Footy name with real bite

AS a professional gardener, Paul Ransom has had plenty of run-ins with angry tiger snakes.

When he went searching for a name with venom to tag all future Tasmanian footy teams, the reptile sprang to mind. He wanted a name with bite. And tiger snake delivers. “I had a tiger snake actually bite a hole in my trousers a couple of months ago,” he said.

“I was working at Mountain River and a tiger snake put his fangs into my trousers, but it must have been a warning because he never put any poison in. He just ripped my trousers across the knees — a really scary experience.”

Mr Ransom believes tiger snake says Tasmania.

“I wanted to come up with something specific to Tasmania and give a bit of a kick on the footy field as well, something better than the old Brisbane Bears,” he said.

“I wanted something that wasn’t obvious and something with a bit of aggro and a bit of anger about it, something that will make you sit back and think the Tassie Tigersnakes are a side to be feared.

“That’s why Tigersnakes jumped out at me and it’s something typically Tasmanian.”

In Mr Ransom’s view, the Tasmanian teams would wear the traditional green and gold guernsey.

“It would still have the map of Tassie, or you could go without it, but with the tiger snake straight across the front,” he said.

Mr Ransom praised the AFL for putting it to the Tasmanian public to name our future teams.