Jack Riewoldt’s childhood club is turning players away with fears of what it could mean for the future
One of Tasmania’s largest junior footy clubs and the home of Jack Riewoldt fears players will be turned away if the Devils AFL team fails to materialise.
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A Tasmanian football powerhouse is being forced to turn away potential new players as it grapples with the challenge of accommodating its booming junior player base.
With more than 450 players in its Auskick to under-16s program, Clarence is at full capacity, raising concerns about what the future could hold.
The club expects that the introduction of the Devils into the AFL would inject ongoing funds into local football helping to pay for improved facilities.
However, with the future of the Devils now uncertain, Clarence is concerned its future funding needs may not be met.
Clarence president Nat Belbin said without upgraded facilities, her club risked losing young talents to rival sports with pressure on all levels of government.
“We have our own challenges with growth with the facilities,” Belbin said.
“We are actually at a stage now where we can’t grow any bigger as a football club because of our facilities.
“We are at 100 per cent capacity which is not ideal for us as a club, in saying that we’ve got kids knocking on our door every single year to come and play at our football club and our under ages are growing and growing and growing.
“I think the Tassie Devils have played a huge part in that, so for us as a club there are a couple different angles you can go down.
“The participation rates over the past two years have just grown to the point where we had to stop taking registrations last year because we just simply couldn’t facilitate so many kids, which is not what we want to be doing as a club.”
Southern Tasmania has led the way with growth since the announcement of the Devils in 2023 with a massive 104 per cent increase in Auskick participation.
As much as Belbin is excited to see the growth continue she is concerned by what could happen if the stadium and team don’t get off the ground.
“I think the team going away and the stadium not happening is going to cause absolute havoc in the football industry in Tasmania,” Belbin said.
“I think it will ruin it to be completely honest. I think it will ruin grassroots footy, I think kids will start playing other sports.
“We have the JackJumpers which are very predominant. There are lots of kids going through that basketball program now as well as playing footy but I think kids will get to the stage where they know there is no pathway and the numbers will start dwindling away.
“Kids won’t have that ambition to want to play footy anymore or they will move interstate or parents will go ‘you know what there is not really the capacity for us to get our child to where he or she needs to get to’ so they will start moving out of the state.”
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Originally published as Jack Riewoldt’s childhood club is turning players away with fears of what it could mean for the future
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