Tasmania’s absence from the AFL scene is a “national shame”, says Graham Cornes
The concept to bring Tasmania into the AFL was voted down among the club presidents this week, and those who rejected it should hang their heads in shame, writes Graham Cornes.
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The AFL presidents met this week to discuss, among other topics, the entry of a team from Tasmania into the AFL.
The concept was voted down. Sixty per cent of those present rejected the proposal. Those dissidents should hang their heads in shame.
Concerned only for their own selfish interests, they are denying a state that has as big a claim to the history and the culture of Australia’s indigenous as any of the mainland states. Tasmania’s omission from the Australian Football League is a national shame and it’s high time it was rectified.
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The other rival club presidents should have absolutely no say in the matter.
The Tasmanian Government now has before it a submission, prepared by an AFL team taskforce, presenting a strong case for an AFL team to be based permanently in the state.
The taskforce chairman, Brett Godfrey, the former co-creator and chief executive of Virgin Australia, issued a defiant challenge to the AFL and its club presidents:
“I want you to tear it apart, to challenge it and tell us where we are wrong,” Godfrey said.
“If we’re not wrong, if we are materially correct then it is incumbent on the football community of this state and the media that support it to poll those club presidents to come forward and say they do believe that Tasmania does deserve to be in the competition”.
You have to love his attitude, although based on this week’s meeting he still has much lobbying to do.
Tasmania is a serious football state with a significant football history.
Unfortunately, over the years, it has been riven by geographical confusion and rivalry from within the various competitions that divided the state.
Additionally there has always been the debate about where Tasmanian football should have its main base.
Should it be Launceston in the north, or Hobart in the south?
Nevertheless the Tasmanian State League, despite its convoluted history, dates back to 1879 – the third oldest footy league in Australia. It is a passionate football state.
The AFL and two of its clubs continue to exploit that passion.
Hawthorn and North Melbourne actually take money from the Tasmanian government to play four games each in their state.
But it’s never against the high-profile, more popular AFL teams.
Tasmanian footy fans, hungry for their AFL footy fix, could last season watch Hawthorn play Fremantle in Launceston, or North Melbourne play the GWS Giants in Hobart. Wow.
The AFL and those two clubs take from the state without giving back.
Would those parasitic Victorian clubs ever give up home games in Melbourne to play Collingwood or Richmond in Tasmania? Of course not. It’s a disgrace really.
The debate will rage within the state, as it has for decades, about where Tasmanian football should have its main base – Hobart or Launceston?
The taskforce submission says Hobart.
It also calls for the construction of a covered stadium at Macquarie Point as neither of the arenas in Hobart or Launceston are big enough.
Besides, those who have experienced a bitter Tasmania winter will attest to the necessity of a covered stadium.
Former South Adelaide and Hawthorn star, Andy Bennett, played for and coached Sandy Bay for several seasons.
The Sandy Bay Oval, set above Hobart overlooking the Derwent River, is one of the most beautiful, picturesque footy grounds in Australia.
I once made this point to Bennett, whose reply was quite hilarious.
“In the middle of June when you’re standing on that oval, ankle – deep in snow, it’s not that beautiful,” he replied.
The covered stadium will be essential. Build it and they will come.
Some of Australia’s greatest players have come from Tasmania.
Some like Darrell Baldock and Peter Hudson established their greatness in Melbourne then returned to Tassie to play out their careers.
Others like Royce Hart and triple Brownlow Medallist, Ian Stewart finished their careers in Victoria.
But at heart, they are Tasmanian.
Hudson and Baldcock, because of their playing contributions to the home state are revered in Tasmania.
Hudson, despite a significant career at Hawthorn and a knee injury that curtailed his career, still managed to play 159 games in Tassie.
He kicked 994 goals in those 159 games – an astounding average of 6.25 goals per game.
But of all the great Tasmanian footballers, it is Baldock who is most revered.
He didn’t move to St. Kilda (who he later led to their only VFL flag) until he was nearly 24, by which time he had already dominated state games and been selected as an all-Australian. (Under the old system, that could only happen once every three years).
He was a glorious footballer and a wonderful man.
In 1971, he captain-coached Tasmania in a state game against South Australia who was coached by Neil Kerley.
They were clearly old footy rivals with a healthy, mutual respect.
Baldock, despite being past his best, was a mesmerising, legendary opponent.
It was an unforgettable experience, not only to witness Baldock’s wizardry but because the setting of North Hobart Oval, beneath the snow covered peak of Mt Wellington, is surely one of sport’s most beautiful.
However, all that is in the past and it’s so easy to be seduced by the nostalgia of great players, historic grounds and vivid memories.
If a team from Tasmania is to be admitted to the AFL it must have a sound economic base and be welcomed by the AFL.
In a previous bid, which was rejected in 2008, then AFL chief, Andrew Demetriou, was indifferent to the proposal.
Current boss, Gillon McLachlan, seems more receptive. Of course it’s a no-brainer.
The biggest issue will be telling the good folk of Launceston that the base of the new team will be in Hobart, where it surely must be.
It’s an easy state around which to commute and to have a new team based in the state’s capital makes the best economic sense.
It will ignite old rivalries and jealousies but that tough decision must be made for the greater good and for the bid to succeed.
Australian football is our great national game. It must represent the whole of Australia. Tasmania for so long has suffered because it is not connected to the mainland. Its football resources have continually been pillaged and exploited.
It must stop. The AFL can waste millions north of the Murray River where the game is not universally appreciated.
It’s time to reward the Tasmanians who have always been loyal to the game and its heroes.