Ball’s in your court
TASMANIA has dramatically drawn a line in the sand and threatened to abandon its push for a stand-alone team unless AFL chiefs commit to a“pathway” to a licence.
The taskforce behind a bid for a Tasmanian team is losing patience with the AFL’ s in difference and warned the state will soon begin redirecting funds and energy into basketball.
Taskforce chairman Brett Godfrey, who has held talks in recent weeks with AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan, told News Corp: “If there is no committed pathway to a team, then the government probably needs to review its entire sports tourism strategy and consider if and where the AFL sits withinthatplan.”
Mr Godfrey said football in Tasmania, one of Australian rules’ founding states, is facing“death by irrelevance”.
Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said the government remained 100 percent committed to obtaining an AFL team, but did not specify whether that would be through a new or existing licence.
“This week I wrote to AFL CEO Gill McLachlan to progress the conversation regarding a Tasmanian AFL licence and the work of the Tasmania nAFL Taskforce,” Mr Gutwein said. “The Tasmanian Government is a tremendous supporter of AFL content in the state and welcomes ongoing discussions with the AFL on a transitional pathway to our own licence and aTasmanianteam.”
The AFL Taskforce has made a number of recommendations to the Tasmanian Government as it believes it has hit a dead-end in the quest to finally land the state its own AFLteam.
The Taskforce also believes the code will no longer be Tasmania’s favourite sport within a decade without an AFLteam.
Hawthorn and North Melbourne receive a combined $8 million a year from the Tasmanian Government to play four home games a season in Launceston and Hobart respectively.
Hawks boss Jeff Kennett told News Corp his club supported Tasmania’s aspirations for its own team but believed the COVID crisis meant the league could not sustain a 19th team for“four or five years ”.
The Hawks and Roos’ contracts are due to expire at the endofnextseason.
Tasmania’s preference is to start its own team from scratch rather than secure an existinglicence.
Mr Godfrey said the deals with Hawthorn and North Melbourne had delivered benefits to Tasmania, but questioned their worth going forward as more and more Tasmanians turned away from theAFL.
“All governments have limited resources and the more pressing question needing addressing is ‘ are these deals the best use of those funds?’,” hesaid.
The task force was originally tasked at building a case for a 19th licence, but expansion is now off the table post-COVID and the financial hit the AFL had received, with relocation of an existing team now the most viableoption.
Basketball has been proactive in the state, with NBL owner Larry Kestelman announcing Tasmania will rejoin the NBL next year as the JackJumpers. Mr Godfrey said this move showed the difference in attitude between the sports and as a result basketball would reap the rewards.
“Basketball, for instance, exhibits rapid grassroots relative growth and on current trends, is likely to exceed AFL in participation, by the end of this decade,” he said. “There comes a point in any business, and I would include AFL, that declining market interest requires reinvention and renewal, or death by irrelevance .”
He said he genuinely feared for the sport’s future in a state that has produced four Australian Football Hall of Fame legends and countless other stars forthegame.
“Twenty years ago, Tasmania had the highest per capita participation in the country ,” MrGodfreysaid.
“It is bottom of the pack today and declining.
“Without trying to sound emotive, a pathway to a team has been sought for 25 years or more … If such a big-ticket solution isn’t grasped now, no one should be surprised by the outcome.
“The taskforce predicted and still predicts, that AFL will lose its mantle as the state’s most popular sport by the end ofthisdecade.”
The Task force is made up of Virgin Australia co-founder Mr Godfrey, former St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt, former Woolworths boss Grant O’Brien, former Greater Western Sydney finance boss Paul Eriksson, executive chairman of Dynamic Sports and Entertainment Group James Henderson, Tasmanian business man Errol Stewart and Lauderdale president Julie Kay.