BRETT GEEVES: TSL’S MOVE SHOULD BE GROUNDS FOR COMPLAINT

SHOULD Glenorchy finish second on the TSL ladder and win the right to a home final and a double chance, it will have to play that first final at Clarence’s home ground, Blundstone.

Yes, there are key leaders within AFL Tas who believe this to be appropriate, fair, equal, positive and right.

And from this decision alone, I can see why we aren’t trusted to run an AFL team.

How do a group of people sit in a room and agree that this is the best possible decision for the game and its clubs?

Oh, to be a fly on the wall, or is it a brick in the wall? Or in this instance, maybe it’s a brick to the head.

There was a time when KGV as a facility might not have been up to a “high performance” standard, which seems to be the go-to AFL line of justification for Blundstone and UTas Stadium hosting all TSL finals.

Its visitors’ changerooms once sat beneath the oldest wooden structure in all of the state. The hot water in those rooms came direct from Mount Wellington’s trickling water flow of ice, and if there had been no rain or snow, well, there’d be no water. The toilets were more horror movie than inviting and wore the pain of 50 years worth of protein.

The home rooms, of course, were locker-lined and had the warmth of the forever memories of those that had showered before the current day. Danny Ling’s jockstrap sat untouched for 30 years in the left-hand corner as a memory of his last game — champions aren’t easily forgotten, particularly when their smell sticks in your hair as a constant reminder that they were there.

Sure, a decade ago, you could muster an argument that the KGV facility didn’t meet the standard required to host premier “high performance” football.

But in a moment of high performance salvation for

The top two teams have earned the right for that home ground advantage. For an advantage. Any advantage. For its fans to flow into their home ground to support their players who have been training for this moment since November of last year.

KGV, Andrew Wilkie broke through the banner with an enormous cheque for millions and millions and millions of dollars. And boy, doesn’t that many millions buy the very cream of high performance.

Gyms, hot water for everyone, a toilet brush, a 200-seat auditorium, industrial kitchen, cafes, physios, boardrooms as big as your house and hydrotherapy pools for passing on of diseases.

KGV is a fully fledged highperformance machine, now that the cricket club has built a state-of-the-art changeroom to house the umpires.

But heck, should it even matter when it comes to the equality of a competition that has seen every team’s ground, and its facility, be deemed safe enough to host travelling teams throughout the rostered season?

The top two teams have earned the right for that home ground advantage. For an advantage. Any advantage.

For its fans to flow into their home ground to support their players who have been training for this moment since November of last year. The club and its players, through its hard work and on-field successes, deserve the right to make money from the bar and canteen — however it can — as a reward for a stellar season.

You’ll remember that the TSL clubs recently told us that they are struggling financially and that the current funding model provided them by AFL Tas was inadequate?

And as of right now, instead of Glenorchy, North Launceston or whichever battling financially TSL club has earned the right to host a final and access to all of that finals bound cash — when the gate, bar and canteen might actually be worth something — it now goes to ... yep, you guessed it, AFL Tas. And I am sure it goes through by way of some for Blundstone Arena and some for those who are contracted to run the ground’s catering offering? It’s like an episode of Oprah where everyone gets bundles of cash and respect, except for the clubs, who we know need it most.

It’s not appropriate, fair, equal, positive or right.