Blood boiling down south over inequitable grand final fan attendances
Mums, dads, brothers and sisters will be forced to miss their loved ones playing in the SFL grand final this Saturday due to crowd restrictions. But it’s a different story for the TSL up north and that has tempers frayed.
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THE heat is rising on the Tasmanian Government as to why the TSL grand final in Launceston can host more fans than the SFL decider in Hobart.
Family members will miss seeing sons, brothers or partners play in Saturday’s Cygnet-Huonville grand final as the Government refuses to allow more than 1000 people – which includes players, umpires, coaching staff, volunteers, kiosk staff and security – to attend the SFL’s first all-Huon grand final.
The crowd is limited due to COVID restrictions despite no community transmissions in months and Tasmania’s borders being closed.
But in Launceston, 3250 will be at University of Tasmania Stadium for the North Launceston-Launceston TSL finale.
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Huonville president Todd Cordwell said the Lions phone had been running hot.
“It is frustrating,” Cordwell said.
“I’m not 100 per cent across both venues but obviously North Hobart is a big outside space and used correctly I’m sure there could be mutually agreed conditions that we could comply with that could work with both, definitely.”
The club, with sides in the reserves and seniors grand finals, has only 350 tickets to allocate to thousands hoping to attend.
“We are finding it very hard to spread a small number of tickets to what would be thousands,” he said.
“How do you do that? It is very difficult.
“We’ve spent hours on it already.
“You don’t want to leave anyone out, you don’t want to upset anyone, we want to do it the most fair and equitable way but it is just a real challenge.”
A spokesman for Sport’s Minister Jane Howlett said the key difference between the two venues was UTas Stadium had a greater number of individual, ticketable seats.
“This enables tickets to be allocated to more than 3000 spectators for the TSL grand final, representing 25 per cent of seated capacity,” the spokesman said.
“It should be noted that North Hobart Oval’s nominal seated capacity is much lower and seats are not individual and numbered, making crowd control and traceability more difficult.”
Opposition sports spokesman and Member for Franklin David O’Byrne said there needed to be equality for the two showcase events.
“It is interesting they are going to allow a northern grand final to trial it, but they are not willing to help out and work with community football in the south to lift the numbers somewhat to allow more people to attend,” O’Byrne said.
“Their (the SFL’s) request is to go up to 25 per cent, not to go open slather.
“It is going to be a big game, we haven’t had a community transition in Tasmania for months, the borders aren’t open, so surely they can reassess this and listen to the needs of the league to make sure more people, particularly from the Huon Valley, can attend.”
Watch the livestreams and get exclusive player stats from both the SFL and TSL finals at www.themercury.com.au this weekend
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