To turn down: Lynch
HOME-GROWN football legend Alastair Lynch wants the AFL’s 18 club presidents to back Tasmania’s bid for a 19th licence, and the threetime premiership Lion is confident the state’s business case will leave them with no choice but to say “yes” when it goes to the vote in August.
Lynch said Tasmania should feel confident about its chances of securing a stand-alone licence, and dismissed former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire’s scheme for a combined North MelbourneTasmania team.
“From what I can see, it’s all very exciting and Tasmania should feel confident, albeit not over the line, that we are well-positioned for our best crack at getting a team,” Lynch said, before the Carbine Club lunch at Wrest Point.
“This is a legitimate case the taskforce has put forward to the AFL with backing of $150m from the state government.
“There is no other government in Australia putting in that kind of money to an AFL team. It is remarkable support to have a team that is government-backed.
“If we present a compelling business case it will give the AFL presidents nowhere else to go.”
AFL boss Gil McLachlan said in Hobart last week that Tasmania was bidding for a 19th, not a shared licence or a relocated team.
“If you were starting a new competition you probably wouldn’t have an odd number of teams and probably not the number of teams there are in Melbourne, but the reality is it’s not that,” Lynch said.
“Tasmania wants its own standalone team, not a relocated team, and the one that has popped up about North Melbourne relocating, North fans don’t want that either.
“That doesn’t really help anyone. North Melbourne’s supporters would be disengaged, and Tasmanians wouldn’t have the same sort of engagement for that team, so it needs to be a 19th team.”
Lynch says that wherever he goes the vibe is positive towards Tasmania.
“The massive majority of the general AFL supporter is that Tassie should have a team,” he said.
“You could have argued that we deserved a team before the 17th and 18th teams came in, but we understand why the Gold Coast and GWS got a team, which was about the business of growing the AFL.
“On the flip side, if we can present a business case that is going to not only be sustainable but vibrant and strong, I can’t see where the case falls down, and the general AFL punter thinks Tassie deserves a team.
“It has been such a contributor for well over 100 years. You only have to look at the Team of the Century and how many Tasmanians are in that.
“We need the presidents to support it so Tasmania finally gets a team.”
The deciding factor will be the financial strength of the business model.
“The AFL presidents have an obligation to make sure the sustainability of the competition is there,” Lynch said.
“They can’t be ripping up money to put a team in.
“If the business case ticks the right boxes from a financial point of view, I can’t see why they won’t back it in.”
Mr McLachlan also told the state government no stadium, no licence, so the $750m indoor venue proposed for Hobart’s waterfront is critical to the equation.
“It looks incredible,” Lynch said. “I’ve lived in Hobart and played footy here, and I come down for business quite a lot, and being around Hobart over the past couple of days, it is a magnificent city.
“It is vibrant city and if you had that multi-purpose indoor stadium on the docks, that is going to generate even more interest for Tassie, and Hobart is going to be an even more vibrant city.”