Mark Robinson: Why are club presidents so against a 19th team in Tasmania?
Club presidents have ticked off on every single AFL expansion team for over 35 years, so as Mark Robinson asks, why are some so against a 19th team in Tasmania?
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The AFL constitution allows for all the president men and women to vote on two issues and two issues only.
One is on the appointment and/or the removal of any AFL Commissioner, which is understandable.
The other is for new licences, which up until now has largely been a doddle for the visionary types at AFL and at club land.
Port Adelaide in? Tick.
Gold Coast? Tick
Greater Western Sydney? Tick?
Fremantle, West Coast, Adelaide and Brisbane? Tick, tick, tick and tick.
And Tasmania? It’s a ticking time bomb according to some club presidents and they haven’t even seen in the financial modelling.
It’s curious why every other expansion team going back 35 years or so has got the green light, yet Tassie is a problem child.
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The level of Tasmanian angst – or at least an anti-19th licence – from a couple of club presidents is, to us regular, warm-hearted, economically stupid football fans, a ridiculous game of gamesmanship being played by the rich kids.
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We get it, though, it’s going to cost and it’s a risk and the deals have to work for Tassie and the game.
But surely it’s a risk that absolutely has to be taken.
It is said this is Gillon McLachlan’s legacy, but it’s much, much more than that.
This is about the essence of football, people and community and how all three bind together. It’s having a truly national game. It’s about finally inviting Tasmania to the bonfire party every weekend, where club and state allegiances are cheered and booed for reasons that challenge sanity.
It’s about what’s right and fair and what’s good for footy’s soul.
Make no mistake McLachlan’s next six weeks – he will deliver his economic plan in August ahead of the presidential vote – will be madcap and frustrating amid periods of monumental breakthrough.
The major positive is McLachlan wants a Tasmanian team.
Just last week, when meeting the club chief executives at Crown the day after the Hall of Fame night, he outlined part of the plan and, importantly, said he believed the looming TV rights with a Tasmanian team included would help pay for the Tassie team.
He’s a smart man, Gil. He’s asked the various networks to table a bid with a Tasmanian team and table a bid without one. The extra millions bounced off the pages.
And he asked the chief executives, in a by-the-way fashion, if any of them was opposed to Tassie – and not a single hand went up in the air.
There are other hurdles, like a new stadium for one, but if the game itself can pay for Tassie, then McLachlan is holding a good euchre hand. His problem is a president or two have the joker card.
Still, McLachlan has a vision – and it’s a power-packed one.
More so, AFL Commission chairman Richard Goyder should share that vision, too. He’s the most powerful man in football and he needs to roll up his sleeves and help McLachlan – if he isn’t already – because Tasmania needs him.
Don’t worry about McLachlan’s legacy, this could also be Goyder’s legacy.
McLachlan, meanwhile, has to deliver a plan and sell it to the presidents.
Clearly, they won’t be as accommodating as the CEOs because there’s a feeling the CEOs over time become conditioned to AFL thinking, whereas the presidents, or at least some of them, play the important role of devil’s advocate.
McLachlan doesn’t want a majority vote on Tasmania, he wants a unanimous 18-0 vote, because he believes the entire industry must be on board, meaning he has to, in the next six weeks, bring them with him.
It’s hardly a walk in the park for the boss.
That Suns chairman Tony Cochrane is the torch bearer against a 19th licence beggars belief.
Cochrane is a force of nature. He’s a brilliant mind with a zany character and despite others having misgivings, I reckon he’s been sensational for the Suns.
He told The Sacked podcast this month: “Firstly, I have nothing against Tasmania. I have everything against the 19th franchise.
“But a 19th franchise, I do not believe the AFL can afford financially at the moment and into the foreseeable future,” Cochrane said.
He had previously said: “The money is not there, the depth of playing group is not there and at the end of the day, thank God, that decision has to go to the 18 existing presidents.
“I’m here to tell you I doubt there would be anybody who would move a motion. At best there might be somebody who moves a motion and seconds it. It will not get more than three votes out of 18. It will not get up.
“The AFL as an industry cannot afford a 19th franchise. I don’t care whether that franchise is in Timbuktu, Tailem Bend, or Tasmania. That is my point.’’
For Cochrane to warn a 19th franchise would be a financial drain on football, after how much money the Suns have needed to survive in football, is frankly hypocritical.
He’s done his sums and he reckons the sums won’t add up.
But football can’t be about sums. If it was, the Suns would not be in existence. They were a test-tube baby born from an AFL sample and their formative years have required hundreds of millions of dollars.
Yes, a drain on the game is OK if it’s good for the game – especially if the TV rights pay for it.
Contrary to Cochrane’s belief, there are several presidents supportive of a Tassie team.
Last week, outspoken and outgoing Hawks president Jeff Kennett wrote to Hawks members, saying the clubs were “waiting for a detailed submission from the AFL and Tasmanian government’’.
“To date we have said to the Tasmanian Government, after 20 years as its partner in Tasmania, that, if the decision goes their way, we at Hawthorn will do whatever we can to assist them achieve their goal,’’ Kennett wrote.
His heart is with a Tassie team.
So, the question is, why does a handful of club presidents want to deny what all football people want, and that’s a Tassie team, especially if McLachlan can make the deal work?
Because heaven forbid if McLachlan’s final press conference is to announce that the Tasmanian team is dead. And that money and selfishness killed it.
That’ll mean tick, tick, kaboom.
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Originally published as Mark Robinson: Why are club presidents so against a 19th team in Tasmania?
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