Good article from Tim Lane who is a native Taswegian -

In AFL nothing is certain, except Tasmania should have a team

Merge Brisbane/GCS and bring in Tassie!!!

Not sure if Tassie has the population to support a new club. It's questionable too whether a new franchise could pick up members when most Tasmanian football fans would already support a Vic team. 

Yesterday I read an article which seemed to indicate that the AFLW are planning an expansion outfit for Tassie, that's probably the closest they're going to come to a team unless North or the Hawks get relocated. 

@Nasher has given some good responses as to why it won't happen, so I'll leave it to him to answer this one!

There is NO more footy mad State than Tassie.

There is the well paraded argument that whilst such nearly all Footy following folk are well entrenched in supporting a particular team so the potential in limited for a noobie.

The only thing about this position is there has never been a choice, an opportunity to follow a local mob.

Then of course would come the time honoured dilemma...house it north or south ? 

Id love Tassie to have a team. Deserving on one a long way before Blacktown !! No love for it with the Gilldillions alas. 

Should any new teams enter or existing relocate then it must be Tassie for mine.

 

There will have to be a gold rush, a mining boom, new offshore gas fields,  and a multifunction polis in Tassie before they get a footy team.

GWS needs extra funding of up to 10-15 million per season ongoing ... ditto for the GCS.  Brisbane have a better financial base but the Lions will continue to lose money and will eventually need greater funding by the AFL.  Again, that will be ongoing.  For proof, read their annual reports. 

The media won't be highlighting any of the above because it's not a juicy enough story and most of the sporting journalists are in line with the AFL's doctrine.

A Tasmanian team would find it hard to break even at least initially but if the same levels of funding were given, they'd do it quite easily.  And we know that the levels of funding given to GWS & the GCS will be ongoing.  Perhaps indefinitely.  The Swans were still getting funded in the early 2000's and I suspect it was longer than that. 

I reckon there are way more potential rusted on footy fans in Tasmania than the combined numbers in Western Sydney & the Gold Coast.  And it's the rusted on fans that defines a club.  They buy the memberships, go to the games and show real support.

The TV money argument is bs too.  I could mount an argument that the GCS & GWS are pseudo Victorian teams.  After all, where does all the money come from to fund these teams?  And where do all their players come from? 

I get the whole 'grow the game' argument and it's an argument that I somewhat agree with - so Tasmania needs representation as well.  And the AFL could fund the start-up team just like they fund start-up teams elsewhere.

 

 

 

Relocation seems to fit the Bill.

Go you Tassie Tigers ? 

richmond lost half their members last night, seems right we should set them up with a new supporter base. 

*conflict of interest alert: I do have share in an electrical goods store in Hobart. 

Agreed that some Tasmanians would follow their original clubs, while others fully jump ship, but enough support for a local side would still be there. 

Bellerive holds 20,000 at present. A Tasmanian AFL team would be the hottest ticket in town (see Hobart Hurricanes), and you could guarantee that AFL would be a sell out every week. The current AFL teams in Tasmania are still heavily supported by neutral supporters, such is the appetite for top level football.  

Sold out games would mean that you would need to be a member to have access to the ground. No issue selling memberships at all

27 minutes ago, Macca said:

GWS need extra funding of up to 10-15 million per season ongoing ... ditto for the GCS.  Brisbane have a better financial base but the Lions will continue to lose money and will eventually need greater funding by the AFL.  Again, that will be ongoing.  For proof, read their annual reports. 

The media won't be highlighting any of the above because it's not a juicy enough story and most of the sporting journalists are in line with the AFL's doctrine.

A Tasmanian team would find it hard to break even at least initially but if the same levels of funding were given, they'd do it easily.  And we know that the levels of funding given to GWS & the GCS will be ongoing.  Perhaps indefinitely.  The Swans were still getting funded in the early 2000's and I suspect it was longer than that. 

I reckon there are way more potential rusted on footy fans in Tasmania than the combined numbers in Western Sydney & the Gold Coast.  And it's the rusted on fans that defines a club.  These types of supporters put their money where their mouth's are.

The TV money argument is bs too.  I could mount an argument that the GCS & GWS are pseudo Victorian teams.  After all, where does all the money come from to fund these teams?  And where do all their players come from?

 

 

The reality is that the Tassie state government is presently proping up two Vic based clubs, so come the time, I think they could prop up one of their own.  Whilst the TV viewer argument presently props up GWS, surely this tourism argument would help prop up a Tassie side, along with genuine local support.  The argument of island locals already having an AFL team the followed was also put forward for the Crows and Eagles and look what happened there.  Similarly, if Geelong has enough population to support a team, then surely there is enough between Hobart, Launceston and places in between.

Would much rather there was a team in Tassie, where an Aussie rules culture and passion exists than the souless  wasteland that is GWS.

1 minute ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

The reality is that the Tassie state government is presently proping up two Vic based clubs, so come the time, I think they could prop up one of their own.  Whilst the TV viewer argument presently props up GWS, surely this tourism argument would help prop up a Tassie side, along with genuine local support.  The argument of island locals already having an AFL team the followed was also put forward for the Crows and Eagles and look what happened there.

Would much rather there was a team in Tassie, where an Aussie rules culture and passion exists than the souless  wasteland that is GWS.

Yep ... and I reckon a lot of Victorian footy fans would adopt a Tasmanian team as their '2nd team'   And that could mean lots of folks heading down to Tassie on a semi-regular basis.  Just to get away for a weekend.

I've heard the 'population' argument ad nauseum and whilst it's an argument that a Tassie team may not ever become a super-power,  more than half the current teams will never reach that status anyway.  Especially the ongoing 'propped-up' teams.

43 minutes ago, Demi Dee said:

Relocation seems to fit the Bill.

Go you Tassie Tigers ? 

richmond lost half their members last night, seems right we should set them up with a new supporter base. 

*conflict of interest alert: I do have share in an electrical goods store in Hobart. 

I hope richmond are prepared for all the unwanted memberships arriving at Punt Rd Monday morning.

There was the discussion on SEN a couple of months ago, where it was stated that one of the main (if not, the main) impediments was the north south thing. They know depending on where a Tassie team is located, they will automatically lose the support of the other half of the state. For as long as this continues, there wont be a Tassie team.

1 minute ago, Roger Mellie said:

There was the discussion on SEN a couple of months ago, where it was stated that one of the main (if not, the main) impediments was the north south thing. They know depending on where a Tassie team is located, they will automatically lose the support of the other half of the state. For as long as this continues, there wont be a Tassie team.

If it were to happen (and I doubt it will at this stage) the Tasmanian team would play in both Launceston and Hobart.

I imagine tassie supporters would flock to any AFL game featuring the home state even if their AFL preffered club is not playing. Young kids will also start following the local side and the fan base will grow steadily. 

I've got a few hawks mates who absolutely love going town to the Tassie games. There would be a heap of fans from every team who would love going down there once a year for a game. It would be massive for Tassie tourism

1 hour ago, Demi Dee said:

Relocation seems to fit the Bill.

Go you Tassie Tigers ? 

richmond lost half their members last night, seems right we should set them up with a new supporter base. 

*conflict of interest alert: I do have share in an electrical goods store in Hobart. 

Is that so, those Richmond members you speak of, purchase toasters for the bathtub?

535000 population should fill a ground every 2nd week and have enough members to keep them going.

Unlike GWS the population knows football and has a football history of great players in the AFL/VFL.

Funny in a fashion. Tassie like a a few state gov heavily promotes by local, support Tassie etc.

If they did swing thar money around from the vic teams to one of their own theyd do ok i reckon.

1 hour ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Would much rather there was a team in Tassie, where an Aussie rules culture and passion exists than the souless  wasteland that is GWS.

That's the exact reason why there won't be a team in Tassie.

26 minutes ago, Redbeard said:

I've got a few hawks mates who absolutely love going town to the Tassie games. There would be a heap of fans from every team who would love going down there once a year for a game. It would be massive for Tassie tourism

Indeed. I have a friend who worked in the AFL sponsorship department around a decade ago. He told me that the money bought into the local economy by tourists coming down to watch the games was easily over double what the Tasmanian government paid to Hawthorn. The footy mad members figure its a great reason to get down to the state and often end up staying for over a week.

Tasmania could easily support a team. Pour the money given to the Hawks + North into the team, sponsorship wouldn't be anywhere near a problem that it is for the competing Vic market and you would have sell out games every week of about 20 000. 

The north/south divide would evaporate as soon as we had a team. The team would be based in Hobart but would split home games between Hobart and Launceston.

I would never stop supporting the Demons and they will always be my number 1 team, But I would buy a Tasmanian membership as well and would attend just about every game in the south and a few in the north. A generation later and they will all support Tas. Grass roots football would take off again and the pool of talent would increase.

The only thing holding Tasmania back is the elephant in the room.

There are too many Melbourne based clubs.

 

 

1 hour ago, Roger Mellie said:

There was the discussion on SEN a couple of months ago, where it was stated that one of the main (if not, the main) impediments was the north south thing. They know depending on where a Tassie team is located, they will automatically lose the support of the other half of the state. For as long as this continues, there wont be a Tassie team.

Easy solution. 5 Games a year in Hobat, 5 Games in Launceston and 1 Game in any of Devonport, Burnie, Glenorchy, Clarence etc. If they make the finals, whichever of Hobart or Launceston has averaged the higher attendance for the season can win the rights to host.

There's ways of making it work.

4 hours ago, Goffer said:

Not sure if Tassie has the population to support a new club. It's questionable too whether a new franchise could pick up members when most Tasmanian football fans would already support a Vic team. 

Yesterday I read an article which seemed to indicate that the AFLW are planning an expansion outfit for Tassie, that's probably the closest they're going to come to a team unless North or the Hawks get relocated. 

Thats because they don't have a bloody team! Come on Goffer.  Get a grip.

2 hours ago, Danelska said:

Is that so, those Richmond members you speak of, purchase toasters for the bathtub?

Even better for my little investment. I'll get them on the way in for the microwave and on the way out with the toaster. 

4 hours ago, MadAsHell said:

Easy solution. 5 Games a year in Hobat, 5 Games in Launceston and 1 Game in any of Devonport, Burnie, Glenorchy, Clarence etc. If they make the finals, whichever of Hobart or Launceston has averaged the higher attendance for the season can win the rights to host.

There's ways of making it work.

Don't think it's quite that simple