We deserve much more
NOPE. Like the return of Ali de Winter to the coaching ranks of Cricket Tasmania, the return of the Devils and the Mariners is not the answer.
Why? Because it’s a road we’ve walked before. We’ve experienced the pros and cons, the ceiling for growth has been documented in miserable failings. But most important of all, it is a giant step backwards and one that would have Buzz Aldrin shaking his head in disbelief.
The overarching goal for football in Tasmania has to be a stand-alone team in the AFL. That MAP dream. And for as long as we have AFL Houseappointed people in charge of AFL Tasmania — yes, that’s Rob Auld and the current CEO Trish Squires — it’s proven we will be no more than a booty call for the struggling clubs who call Gillon their father and AFL House their home.
That phase has passed. Right now, we are deserving of so much more.
Former CEO Scott Wade copped it from all angles of the public for his decision making, communication methods and overall impact on the game.
Like or dislike, respect or disrespect Wade for his overall performance in the role, you have to tip your cap to the selflessness in one of the key decisions that drew the most angst from the public.
Wade was a William Leitch medallist for the Hobart Tigers, won premierships for the club, yet made the decision — for what he believed to be in the best interests of Tasmanian football — to end the club’s association with the statewide league. Give me another example of Tasmanian-based sporting administrators willing to make that level of call on a club/friendship group that they have bled for?
Cricket Tasmania hasn’t been able to look beyond its Facebook friends list for a decade, and yet even under a new regime, it still goes on. Best interests of cricket in Tasmania, or best interest of self?
It is why Tasmanian football is taking a step back to 2008, when Syrup had a pole and Clarence FC was sending its most hardened men for what it called the Triple 4: A four-on-four death match, at 4am, in St Davids Park against a quartet of New Norfolk’s hardest.
To put it simply: Auld and Squires have had no control to act in the best interest of Tasmanian football through the way in which they were brought into the position.
That might be a harsh analysis, but give me an example of where Squires or Auld have implemented anything that goes against the wants or needs of the family tree? Or have ever made a public comment that came across as their own thought bubble and not some scripted nonsense?
There is a silver lining in all this: as Tasmania unveils its publicly created brand into the VFL, it will be the year 2021, the same year that Tasmania’s current agreements with Haw- thorn and North Melbourne end. If the Government is serious about representing the wants and needs of the public, it will pull its $7 million in funding — that has made Hawthorn the pokie king and has kept North Melbourne alive — and invest it into areas of public need; like fixing the bloody roof of the Moonah Basketball Stadium and better leveraging a deal for the true bloods of that map dream.
It’s time for Tasmania to send a message. It’s time for our collective voice to be heard. WE WANT AN AFL TEAM! And no disrespect to the state league presidents, but they represent their individual areas very well. The TFC doesn’t understand its role in the landscape and isn’t even aligned to the AFL, so we know it doesn’t care.
Who is actually pushing our agenda?
It leaves one voice. One group.
The Will Hodgman Band; it is time for you to stand up and act on the public voice.
Tasmania. Not sponsored by Tasmania, not partnering battling Victorian teams to hold up our own winter economy, not being led into the planned irrelevance of the VFL or the NEAFL.
Tasmania and the Tasmanian Reserves: that green jumper, edged with maroon trims and that yellow map proudly taking centre stage in the AFL.