FUTURE CLOUDY

Demons president concerned about TSL funding

FUNDING cuts to Tasmania’ s premier football competition will put the league’s viability in question.

North Hobart president Craig Martin was left devastated after meeting with AFL Tasmania’s chief executive Trisha Squires and the soon to be Head of AFL Tasmania Damian Gill on Tuesday to discuss funding impacts on the TSL in wake of the COVID crisis. The clubs received about $107,000 each in 2019, but that was slashed to about $50,000 due to this year’s COVID-19 crisis.

The clubs were not given a figure of how much would be cut but Martin said they were told next year’s payments would be “a lot closer to this year’s total than last year’s.”

“It is a significant cut,” Martin said.

“How we are going to be viable running the state’ s pr emier competition on $50,000 a year from the state’ s governing body? It is going to be nigh on impossible.

“There was also no guarantee of the continuation of the TSL beyond the expiration of the current licence agreement in 2023. If they are committed to it, put your money where your mouth is and commit to it after2023.”

Martin said he understood the impact C OVID had had on the AFL, but said the TSL needed to be properly funded to continue to provide the talent and community benefits it presently does. “We all work our back sides off in a voluntary basis to do the best we can to keep the state’s premier football competition and our clubs going and to be told the money that would be available into the future would be closer to this year’s than last year’s is a pretty significant blow,” he said.

Gill said AFL Tasmania would work constructively with the clubs on a workable model. “I think it is fair to say all levels of footy are going to look different,” Gill said.

“There is going to be change and some of that is financial and some of that is other areas but we are committed to the TS Land soar et he clubs.

“The actual working model moving forward is still to be worked through with the clubs, but they made a commitment this morning as did we to work together on what that looks like.

“We did it really productively this season to get this year up and I don’t see this scenario being any different .”

Glenorchy president John McCann said the clubs made significant cuts to their programs to get this season underway, with the proviso the full funding would return for 2021.

“It was met with a bit of disappointment, that having made considerably sacrifice sin 2020, that we are not returning to licence terms that we were told in May we would be returning to ,” M cC ann said.

“I still think there is a real proposition for the AFL to realise the value they get from having a strong TSL competition in Tasmania to drive the participation and talent pathway.”

Lauderdale president Julie Kay was confident a solution could be found to keep the competition not only viable, but healthy and competitive.

“I have to say I expected a ballpark figure but we didn’t get it but that’s OK because maybe they don’t have it either,” Kay said.

“But I am buoyed by the fact they really want it (the TSL) to happen and the other seven clubs want it to go ahead in its current form and they said they would work with us to ensure that it does .”