HOW WE’LL GET AN AFL TEAM

Footy legend’s advice over state AFL side

THE argument for a Tasmanian AFL team has been won — but there is a right way and a wrong way to create one, renowned Tasmanian sports broadcaster Tim Lane says.

Lane, who is a Legend in the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame, said a state AFL side would need to be truly Tasmanian, not a team that had been relocated from Melbourne.

“I’ve always believed in [a Tasmanian team], continue to, and I’m heartened by the fact that I feel as though the tide of opinion has really turned over time and that it’s generally accepted now that it’s a matter of how rather than whether it should happen,” he said.

Lane hopes that the day arrives soon, but says he is blinkered in his view that when it does, the team must be identifiably Tasmanian.

He said Tasmania does not have a big enough population to support a team that only has half of the state behind it.

“I believe it has to be a team that from day one is Tasmanian, it’s not a team that’s brought in from Melbourne such as North Melbourne and branded as the Tassie Kangaroos and plays half its games in Melbourne and half in Tasmania,” he said.

“I just don’t think it’s the way to go, because too many Tasmanians have very strong loyalties to Victorian clubs.

“You’ve got to have everyone behind it, and the only way to do that is to have a true Tassie team that basically wears the colours of the state — both in a literal and a metaphorical sense.”

Lane said it is important for Tasmanians to express their views — if they would accept a relocated team, that would be “well and good.”

“But if they don’t feel that way and if they feel as though the only team they want as Tasmania is a true Tasmanian team, I reckon that view really needs to be expressed so that the powers that be get the message,” he said.

HAVE no doubt, the argument for a Tasmanian team in the AFL has been won. An idea that until recently was discouraged — at times to the point of disparagement — is now accepted as appropriate and almost inevitable.

Perhaps the only people who would still rail against the notion are Tasmanians. There are those unhappy at the idea of football consuming any more of the state’s finances and oxygen. There are those erroneously believing it’s an economic impossibility. There are those not wanting to face a choice between their longstanding AFL club and the new one (which would genuinely represent them). And there are the ones falling back on old arguments like “Yeah, but where would we play the games?”

It’s to be hoped that one day soon, when Tasmanians are represented on the Australian sporting landscape like never before, even the most indifferent and sceptical will jump on board. And that’s possible, because this will be a team in which every last Tasmanian can have an emotional shareholding. Indeed, a cherished fantasy of mine is the image of an antifootball Tasmanian furtively stealing glances at the TV on the day the team plays its first AFL final.

Make no mistake, this is a vision that goes way beyond sport. It’s one that invites all Tasmanians, from whatever region, whether innately enthusiastic about sport or not, to have a shared investment in a team they can call their own. It’s a vision of perhaps the most unifying involvement in the state’s history.

The twin questions still to be answered are “when and how”.

The difficult and unfortunate reality is that the “how” must be addressed first. For to put a time frame on it would be to risk making a compromised decision on the manner of its realisation. And that matter is critical to the venture’s success.

There are two ways it can be done: the right way and the wrong way. The way that will best serve Tasmanian football fans and the way that best suits the AFL. The way that respects the football intelligence of Tassie fans and the way that treats them as mindless and malleable. The hard way and the convenient way.

The convenient way is to gradually relocate North Melbourne. This suits the AFL in that it would simultaneously resolve two ongoing issues. The first of these is the lack of support for the Kangaroos within Melbourne. The second is what has been described as “the Tasmanian problem”.

The AFL could make life sufficiently difficult for North that its administration would eventually be forced to tell the club’s members that relocation had become the only means of survival. It would begin piecemeal and end total. North would ultimately become the Tassie Kangaroos.

Proponents of this idea use the history of the Sydney Swans as their model and justification. Their argument goes that North Melbourne would gradually gain acceptance in Tasmania like South Melbourne did in Sydney.

There are, though, two crucial differences. First, and obviously, Tasmania isn’t Sydney. It has roughly 10 per cent of the harbour city’s population. The Swans are a niche club within their city’s sporting framework, but their niche is sufficient for survival. In Tasmania’s case, anything less than an overwhelming majority of the market won’t be enough.

Which leads to the second point of difference. Whereas the old South Melbourne moved into an Australian football vacuum when they relocated, and were thus the lightning rod for Sydney’s potential footy fans, the relocation of an existing club to Tasmania would be nothing like that. Tassie is a rusted-on footy state where the people have lifelong club loyalties. For these fans — and they’re the majority — switching loyalty wouldn’t come easily. Not even to a true Tasmanian team wearing a myrtle, magenta and primrose guernsey.

Switching to a hybrid team with “baggage” would be a bridge too far. And that’s just for southern Tasmanians. Imagine how enthusiastic northerners would feel about the Kangaroos given the state’s recent football politics.

No. The Tasmanian team must be for all Tasmanians. For it to be seen in any way as symbolising division would be disastrous.

So, how does anyone persuade the AFL, an organisation noted for its determination to get its own

way, that it should reconsider? And even more problematic, how can the case for the difficult option in the interests of a minnow possibly be won?

It’s hard to identify an answer beyond that suggested here last Sunday by Professor Jonathan West. He proposed the state government put to the AFL that — We will continue funding this [Hawthorn and North Melbourne] only if there is a path to us having a team.

My one suggested amendment is that between the words “a” and “team” should be added “genuine Tasmanian”.

For the fact is, Tasmania has been exploited by the AFL and its clubs for a long, long time. Its local football competitions have basically fallen apart as a result. An ultimatum such as that suggested by Professor West is hardly unreasonable and the AFL would damage its brand if it walked away.

Whether it would produce the right outcome by 2022 can’t be predicted. But the wait has been long for Tasmanian football supporters and it’s worth waiting longer, if necessary, for the right outcome.