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Tasmania
- Thread starter 23.21.159
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2027 for the Tassie team. Are we gonna be deprived of lower draft picks again if we fall lower in next 2 seasons?
the possibility of the Tigers being at the lower end of the ladder when the draft concessions are handed out wouldn't have influenced the decision, but it would be seen as a bonus outcome.
The AFL had one job – protect the game. But in Tasmania, it’s dying
I love football, still do, and that’s why to every footy lover outside Tasmania I say – if the game dies in Tasmania, it can die anywhere.www.theage.com.au
Here is the most significant moment of my 2022 football season.
I follow Longford in the Northern Tasmanian Football Association. Mid-season, I arrived at the Longford ground at 1.30pm on a Saturday to find the senior match nearly over. When I asked why, I was told, “Because it’s the under-18 round”.
Clubs in Tasmania are struggling for numbers.CREDIT: SEBASTIAN COSTANZO
At the end of the senior match, the players from the two senior sides lined up to clap the under-18 teams on to the ground. The crowd roared, cars tooted, the young men leapt like salmons. The crowd stayed and gave the under-18 match their full support. Why? Because, in Tasmania, a growing number of young men and women are indifferent to the game.
Former Hawthorn player Peter Schwab told me that once, when legendary coach Allan “Yabby” Jeans was delivering a pre-match pep talk, the odd thought occurred to him that, “this only matters because we agree it does”. In Tasmania, a significant number of young people – plus any number of affluent refugees from other states – no longer think that footy matters.
About five years ago, the then president of Glenorchy Football Club, John McCann, said the ecology of Tasmanian football was sick. The ecology of Tasmanian football is now beginning to collapse with clubs around the island struggling for numbers.
Ex-Hawk Peter Hudson.CREDIT:THE AGE
Earlier this month, Glenorchy, one of the powerhouses of Tasmanian football in the post-war period, let it be known that it will struggle to field a men’s team this season. A list of players who have come to the VFL/AFL via Glenorchy Football Club would include Darryl Sutton, Rodney Eade, Adrian Fletcher, Andy Lovell, Ben Brown, Jimmy Webster, Daryn Cresswell, Brodie Holland and Matthew Mansfield.
Another big name to play with Glenorchy was Peter Hudson, one of six geniuses of Australian football to emerge from Tasmania during the 1960s (the other five being Darrell Baldock, Ian Stewart, Royce Hart, Brent Crosswell and Johnny Greening). At Hawthorn, over 129 games, Hudson averaged 5.6 goals a match, the highest average in VFL/AFL history.
Hudson started with the Upper Derwent Football Club, which no longer exists. He then played with New Norfolk, which is struggling for numbers. When he returned to Tasmania from Hawthorn, he joined Glenorchy, which is now also struggling for numbers. The game is no longer played in government schools. Hudson was a government high school kid. Exactly where does the AFL expect the next Peter Hudson to intersect with the sport except on screens along with other e-games?
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The AFL has a Brexit-like arrogance, the sort that promises grand visions and, within a couple of years, delivers empty supermarkets. Historically, Tasmanian football was valued by the AFL only in so far as it supplied recruits for AFL clubs and provided a guaranteed television audience. The AFL has now promised to spend $30 million on talent academies if the stadium goes ahead. Offering conditional aid in times of crisis is Trumpian.
Nature abhors a vacuum and the vacuum in Tasmanian folk/sporting culture is being filled by NBL club the Jackjumpers. An ABC story three weeks ago revealed that interest in basketball in Tasmania has “skyrocketed”. Basketball Tasmania says it needs 26 new indoor basketball courts around the state. Meanwhile, in the southern third of the island (including the Greater Hobart area), there are only 20 football clubs left.
Tasmania having a team in the AFL was always a just cause. The critical moment in recent history was when Robert Shaw’s Tasmanian team defeated Victoria in a 1996 state of origin match in Hobart. There was no question that Tasmania could then field a competitive AFL team. Instead, Tasmanian football declined.
Then about five years ago everything changed. There was a concerted movement from the grassroots for Tasmania to get an AFL licence. It had broad support and articulate leadership. It was like hearing an old song, a merry dance tune. Tassie footy was alive and on the move ... and who came along but the AFL making the stadium a condition of Tasmania getting a licence. As the stadium became a mind-numbing and unnecessary distraction, the enthusiasm for a Tasmanian team among Tasmanians has waned.
In the north of the island where I live and where the culture of the game is strongest, I have met one person in favour of the stadium. People are opposed to the stadium because they believe the money could be better spent on the ailing public health system. It has also been noted that Lachlan Murdoch, co-winner of the AFL broadcasting rights, owns the Hobart Mercury which – surprise, surprise – is stridently pro-stadium.
The best argument for the stadium was advanced by Matthew “Richo” Richardson. As a footballer, he was a performer who put it all out there for the crowd to see. Growing up, he loved the Tassie footy scene but, in his heart, he wanted to play on the MCG. If he were a kid again, he believes he’d want to play on the Hobart stadium because, in his view, it’s a grander stage. He also points out that if the Brisbane Lions have had player retention issues, a team based in Launceston can surely expect them.
But the stadium is not the critical issue facing Tasmanian football. The history of popular games is like the history of popular music. There are tracts of America where blues and jazz began and flourished where that music is now hardly heard. Footy was my jazz. I loved it, still do, and that’s why to every footy lover outside Tasmania I say – if the game dies in Tasmania, it can die anywhere. To Richard Goyder and the AFL Commission, I say: you only had one job – to protect and nurture the game. Where have you been?
Perfectly describes the situation I've seen evolve over the past three decades. As suggested, even more magnified in the south, where it seems to be that culture/interest has fallen out of love with the game to a point of indifference. In the northwest, it's a different dilemma in that a faster aging demographic structure means they no longer have the people of prime athletic age to fill as many teams. A trip to Launceston (my first in a couple of years) one weekend last season gave me hope that at least one region was hanging in there (albeit reduced from it's glory years). The whole grass roots scene seemed more vibrant in Launceston than in Hobart, where I live (I grew up between Launceston and Hobart, but my adult life mainly in Hobart - with some time interstate).
Over all though, I just wonder if we are 20-30 years too late? The time to enter the AFL was when the game was an intertwined part of the Tasmanian community cultural fabric. That was the bid in the 1990s on the back of the strong TAS State of Origin performances, where Port Adelaide was given a license instead of Tasmania. Is the game too far gone for this to be a success? In a state with a lower, decentralised population base, it would seem to me that it's even more important for the game to be passionately followed in all corners as a precursor, in order to draw adequate and sustained crowds and interest.
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I wonder if the afl will put up any more roadblocks/ hurdles before Tassie officially get a team?
Firstly, we did OK during the era of compromised drafts 10 or so years ago (despite what Dennis Committee famously said at the time).
Secondly, I honestly believe we will be in the premiership window in 2027.
Finally, Hawthorn showed in 2012-15 that you can stay in the premiership window for an extended period of time during an era of compromised drafts.
I’m with McGuire and Eade on this. Everyone (well just about everyone) wants to see a Tasmanian team but it’s gotta be done right. McGuire’s concerns about sufficient investment are right imo as are some of his and Eade’s views on the unique challenges facing Tasmania eg getting statewide buy-in from a dispersed population, keeping players in Tasmania etc etc.
I can see it being a success in the first few years but it’ll be 5 or 6 years down the track that’ll be the true time to assess.
I see a Tasmanian team being long term successful, but not without some really big risks being navigated and I think the AFL is gonna have to pump as much, if not more into Tasmania on an annual basis as it does with GC and GWS.
One advantage over those other clubs, and I was pleased to hear, is that the stadium will be brand new and importantly, incorporate an entire precinct full of commercial and residential development that will attract energy and interest from people. It’s going to be a super location that will be very attractive to both locals and visitors if they get the design of everything right.
I can see it being a success in the first few years but it’ll be 5 or 6 years down the track that’ll be the true time to assess.
I see a Tasmanian team being long term successful, but not without some really big risks being navigated and I think the AFL is gonna have to pump as much, if not more into Tasmania on an annual basis as it does with GC and GWS.
One advantage over those other clubs, and I was pleased to hear, is that the stadium will be brand new and importantly, incorporate an entire precinct full of commercial and residential development that will attract energy and interest from people. It’s going to be a super location that will be very attractive to both locals and visitors if they get the design of everything right.
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100% correct, and this plays into Benny moving to the AFL to primarily setup Tassie. Guys like Eddie still have the ear of AFL senior guys and it wouldn’t surprise me that Eddie and probably a few others told the AFL that Gale is the man to setup Tassie and ensure it’s not a financial black hole like GWS and GC.
True, this should have been done years ago and the very fact that it wasn't puts the whole Tassie team in jeopardy.
They will now have to rebuild interest in Australian Rules in Tasmania whereas back 25 years the interest was there.
Another missed opportunity by the AFL, what a stuff up.
DS
Very accurate overview. Was born in Tasmania and played junior footy until family left for Victoria when I was 15.
VFL was it back then in the 1970’s & local leagues were very strong. Junior competitions were massive & unlike in Vic, were school based. Hence you played footy on weekends with all your school mates - dominated our childhood lives during Winter. We then had regional rep teams that competed against the North & North-West.
Tasmania was a total football State. Sad to see the long, slow decline in football popularity over the ensuing decades. It can be rebuilt, but it’ll take time.
Yeah the precinct/location will give it every chance.
Many new teams have failed due to the location of the ground. i.e. Imagine how much better Gold Coast would be if the ground was in the middle of the Gold Coast area. Likewise how much better Adelaide is now with Adelaide Oval Vs Football Park.
The dispersed population isn't a big issue so long as the new entity does all the right things promoting it across the whole state.
You only need to see how the JackJumpers have shown the geographical divide if no longer an issue if built/done right.
For all McLachlans shortcomings,
The bloke must be an animal at the negotiating table (or is that Dillon and the lawyers job?)
$750b stadium to put in a show for Fox and 7, who pay AFL house $1b
Fed govt pays $250m, Tassie govt pays $250m, mystery income stream pays $235m
And the AFL pays $15 (fifteen) million. Thats 2% isnt it?
Thats a deal for The AFL that would make a Libyan Warlord blush.
Reminds me of the dead donkey raffle scam
Blokes donkey dies in the paddock from overwork, so he sells everyone in the district a $1 ticket in a raffle to win a donkey.
He sells a thousand tickets, draws the raffle and delivers the dead donkey to the winner.
'Hey, the donkeys dead!' Protests the lucky winner
'Well ill be buggered' says the farmer, twisting a stiff ear.
'It is too, here, let me refund your dollar'
The bloke must be an animal at the negotiating table (or is that Dillon and the lawyers job?)
$750b stadium to put in a show for Fox and 7, who pay AFL house $1b
Fed govt pays $250m, Tassie govt pays $250m, mystery income stream pays $235m
And the AFL pays $15 (fifteen) million. Thats 2% isnt it?
Thats a deal for The AFL that would make a Libyan Warlord blush.
Reminds me of the dead donkey raffle scam
Blokes donkey dies in the paddock from overwork, so he sells everyone in the district a $1 ticket in a raffle to win a donkey.
He sells a thousand tickets, draws the raffle and delivers the dead donkey to the winner.
'Hey, the donkeys dead!' Protests the lucky winner
'Well ill be buggered' says the farmer, twisting a stiff ear.
'It is too, here, let me refund your dollar'
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Yeah like most cant stand what Gl stand for, but he is a genius at extracting gov't money to assist his and the AFL's cause.
Thought was some reasonable overview on FC that every $1G stadium ends up costing $2G.
So there is no way this stadium will be $750m. Wonder who will end up funding the other half or it will be a Porter Davis job.
It's the natural project way where people underquote / make the business case look better than it is and contingency gets beaten down and then you deal with reality later on once you are committed enough its hard to back out.
Perth stadium started out at $700m and went to $1.6 billion.
So there is no way this stadium will be $750m. Wonder who will end up funding the other half or it will be a Porter Davis job.
It's the natural project way where people underquote / make the business case look better than it is and contingency gets beaten down and then you deal with reality later on once you are committed enough its hard to back out.
Perth stadium started out at $700m and went to $1.6 billion.
My inclination is to think
'If hes such an animal negotiator; such a consumate deal maker, why didnt he stick to private industy and make squillions?'
The answer of course,
Is there is some degree of accountibility in private industry.
I don’t hold with the Jackjumpers comparisons. Basketball is an entirely different sport with entirely different financial and structural elements. Fewer players required, therefore easier to develop feeder or junior programs all over the state v football because of the lower development and support and infrastructure costs involved, easier to play at different locations because both North and South have equally adequate indoor facilities whereas in football they will not, and on and on and on. It’s like comparing the success or failure of Rex Regional Airlines v Qantas. There’s infinitely more involved and at stake. In many ways, basketball is absolutely perfect for Tasmania.
If the Jackjumpers have a value of $40m then that’s less than what the AFL is gonna have to pump in each and every year.
