion even if the AFL reluctantly decides to do so. This is a quite different concept. With AFL Tasmania and AFL Northern Territory looking to have a team in the AFL in the near future, these markets need to be explored for a league that could add commercial value to the sport not only in Australia but globally as well.
Roarers, do you see a Pacific Football League as the pathway to increase the chances of teams in Tasmania or the Northern Territory?
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