PRESIDENT’S VIEW SHORT SIGHTED
REVELATIONS a core group of AFL presidents still have concerns about the introduction of a Tasmanian team into the AFL is shortsighted and doesn’t have the best interests of the game at heart.
The Tassie Devils submission needs the support of the AFL presidents if it is to get the go ahead in August.
Collingwood president Jeff Browne is the man saying he’s not yet sold on the Tasmanian venture and he says many other club presidents are concerned as well.
He wants to see more detail on the financial viability of the push.
“All I have seen is one image with a stadium with a roof on it,” Browne said.
“We don’t want to subsidise another team in the competition and we need to weigh up the opportunity very carefully.
“I need to see the detail of the financial arrangements to make sure Collingwood will not subsidise another club in the AFL competition.”
And that seems to be the sticking point.
Collingwood, one of the richest clubs in the competition, has received basically no money under the AFL’s variable funding arrangement over the past 10 years.
On the other hand, expansion clubs such as Greater Western Sydney and the Gold Coast have received about $200m each in funding in the last decade. Presidents are concerned another expansion club will drain more of the AFL’s money.
They see the variable funding arrangement basically as a tax on richer clubs. It is, but that simplistic approach doesn’t look at the health of the game as a whole.
Without the funding arrangement new teams would struggle to compete, making the competition a lopsided affair and less of a spectacle for AFL fans.
It would put the competition at risk. The challenge now for the Tasmanian taskforce is to show the presidents the Tassie Devils won’t be a huge drain on AFL coffers.
The other thing the presidents need to be aware of is the surge in popularity of basketball in the state.
The JackJumpers’ run to the NBL final has boosted the code in Tassie and it is making moves toward being the No.1 sport.
Tassie is still AFL heartland but that is under attack on multiple fronts.
An AFL team, both men and women, would be an inspiration for tens of thousands of up and coming young sportspeople.
Surely the future and growth of the code is worth the backing of all AFL presidents. Tassie’s bid is 30 years in the making, the state deserves a chance to show what it can do.