Demetriou: AFL expansion to 20 teams would include Tasmania

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Demetriou: AFL expansion to 20 teams would include Tasmania

Authored by: Aaron Richard
on Saturday, October 24 2009 @ 10:03 am ACDT

A couple of thoughts on Auckland, both for and against:

- As far as I know, the Auckland AFL has more players and clubs at the moment than the VRL did when the Melbourne Storm were set up. However, the Storm also the reasonable large VRU to count on for supporter base as well.

- The backlash from the nay-sayers when you propose more clubs in NSW and Qld is massive. The outcry if you said you wanted a club in NZ would be even bigger.

- Realistically, it'll take a few recruits from the NZAFL (not just Kiwis who are drafted from Australian clubs) making it into the AFL before you'll convince Australian fans that it's legit.

- With the NZ dollar weaker than the Australian, the operating costs will be a bit higher. Tickets, memberships etc bringing less revenue, the player payments costing more in local terms. Probably not a huge difference, but I know Canadian clubs in the NHL, NBA and Baseball have problems with this. With a big enough supporter base, it's not a huge issue, but for a NZ AFL club it could be.

Maybe if the NZ government wanted to underwrite it (like the Tasmanians do), or you had a NZ businessman who wanted to bankroll it, you could start by having a couple of games there each year. I think if it happens though, it'll be a while off, and my money's on Tassie and Cairns/Townsville first.

As I said above, I reckon Cairns/Townsville could be a potential base for a PNG and Oceania pathway into the AFL - Cairns has the strongest league in Queensland outside Brisbane and good facilities at Cazaly's that has hosted AFL matches. Townsville doesn't have as strong an Aussie rules scene, but it's a lot bigger and has a proven track record of supporting clubs in national competitions.

A North Queensland club could also maybe play one or two games each year in Port Moresby, if you could get the facilities and the financial underwriting.

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