Kicking goals for our local heroes
We need to drive school participation, lighten the load on volunteers and develop and support our coaches and umpires, writes
T ASMANIA has produced along list of AFL heroes, but longer still is the list of local footy heroes. At the gate, in the kiosk, the passionate junior coach, the 30- year volunteer that everyone knows, and the outof-shape full forward who kicks bags for fun. The rich history at the elite level of the game is matched by football’ s history within our community.
It is this community connection that is our focus at AFL Tasmania. We exist to support the local game, its clubs, and its people. While I am supportive of the AFL team push, the focus of AFL Tasmania needs to be grass roots football. People have a strong connection to their AFL clubs, but for a great many, the belonging is even more meaningful with their local community clubs.
Community footy clubs are powerful connectors and support structures, bringing together people from all walks of life with a common love and purpose.
This year more than ever I have seen the value and importance of community foot yin people’ s lives. The absence of the game reminded everyone what it meant to them. During the C OVID -19 hiatus, I was inundated with calls from players, umpires, volunteers, president sand fans, desperate to return. When we did return to action the passion was evident. Last month, I was lucky enough to beat Deloraine when the Kangaroos saluted for their first premier ship of any description since 1979. Their president, Don Tracey, spoke with such pride for his football club and the hard work they had put in. You could see how much it meant to him and the Deloraine faithful; the emotion was infectious.
My ambition for Tasmanian football is that people continue to invest that much of themselves in their local clubs and care that deeply for the game.
Moreover, I am determined for footy to long continue as Tasmania’ s game. That means different things to different people, but for me it is all about the grass roots. It means more boys and girls kicking a S herr in, strong and vibrant local clubs, well-supported and organisedcompetitions.It means working together to find collective solutions to move the game forward.
From Currie to Cygnet, we have 13 leagues, three umpiring associations ,129 clubs ,58 A us kick centres and more than 16,000 participants. When you look at the media coverage, AF LT as mania’ s responsibilities are often not clear. For me it is quite simple, it is to work for all those people. It is to provide opportunity for people to enjoy foot yin a range of roles, to increase participation and to support clubs and leagues.
Tasmanian footy is the marriage of the greatest game on Earth and undoubtedly the best place on the globe, and yet we are pretty good at talking things down and focusing on the gaps rather than the opportunities. I hear people say things like “footy is dying ”. Footy is not dying, it just looks different to what it was, but so does everything around it.
Our expectations for football do not match our expectations for any other facet of life. Change is the only constant in life and as as port we have been resistant to change, sometimes in the face of progress, yet despite this foot yr em a ins strong. The opportunity is that it can be even stronger.
Some opportunities for footy are obvious tome, and others I am sure will crystallise overtime in consultation with the community. We need to drive school participation, introduce more boys and girls to footy and competitions that give more kids a taste of the game. We need to light en the load on our volunteers. We need to develop and support our coaches and umpires better. We need strong and sustainable clubs and well administered competitions. We need to focus on the three regions and work for the many, not the few. Most of all, we need to work together.
There is no question, we have work to do, but there are more wins in Tassie footy than there are losses. The losses seem to be projected through a mega phone of pessimism and the wins seem to be whispered like a dirty secret. It is time for that to change. We need to harness our passion more positively to better celebrate Tasmanian footy, and where change is needed we need to face-it-head-on-and-own-it together.
Football will look different again with the impacts of C OVID -19, but different is not always bad, and it is up to us as a footy community as to what different means.
Since accepting the role of head of AFL Tasmania, I have spoken to hundreds of good footy people, all with different visions for the game in Tasmania. I have my own ideas, but I do not profess to have all the answers for the challenges facing footy, but what I do know is that the grass root soft he game is paramount.