Tigers pull the pin on under-18s

Club says age group lacks numbers

ONE of Tasmania’s biggest and fastest growing municipalities has been forced to pull out of the STJFL under-18s competition this year due to a lack of numbers.

Kingborough Tigers president Paul Gadomski confirmed his club would not be fielding a side in the boys competition — the last youth league before senior football.

It comes with the news one of the North-West Coast’s oldest clubs, East Devonport, is on the verge of pulling out of the NWFL seniors and reserves for the same reason.

Gadomski said he was confident this was a one-off.

“It’s always a concern when you have to bypass an age group,” Gadomski said.

“We are fairly confident it is only going to be only for this year.

“We have a really large group of under-16 boys coming through and given the age profile of our senior and development teams, we don’t expect much of a list turnover in that area over the next couple of years.

“They are all in the lighter side of 24 and some of the boys that would have played in our 18s team this year have signed up to play TSL development. Yes, it is a little speed bump but we are confident we will be fielding an 18s side next season.”

Gadomski said this age group had been a struggle for a number of years and was aware being unable to field a team was a possibility.

“It is just one of those situations where it comes down to the fact they have got so many options with sports they can play,” he said.

“This group of boys coming through the year they were born, seemed to be one of those years where they chose to play other sports.

“The numbers of the age groups below are really good,” Gadomski said.

Head of AFL Tasmania Damian Gill said the Tigers had been affected by being unable to field an under-16s team during last year’s COVID-impacted season.

“The outlook for participation in the Kingborough/Huon region is looking strong and we will continue to work with local leagues and clubs to push people into community football,” Gill said.