Round ball still No.1 for Tassie

WHEN it comes to team sports, football of the round ball variety remains the competition of choice for active Tasmanians.

A Sport Australia survey from October 2015 to June this year showed 7.4 per cent of Tasmanians played the world game compared to the next best, Australian rules football (4.2 per cent) and basketball (4.1 per cent).

Football Tasmania president Bob Gordon said they were satisfying numbers.

“Sport Australia estimate that nearly 38,000 Tasmanians played football between October 2015 and June 2019, while over the same time just over 21,000 Tasmanians played Aussie rules,” Mr Gordon said.

“What’s more impressive is that football is the preferred team sport of over 20 per cent of juniors in the state.

“That’s more than double the Aussie rules participation rate for Tasmanians aged under 18.

“Not only does that make football the most popular team sport with juniors, it makes it the second most popular sport overall, behind only swimming.

“The strength of these numbers, especially the junior participation figures, shows that football is increasing its lead as Tasmania’s most popular team sport.

“It’s not just the World Game, its Tasmania’s Game.”

But where does this leave the state’s push to join the ALeague?

The campaign has gone cold publicly since Tasmania’s campaign, FC Tasmania backed by Melbourne millionaires Harry Stamoulis and Robert Belteky, was quashed by Football Federation Australia at the last ALeague expansion, with the state failing to make the list for the top 10.

However a governance change has seen the administration of the A-League handed over from FFA to the ALeague clubs, with many hopeful this may open the door for further expansion and see Tasmania join the nation’s premier round ball competition.

But the central issue remains the lack of a suitable rectangular stadium that could play host to such a team or other top level football — and this hinders the code’s future growth at an elite level in Tasmania.