FIRST JOB ... AN AFL TEAM
‘Showpiece’ venue is key
I BELIEVE IT IS THE MAJOR SPORTS’ ROLES TO TELL TASMANIANS WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR TASMANIA, NOT WHAT TASMANIA CAN DO FOR THEM CRICKET TASMANIA CEO NICK CUMMINS
JOINING the AFL would all be part of Tasmania distancing itself from Victoria, instead of just being a “colony” to our nearest state.
As the pledges of support for a Tasmanian AFL team passed 60,000 and the Mercury’s Future Tasmania survey revealed 56 per cent of the state support entry into the big league, leading demographer Bernard Salt says this should be our top sporting goal for our near future.
“Let’s take this step by step and secure Tasmania’s rightful place amid the AFL teams of Australia,” Mr Salt said.
“Tasmania does not see itself as a feeder colony to the Victorian motherland. Tassie is its own state, has delivered stars to the AFL game, and will rightfully take its spot — and win — in this national game that Tasmanians helped to build, thank you very much!”
Mr Salt believes the AFL entry should come before entry into the NBL or A-League and come with a new stadium to host such a team.
“Tassie needs a showpiece stadium to showcase the local team, plus, that’s where the bar is being set by AFL teams for example the Kardinia Park refurbishment (at Geelong).”
However, how it is achieved remains a point of debate.
The idea of a new stadium at Macquarie Point was recently quashed by the Tasmanian Government due to northern political backlash.
The Government’s AFL Taskforce is finishing off its business case to be presented next month and is almost certain to include some taxpayer funding – probably similar to the $8.5 million a year the state pays now to bring Hawthorn and North Melbourne to Tasmania – to be viable.
But Cricket Tasmania chief executive Nick Cummins – who heads the state’s only full-time professional sporting teams in the Tigers and Hurricanes – says any professional organisation must stand on its own two feet.
He said this is particularly so when it comes to professional teams that would be privately owned, such as an NBL or A-League team, given all profits made would go to the owners, not back into the sport or the community.
“I believe it is the major sports’ roles to tell Tasmanians what they can do for Tasmania, not what Tasmania can do for them,” Mr Cummins said.
“In practical terms, that means professional teams should demonstrate a commitment to basing themselves in Tasmania, without government support, to ensure their business model is sustainable.
“The government’s role should be to provide investment around sporting infrastructure, not finance operational expenditure of an individual sports team – especially if they are privately owned.”
Mr Cummins said by 2030 the state should only support teams based in Tasmania as opposed to fly-in or fly-out models currently in use, or back one-off events such as a variety of AFL teams playing home games in the state, or Socceroos/ Matildas World Cup qualifiers, a Wallabies Test, or world championships games “rather than shovelling cash at reluctant sports who seek to treat Tasmania like an ATM”.
“By taking this approach, teams that choose to base themselves here will have a solid financial foundation, leading to a much more sustainable existence,” he said.
“If the teams are sustainable, there is no limit to how many professional sports Tasmania can have. However, if those professional sports rely on ongoing government funding to keep them viable then they have no place in the Tasmanian sporting landscape.”
Tasmanian Institute of Sport director Paul Austen said the state should be aiming to be one of the “nation’s powerhouse sporting states” by 2030.
He said the state would have to find the right balance between participation, infrastructure and elite professional sports to achieve this goal.
“It would be fantastic to see Tasmanian teams, both male and female, competing equally at the highest level domestically in AFL, cricket, netball, football (soccer), hockey and basketball, and not just one or two,” Mr Austen said.
“Consistently delivering highly talented athletes into Olympic and world championships sports that conquer the world and are seen best of the best in their sport.”
With the NBL in talks to buy the Derwent Entertainment Centre, the AFL Taskforce finalising its business case, the strong possibility of further A-League expansion and the sustained success of the Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL and the Tigers in the new Hockey One competition, the door to national competition is open like it has never been before.
It is now down to choosing which door – or doors – we crash through.