AFL boss Gillon McLachlan announces $360 million in funding for Tasmanian team
Tasmania is on the cusp of realising a long-held sporting dream, the state’s top AFL official says as the league’s boss hints at more big money to secure a stadium at Mac Point. LATEST >>
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TASMANIA is on the cusp of realising a long-held sporting dream, the state’s top AFL official says.
“We are so close, we can almost taste it,” Head of AFL Tasmania Damian Gill said following the visit to Hobart on Thursday by AFL boss Gillon McLachlan, where he confirmed the potential for a massive funding injection for a future Tasmanian AFL side.
“There’s obviously some hard work to be done, but the opportunity in front of us as a sport in Tasmania is huge,” Mr Gill said.
“Obviously it relies on the success of an AFL licence but it [the funding] would be a shot in the arm of footy in Tasmania and I think it would transform footy in the state.”
Mr Gill said he shared McLachlan’s ambitious goal of doubling footy participation in Tasmania while having football programs in 100 per cent of schools within 10 years.
“That’s my aspiration,” he said. “We want to really take a quantum leap when it comes to footy in Tasmania and if we get a team in this state it opens up an opportunity and we are determined to seize it.
“What that means is doubling participation across the state, having a footy in every child’s hands, and having participation programs all around the state to give everyone, boy and girl, an opportunity to get the joys out of footy and maybe aspire to be part of a Tasmanian AFL team.”
Champion Tasmanian footballer Ian Callinan, a former Adelaide Crow, said the promise of $30m investment into male and female talent was huge.
“The most important thing is giving young kids a pathway with an elite … program which is something we haven’t had in a very long time,” Callinan said.
“If you have a look at the pathways in Melbourne compared to here, they’re completely different and getting this sort of cash is going to certainly help with things like getting better coaches and putting some of the money back into the players,” he said.
“If you want high performance then you need high quality coaches and programs and this sort of cash can help them afford better coaches … which will just improve the programs for the kids coming through.”
Stepping up sales pitch
GILLON McLachlan and Jeremy Rockliff have stepped up their sales pitch on Tasmania’s bid for an AFL team, seeking to address widespread angst about a $715m publicly-funded stadium.
The AFL chief’s latest visit on Thursday was less about what Tasmania could do for the AFL, and more about what the AFL could do for Tasmania.
McLachlan announced the AFL would pump $360m into the sport in Tasmania for the AFL team, community football and talent academies in the south, north and north-west.
Starting the day at a leaders’ breakfast in Launceston, McLachlan and the Premier spruiked the benefits that a team — now linked to a Hobart stadium — would bring to the north.
“Four games will be played at UTAS Stadium along with pre-season, AFLW and VFL content, and the economic benefit speaks for itself, with millions injected into our economy that can be reinvested into essential services,” Mr Rockliff said.
The pair then headed to Hobart for a Tourism Industry Council Tasmania business luncheon.
Both acknowledged the level of community and political opposition to $700m in taxpayers’ money being spent on the stadium.
“I wanted today to come down and talk to people in Launceston and people here in Hobart about a bit of context. These things are difficult and hard work and challenging, but it’s worth it. Stadium funding in Gold Coast, Adelaide, Perth, everywhere we’ve done it, has not been easy and there’s been opposition,” McLachlan said.
“It feels we are closer than ever and I just want to remind Tasmanians what the prize looks like. Both in terms of the emotional side but the economic side.”
This week ten Tasmanian federal MPs — including Liberals, Greens and independents — signed an open letter demanding the AFL grant Tasmania a team without requiring new stadium.
Mr Rockliff said the public and political push-back on the project was “a challenge”.
“I’ve had friendly fire, I’ve got hostile fire, but I’m a true believer ... I will always see the bigger picture. I will always grasp an opportunity. I’ve got broad shoulders figuratively speaking and I’m willing to weather the storm for what will be a truly significant project and a game changing opportunity for the people of Tasmania.”
McLachlan also left the door open for the AFL to increase its contribution to the stadium.
“I know how this world works. We’ve got a pretty rubber arm at the AFL. We’re committed to make this work, we’ve committed $15m (to the stadium). I’m not here saying it’s not going to go up,” he said.
The state government and AFL are now waiting to see if the federal government will contribute the funding requested — currently $240m.
On Thursday Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the proposal was being considered in preparation for the May federal budget.
“We’re considering it as part of an urban redevelopment and urban policy to revitalise the city of Hobart and to make a difference to the Macquarie Point site,” Mr Albanese said.
“That is a prime site for not just a sporting stadium, if that goes ahead, but for residential, for recreational, for commercial activity as well. And I’m working closely with Jeremy Rockliff and his Government on these issues.”
$360m cash boost for Tassie team
Premier Jeremy Rockliff says our own AFL team will be a game changer for our state, as the league’s CEO announced a $360 cash injection into our bid.
“Tasmania, right now, has a defining moment ahead of us,” Mr Rockliff said.
“An AFL team that will unite our state, open a new industry, signal a new dawn for tourism, provide inspired pathways for young players and inject tens of millions of dollars into our economy every single year.”
“We also have an opportunity to provide the stadium and precinct our team deserves, and one that brings with it the business, sporting and cultural events other states take for granted.”
Mr Rockliff said with the AFL’s significant funding, the millions in investment will flow to all areas of the state.
“Our own AFL team will also bring millions each year into our economy, allowing us to reinvest the dividends into essential services like health and education,” he said.
”I look forward to the Prime Minister now providing Tasmania our fair share of funding to ensure we get the infrastructure we need and the team we deserve.”
As reported this morning, the AFL will pump $360 million into a fledgling Tasmanian team – on the condition that a new stadium gets the green light at Macquarie Point.
League CEO Gillon McLachlan made the significant announcement at the Dialogue Tourism + Business Luncheon at Princes Wharf 1 on Thursday amid heated debate over the state Liberal government’s $715 million stadium proposal.
The funding will flow to the end of the decade and will include a contribution for the prospective multipurpose stadium, as well as more than $90 million for game development and community football and $30 million to develop young male and female talent.
Three new talent academies would be established – one in the north, south, and north-west.
However, Mr McLachlan reiterated that the funding is contingent on the federal government chipping in $240 million for the proposed stadium.
“I know there are plenty of people who say they support the team but not the stadium but we have been consistent with the message that it can’t work to have one without the other,” he will say.
Mr McLachlan’s announcement comes in the wake of a joint statement issued by ten Tasmanian federal MPs and senators – including Liberals, Greens, and independents – demanding the AFL grant the state a long-awaited licence for a team in the national competition without a new stadium being made a prerequisite.
Addressed directly to Mr McLachlan, the statement says Tasmania deserves “a team of our own without having to make taxpayers pay for a stadium”.
“We are putting politics aside to make this plea: give Tasmania a licence, let us have our dream,” it reads.
“Do the right thing by Tasmania, Gill.”
Liberal MPs Bridget Archer and Gavin Pearce and Liberal senators Jonathon Duniam, Claire Chandler and Wendy Askew were all signatories to the statement.
The remarkable intervention puts the Tasmanian government in an awkward position as it seeks to secure Commonwealth funding for the project.
Mr Rockliff said all Tasmanians wanted “the team we deserve”.
“The fact is, to make the team viable, we need a new stadium,” he said.
“The ball is now in the Prime Minister’s court.
“Either he gives us our fair share of the funding we need to make this a reality, or Tasmania misses the opportunity for the stadium we need and the team we deserve.”
State Labor sport spokesman Josh Willie said the joint statement was a “huge vote of no-confidence in Jeremy Rockliff’s priorities for Tasmania”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spoken of the prospective stadium’s potential to drive “urban renewal” in Hobart but has yet to commit funding for the project.
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