TEAM ‘NO SILVER BULLET’

THE creation of a Tasmanian AFL team is not the panacea that will resurrect the game.

New AFL Tasmania head Damian Gill says he is a believer in a team, but it is not part of his job to push for the state’s inclusion.

“I’m supportive of a push for a Tasmanian AFL team,” Gill said.

“But I generally care more about the New Norfolk under-10s or the Southern Storm colts than I do a Tasmanian AFL team at this point.

“I won’t apologise for that, my focus has to be the grassroots, but I’m supportive of the push.

“I think a lot of the challenges are disconnected to elite level sport. I certainly don’t think if an AFL team was to be injected into Tasmania that would be a silver bullet to correct some of the challenges with community footy.

“The work that needs to be done is at a different level.”

Gill, 29, has a role aimed at increasing participation and looking after grassroots football, with Tasmanian talent pathways now run out of AFL headquarters in Melbourne.

While women’s football continues to surge, male participation has been in free fall, especially when compared with other traditional football states.

There, male participation has grown 5-20 per cent between 2006 and 20017, but according to AFL Tasmania’s Junior/Youth Football Review the state’s male participation has fallen 14.7 per cent over the same time, with declines in juniors (eight to 13-yearolds) 10 per cent, youth (13-18) 22 per cent and seniors 12 per cent.

These figures have started to plateau in the two years pre-COVID as AFL Tasmania has looked to build Auskick numbers and get football back into schools.

Gill said the situation could be better, and there was work to do, but it was far from doomsday.

He said the passion Tasmanians felt for the game could be a double-edged sword.

“By the very nature of footy’s popularity and how ingrained it is into Tassie’s culture, every challenge or change is felt at a much more acute level,” he said.

“I think that speaks to the strength to Tassie footy and how much it means in Tassie.

“Somewhat minor changes or issues can seem like huge changes but that’s because people care about it so deeply.

“That speaks to the strength of footy in people’s hearts and minds.

“It is a lot harder to win over the hearts and minds.

“There are sports that would kill for the level of engagement we have. No sport reaches as far and wide into the Tasmanian community as our great game.”

Gill believes the challenges faced are similar to other regional areas but there is cause for optimism and the decline has now been stopped.

“It is still in a healthy place,” he said. “Can it be stronger? Yes.

“Has it been stronger in the past? Absolutely, and we are determined it will be strong long into the future.

“We are not afraid of hard work. We are ready to roll up our sleeves, we know there are challenges, we are not shying away from that.”

brett.stubbs@news.com.au