TAS Tassie... happening?

Aug 14, 2001
10,336
17,953
Melbourne
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Just hard to see how it would financially viable currently - all of melb/syd/adel/perth/brisbane have 2+ million people living in the capital cities, hobart is about 200K. Plus their stadium is 20K max capacity, and not a huge amount of talent being picked in the draft. I think they may need to start with a VFL team first
Their VFL team finished pretty terribly from memory. The state of their local footy is reportedly a bit of a concern.

Suspect in the end they will do a quasi relocation (ie another club plays 8 games there and a guaranteed 10 in Melbourne or wherever).

Still, would love to see it get up and I reckon with a stadium upgrade they’d get some solid crowds.
 
Their VFL team finished pretty terribly from memory. The state of their local footy is reportedly a bit of a concern.

Suspect in the end they will do a quasi relocation (ie another club plays 8 games there and a guaranteed 10 in Melbourne or wherever).

Still, would love to see it get up and I reckon with a stadium upgrade they’d get some solid crowds.

Problem is, compared to the local population, they already get really big crowds.

20K is ~10% of the local population....It'd be like getting 450K in Melbourne.
 
Aug 14, 2001
10,336
17,953
Melbourne
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Problem is, compared to the local population, they already get really big crowds.

20K is ~10% of the local population....It'd be like getting 450K in Melbourne.
Geelong did pretty well for a while getting 25k at a boutique stadium so if they actually got 20k it’d probably be ok. Obviously expanded TV rights would help and you’d get some traveling to support Vic teams sometimes.

I suppose the real issue is if they perform terribly (almost certain for a while) could they tolerate 6k crowds for a while.
 
Sep 26, 2012
34,656
51,297
AFL Club
Collingwood
get rid of 3 teams and bring in tassie if you are gonna do it, don't just add another team we saw what happened when they added the suns and giants... the talent pool to accommodate so many new players just isn't there and the game suffers for it
 
Sep 26, 2012
34,656
51,297
AFL Club
Collingwood
get rid of 3 teams and bring in tassie if you are gonna do it, don't just add another team we saw what happened when they added the suns and giants... the talent pool to accommodate so many new players just isn't there and the game suffers for it
or just relocate north but I personally like the idea of cutting 3 teams
 

Demon13304

Club Legend
Feb 12, 2014
1,815
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They aren't getting rid of any teams and they aren't goingto relocate any teams, end of story. Get that drilled into your heads
 
Geelong did pretty well for a while getting 25k at a boutique stadium so if they actually got 20k it’d probably be ok. Obviously expanded TV rights would help and you’d get some traveling to support Vic teams sometimes.

I suppose the real issue is if they perform terribly (almost certain for a while) could they tolerate 6k crowds for a while.

People keep saying stuff like that, but if you look at Geelong's finances, they're not actually in very good shape considering how well the team has performed over the past couple of decades.

A decade or so of poor performances (less?) and they'd have some real problems.
 
Jun 6, 2016
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Perth
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or just relocate north but I personally like the idea of cutting 3 teams

On face value this seems like a good idea unless you're one of the teams or member / supporter bases. Let's assume they'd be vic teams, correct me if I'm wrong but the lowest vic member base is approx 40k (give or take a k here or there).

Basic addition tells us that's 120k members, and being paying fans of "traditional" clubs they're usually a fickle lot. So it's a fair assumption that they'll turn their back on the league if their team is "chopped", at the least a very large majority would also a fair assumption.

Of course I have not yet mentioned the non member fans who will also have their nose out of joint, let's also conservatively speculate that currently the non member probably doubles those member figures (being very conservative here).

So at the very least we're talking about 300 - 400k you lose from the turnstiles and the tv sets because their team is no longer in it.

Again, the idea of fattening the talent pool by culling apparently irrelevant teams is a noble one, but not without consequence. I'm sure HQ would agree with me otherwise these teams would already be gone in favour of more teams from "other" places than vic.

Being hellbent on the long road to make the two newly incepted teams accepted and relevant by traditional markets is evidence of that.

So then what are the choices? Do we do away with GC and or GWS? Well that would be practical but there's more chance of me winning the Norm Smith than that happening - HQ are hell bent on winning the RL market over.

Gil has already alluded to the idea of a Tas team and it may happen and it will dilute the talent pool further but you can bet your left one it won't be at the expense of teams already in the comp.
 

Ando727

Norm Smith Medallist
Dec 12, 2009
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14,221
Hobart
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I'd like to share another factor in the "is Tasmania interested in the AFL?" discussion. I moved to Hobart 6 months ago and I must say it's very different living in a city which doesn't have a team. It has really affected my connection with the game. I'm less interested in the AFL, I hear about footy much less, I watch it less, and I care less about the results. I think it's because there isn't any local stake in it down here. I think if there was a local team here I would feel a lot more connected to the AFL. I also think this feeling is the same for a lot of people down here. We are separated from the AFL. With that in mind, it's remarkable that Tasmania gets the crowd numbers and interest it does for 2 sides that have no real connection with the state of Tasmania. I think if there was a local team here it would be huge (in relative terms, of course). I think it would have easily the highest conversion from the population, and be supported extremely well. The AFL might have to tip a bit of money into it, but it won't be a black hole of spending like some other teams have been, and they'll get it back from broadcast rights when they add the other new team to pair it with. It needs to happen, and it's going to happen sooner or later. I hope it's soon so I can keep my interest in the game.
 

halalsnackpack

All Australian
Apr 11, 2018
892
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Fremantle
North Queensland is one of the most supported NRL clubs with one of the most passionate fan bases and has a population of just 230k, even when you include Far North Queensland the population is still less than Tasmania at 510k and that's a stretch - Cairns is 4 hours from Townsville and many other centres in FNQ are even further.

It's amazing what you can do when you give people of an often ignored region a team to get behind.
 
Mar 17, 2009
21,636
17,319
Hobart
AFL Club
Collingwood
I'd like to share another factor in the "is Tasmania interested in the AFL?" discussion. I moved to Hobart 6 months ago and I must say it's very different living in a city which doesn't have a team. It has really affected my connection with the game. I'm less interested in the AFL, I hear about footy much less, I watch it less, and I care less about the results. I think it's because there isn't any local stake in it down here. I think if there was a local team here I would feel a lot more connected to the AFL. I also think this feeling is the same for a lot of people down here. We are separated from the AFL. With that in mind, it's remarkable that Tasmania gets the crowd numbers and interest it does for 2 sides that have no real connection with the state of Tasmania. I think if there was a local team here it would be huge (in relative terms, of course). I think it would have easily the highest conversion from the population, and be supported extremely well. The AFL might have to tip a bit of money into it, but it won't be a black hole of spending like some other teams have been, and they'll get it back from broadcast rights when they add the other new team to pair it with. It needs to happen, and it's going to happen sooner or later. I hope it's soon so I can keep my interest in the game.

Welcome to Civilisation. :). Welcome to Footy wilderness. :(

What you say is unfortunately true. The AFL (VFL before) have sucked the guts out of this place & done SFA to help Tasmanian footy when it needed it. The new 'plan' just like the old plan of u18's & VFL is all about recruiting for the AFL. The game here is fading away.

The ONLY way to keep the game relevant here is to have our own AFL team. The FIFO clubs are on the way out. The game has faded badly whilst they have played here. At least with our own club we'd see a trickle down of coaching & players which will help the community level game & create interest like we had 20 years ago & before. We had VFL/AFL players come & coach here. It kept interest & modern trends in our football. Not now.

That hardly happens anymore. The game has been isolated & ignored. No wonder it has been failing under the AFL management. You can't go one focussing on the export of players & money to the AFL for years & expect the game here to flourish. It didn't.
 

St Plugger

Senior List
Feb 28, 2012
295
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St Kilda
get rid of 3 teams and bring in tassie if you are gonna do it, don't just add another team we saw what happened when they added the suns and giants... the talent pool to accommodate so many new players just isn't there and the game suffers for it
Move to a 16 player comp, which will effectively remove 36 players from the present player pool. [plus help to clean up congestion] Then use those excess players to establish a Tassie team.
 

Nugett

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 2, 2017
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Welcome to Civilisation. :). Welcome to Footy wilderness. :(

What you say is unfortunately true. The AFL (VFL before) have sucked the guts out of this place & done SFA to help Tasmanian footy when it needed it. The new 'plan' just like the old plan of u18's & VFL is all about recruiting for the AFL. The game here is fading away.

The ONLY way to keep the game relevant here is to have our own AFL team. The FIFO clubs are on the way out. The game has faded badly whilst they have played here. At least with our own club we'd see a trickle down of coaching & players which will help the community level game & create interest like we had 20 years ago & before. We had VFL/AFL players come & coach here. It kept interest & modern trends in our football. Not now.

That hardly happens anymore. The game has been isolated & ignored. No wonder it has been failing under the AFL management. You can't go one focussing on the export of players & money to the AFL for years & expect the game here to flourish. It didn't.

For me the footy in tassie died in the late 80’s early 90’s where the TFL decided to cut teams. Being a huge Sandy Bay fan, when they were axed, I stopped going to the local footy, although I still have a hatred of Clarence. It just stopped being the same. Also growing up, the local clubs would give the schools tickets to watch the game on a Saturday, I don’t know if they still do that?
 

Shadow89

Cancelled
10k Posts AFL Fantasy Div 6+ Winner 2021
Feb 20, 2018
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Move to a 16 player comp, which will effectively remove 36 players from the present player pool. [plus help to clean up congestion] Then use those excess players to establish a Tassie team.
This is actually not a half bad idea

5 defenders, 5 wing/mids, 5 forwards and a ruck, with 4 on the interchange? Don't have time on, except for goal prep time, so it doesn't affect the players in terms of their TOG (cuts 5 or so minutes off)
 
Mar 17, 2009
21,636
17,319
Hobart
AFL Club
Collingwood
For me the footy in tassie died in the late 80’s early 90’s where the TFL decided to cut teams. Being a huge Sandy Bay fan, when they were axed, I stopped going to the local footy, although I still have a hatred of Clarence. It just stopped being the same. Also growing up, the local clubs would give the schools tickets to watch the game on a Saturday, I don’t know if they still do that?

Sandy bay were bankrupt. Pointless blaming anyone else for that. They sold their pub, Travellers Rest next to the Casino for a pile of cash. Where did all that go? That question has always been asked as every footy person I know were very interested in how quickly they went bust after getting all that money.

All footy was affected by the growing amount of VFL/AFL on TV. That affected all local footy. In the end that even killed the VFA, the nations oldest footy league. Having an AFL club at least keeps interest in football here & the effect of players coaching here locally when they retire or get cut. Its a trickle down effect. But thats better than nothing. Certainly better than the current FIFO clubs taking all & leaving nothing.
 
Sep 28, 2011
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Gold Coast
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Move to a 16 player comp, which will effectively remove 36 players from the present player pool. [plus help to clean up congestion] Then use those excess players to establish a Tassie team.
Have said this for a while. Would allow for more tactical flexibility as well. Do you just get rid of your wings, or do you sacrifice your forwards for more midfield presence. Those 36 players would almost account for another team.
 
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