GOAL WIDENS
Women next in Tassie A-League expansion pitch
A SUCCESSFUL Tasmanian ALeague bid would lead to a push for the state to have its own W-League and National Youth League team.
A Tasmanian consortium has entered its formal expression of interest to be one of two expansion teams, with the short-listed bidders to be announced this month.
Football Federation Tasmania has given the consortium a letter of support to include in their EOI submission.
FFT president Bob Gordon believes the state has a “pretty good” chance of getting its own team.
“FFT is strongly supporting the bidding group, we think it would provide the missing bit of the puzzle in terms of the development pathways available to the tens of thousands of people who play in Tasmania,” Gordon said.
Developing a W-League team is not a requirement in the A-League expansion process, but Tasmanian bid spokeswoman Victoria Morton said a women’s team would be on the agenda.
“That would be our next step — WLeague, youth league, academy, everything that goes with having an ALeague club,” Morton said. “We would be supporting all levels of football.”
Former Melbourne Victory board members Harry Stamoulis heads the consortium behind the state’s bid.
Federal MP for Denison Andrew Wilkie said he has discussed the possibility of developing a Tasmanian WLeague team with Stamoulis.
“[An] interesting dimension of my recent discussions with Mr Stamoulis was my suggestion that his A-League submission would be even stronger if it included a commitment to a W-League team,” Wilkie said. “This was as a direct result of community feedback to me.”
Fifteen bids are being assessed by Football Federation Australia, with those deemed suitable then to be invited to submit an official proposal.
FFA intends to release its request for proposals on June 11.
The two successful bidders are expected to be revealed in October.
Stamoulis could not be contacted.