Tassie and VFL

[Lionel Lyon]

I don't want to throw a spanner in the works, but wouldn't it be more proper to have two Tassie teams--Hobart and Launceston--in the VFL, representing the leagues from the South and North of the State respectively?.... What kind of home crowds is the current statewide Tassie team pulling-in?

 

[play on]

Tasmania have their own league. Can anyone from Tassie tell me why their is a Tassie side in the league at all?


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Play on says the umpire
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[Tim_in_Philly]

Sunday against Werribee the crowd was around 5,000 at North Hobart. In the medium term it probably would be sensible to have two teams from Tassie but there isn't room at the moment as the VFL now has 16 teams. As for why there is a Tassie team in the VFL at all, it is a chance to build a case for ultimately fielding a side in the AFL. Given a little over a month to prepare pre-season, both on and off the field, the Tassie team is doing pretty well.

 

[raboyle]

As far as I knew, the football leagues of Tasmania were failing badly, and they needed to get some bigger interest in the game so they joined the VFL to get some fresh opposition.

 

[Lionel Lyon]

Originally posted by raboyle
As far as I knew, the football leagues of Tasmania were failing badly, and they needed to get some bigger interest in the game so they joined the VFL to get some fresh opposition.

The weird thing about Tassie is that it has two roughly equally powerful leagues--North and South--which are both not doing too well. So basically a team from each league would have to be fielded to give each of these leagues a point of focus/interest. Maybe then these two clubs/leagues finally could focus, perhaps in co-operation with a relocated AFL club, on fielding an AFL club. No doubt this is a big ask given Tassie's limited market potential.

Another way around it would be to abolish little Tassie's statehood and have Victoria annex it. Then two Tassie teams "deservedly" would be in the VFL without a "moral"/political need for an AFL team to be there.

 

[raboyle]

The idea for Tasmania was about the best thing I have heard for local footy in any state. It's something for Hobart-siders to look forward to on a weekend when Tassie has a home match. We here in Adelaide are waiting to hear from the NT's football body, the AFL Northern Territory board for their decision to put a composite Territorian team into our league, the SANFL.

At one time, the SANFL was thinking about having a team in Canberra join up and one from Tasmania! Think about that. A league that could almost challenge the AFL! In fact I once read a rumor about a team from the AFL Queensland comp thinking about submitting a proposal for the Southport Sharks to field a team in the SANFL.

Good luck to the Tassie team. And congrats to the Tasmanian who made the VFL team. But beware of SA's heroes!

 

[killer]

Originally posted by raboyle
The idea for Tasmania was about the best thing I have heard for local footy in any state. It's something for Hobart-siders to look forward to on a weekend when Tassie has a home match. We here in Adelaide are waiting to hear from the NT's football body, the AFL Northern Territory board for their decision to put a composite Territorian team into our league, the SANFL.

At one time, the SANFL was thinking about having a team in Canberra join up and one from Tasmania! Think about that. A league that could almost challenge the AFL! In fact I once read a rumor about a team from the AFL Queensland comp thinking about submitting a proposal for the Southport Sharks to field a team in the SANFL.

Good luck to the Tassie team. And congrats to the Tasmanian who made the VFL team. But beware of SA's heroes!

NT SANFL team's not going to happen
Couple of Ex-Port people on the board want it
But I don't see the AFL funding a team into
a league they don't own/control.- Pity.