FINALLY... GAME ON
A HIGH-powered group will be recruited to develop the case and lobby for a stand-alone Tassie AFL team.
Premier Will Hodgman last night confirmed the Government was pulling together the “dedicated taskforce”.
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan this week said a Tasmanian AFL team needed backing “from the top down”. The Premier has also been lobbying national soccer and basketball leagues.
THE State Government is recruiting a high-powered project group of corporate and sporting heavyweights to build a fresh case for a stand-alone Tasmanian AFL team.
Premier Will Hodgman last night confirmed the government was pulling together the “dedicated taskforce”, which would include a mix of people with local football knowledge and national corporate clout.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan this week told Fox Footy a Tasmanian AFL team bid needed backing “from the top down”.
“I’ve said they deserve their own team before. It’s just challenging to get there,” Mr McLachlan said.
“I think the building blocks are in place.
“If a unified Tasmanian board can develop this under the talent model, the under-18s into the VFL, that’s the runway where Tasmania just can’t be ignored.”
Last night, an AFL spokesman confirmed Mr McLachlan had long been a “massive advocate” for a Tasmanian team.
And while Mr McLachlan has played no official role as the state readies itself for a prospective licence, Mr Hodgman told the Mercury he’d been in close contact with the AFL boss about what would be required for a place in the national competition.
The “key criteria” the state would need to satisfy to enter the league include having a membership base of at least 50,000, an initial capital commitment of $40 million and AFL-standard venues.
“There’s a lot of interest nationally in corporate and football circles for Tasmania to have a team, so we want to leverage that to make a case,” Mr Hodgman said.
“That could include what we hope will be a successful return to the TAC Cup, possibly a VFL team — but ultimately will involve getting the concept ready for introduction into the AFL sooner rather than later.
“That would mean literally designing what the team would look like, establishing a membership base and securing corporate support.”
It is understood a Tassie team bid has not yet been discussed at an AFL Commission level.
It has not yet been deter- mined if the club would call Hobart or Launceston home.
A Tasmanian AFL team isn’t the only one on the horizon, with Mr Hodgman having similar conversations with both the national soccer and basketball leagues about coming up with a “mock up” club concept.
Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon this week called for the AFL to consider expanding to 19 or 20 clubs, saying the nation was “crying out” for a Tasmanian team.
“I don’t mean to cut across any of the good work that Hawthorn or North Melbourne are doing in that space,” Mr Gordon said.
“But when you see the continued cries for help of local footy clubs in Tasmania, when you look at the history of what Tasmania has contributed to football in the past 100 years and you think about the best ways to reinvigorate and assist that state and junior footy in that state, it’s certainly something that the AFL Commission should consider.”