World Footy News

Last month Tasmania's premier, Paul Lennon, announced Australia’s island state will make an official bid for an AFL licence, adding some intrigue to the AFL's expansion strategy and making headlines.

AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou has said he welcomes a bid, but has also appeared to scuttle the thought that Tasmania could push ahead of the Gold Coast or West Sydney in the race. However the Tasmanians intend to bypass him and take their appeal directly to the AFL Commission. As reported in the Mercury, Paul Lennon says "Andrew Demetriou does not speak for the AFL on this matter" and "Tasmania has some very strong arguments in its favour and the State Government will not be going quietly."

While the AFL accelerates its focus on developing markets dominated by other sports in Western Sydney and the Gold Coast, there are some strong arguments for a Tasmanian side. The state government already contributes $15.4 million to Hawthorn as part of its 5 year agreement and some Tasmanians feel that this money would be better invested in their own team.

The AFL has previously knocked back a bid from Tasmania on the grounds of its economic and population factors, however Tasmania has not made an official bid for over 5 years and the economy has strengthened since then, which in turn has led to slightly more optimistic population projections. Crowds at Aurora Stadium in Launceston for both Hawthorn and St Kilda have been the highest of any AFL game in an area which does not have an AFL team - larger than those of the Kangaroos experiment in Western Sydney or the Gold Coast. With a population of around 500,000, Tasmania currently produces more AFL players than Sydney and has a great history in both producing great players and performing well in State of Origin and interstate matches.

The Gold Coast at least has local support with Southport pushing for a licence, and Tasmania has government and public support, whereas West Sydney is an AFL wishlist item. Even in Queensland a stadium deal has not been arranged for a second AFL team on the Gold Coast, whereas the National Rugby League was granted second-to-none facilities for their new side there. The Queensland Government is also sticking to its original agreement of any second club in the state having to play its games out of the Gabba in Brisbane for the first few years. The New South Wales government is happy to work with the AFL, but not to the extent of the Tasmanian bid. These factors, plus the tiny supporter base and enormous development costs in these states will make the going extremely tough for the AFL as it chases what it sees as $1 billion worth of potential television rights.

Tasmania is currently the only Australian state without an AFL team and some feel that the competition cannot be considered truly national without one.

Editor (Brett): And no doubt the locals felt their case was further strengthened by the renewed strong showing by their juniors in Division Two of the Under 18s Nationals last week, with Tassie defeating Queensland, NSW/ACT and the Northern Territory to take out the division and will go hunting for the scalps of the big three footy states in the next round. Nevertheless it seems unlikely they can force their way ahead in the AFL expansion order, but they can certainly make some noise and ensure they are well positioned if anything goes wrong for the existing or planned clubs.