SOCCER SNUB
No A-League games for Tasmania this season
TASMANIA will not host any 2019-20 A-League fixtures, despite a push from Football Tasmania to bring two of expansion club Western United’s matches to the state.
Football Tasmania chief executive Matt Bulkeley told the Mercury in June that Tasmania could host an A-League game for points as soon as this coming season.
He said at the time that Football Tasmania was hoping to make an official announcement “in the not too distant future”.
It is understood Football Tasmania was in talks to bring Western United matches to the state for the upcoming season, and requested $300,000 in State Government funding to bring one pre-season game and two regular-season games.
However, the State Government did not commit to funding games for the upcoming season, and no Tasmanian matches were included in yesterday’s release of the full ALeague draw.
The State Government recently invested $300,000 to bring the NBL’s pre-season competition, the NBL Blitz, to Tasmania.
Football Tasmania chair Bob Gordon and board member Daniel Hanna met with Sport and Recreation Minister Jeremy Rockliff earlier this week.
Gordon said the meeting was positive and outlined a potential way forward to the ultimate goal of Tasmania having its own A-League team.
“The meeting was very important in providing us with some clarity about the government’s requirements in order for them to provide the funding support we need to bring elite-level football to Tasmania,” Gordon said.
“While it is disappointing that the government has indicated that they are unable to provide us with financial support to bring Western United or a WLeague team to Tasmania for the coming season, we were assured by the Deputy Premier that they share our goals of improving pathways for Tasmanian football players, and ultimately having our own team.
“We look forward to continuing to engage with the government in our structured way over coming months to progress this goal.”
A State Government spokesperson said the government was in active discussions with Football Tasmania about establishing a structured framework to support Tasmania’s bid for an A-League licence and establishing pathways for local footballers.
The last A-League game for points in the state was between Melbourne Victory and Central Coast Mariners at what was then Aurora Stadium in 2013. The 1-1 draw was watched by 6238 fans.