AFL Tasmania stands down all but two staff members in national move to save footy

Why Tasmania’s leading football workforce was stood down.

WITH the State League postponed and football on hold around the state, AFL Tasmania will go into lockdown on Friday by sending its staff home until June in a move that mirrored the AFL’s move to stand down 80 per cent of its staff.

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Only AFL Tasmania CEO Trish Squires and manager of public affairs and infrastructure Damian Gill will stay on the clock, and both will take pay cuts.

AFL Tasmania’s staff of about 33 had already been working from home for the past few weeks, and now they will not be able to access the office or their workspaces until at least halfway through the year.

AFL Tasmania CEO Trish Squires Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

It is believed they were told by online conferences on Monday afternoon that they would be stood down from Friday.

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The news hit the football workers like a hammer, but they were resigned to the fact that it was part of a nationwide move to try to save football from a total financial disaster.

Like the AFL, the Tasmanian football workforce’s circumstances will be reviewed in May.

AFL boss Gill McLachlan announced on Monday the AFL Executive would take an immediate pay cut of 20 per cent and 80 per cent of its staff would be stood down from next Monday.