Club presidents fire back at call to end TSL

TSL club presidents say the league isn’t going anywhere, despite former AFL Tasmania chief executive Scott Wade’s belief the competition is on its last legs.

North Hobart Football Club president Craig Martin. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

TSL club presidents say the league isn’t going anywhere and have written confirmation from AFL Tasmania to back up their claims.

Lauderdale president Julie Kay and North Hobart counterpart Craig Martin have defended the league after TSL creator, former AFL Tasmania chief executive Scott Wade, said unfortunately it was time to end the state league and return to regional football.

But Martin questioned Wade’s time in charge and Kay said the TSL clubs had received a commitment on the league’s ­future from the AFL via AFL Tasmania chief executive Trisha Squires — despite the AFL flagging major cost cutting at headquarters and across the major competition due to loss of revenue this year.

Lauderdale Football club president Julie Kay. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

Former AFL Tasmania chief executive Scott Wade.

“Scott’s entitled to his views,” Kay said.

“But we’ve been assured by Trisha and the AFL that once football recommences that we will be getting our funding and also our funding that has been suspended will be actually included as extra going through until the end of the year.

“She has told us that and ­assured us they have every intention of continuing the competition. We’ve all got licences anyway for the next two years and we have at this point been assured it will continue.”

Squires would not comment directly on Wade’s comments, saying AFL Tasmania’s priorities lay in the health of the community.

“There has been no shortage of ideas put forth about how football looks post this uncertain time, which is a testament to the passion that our community has about Tasmanian footy,” she said.

AFL Tasmania CEO Trisha Squires. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Wade told the Mercury that the economic impacts of the coronavirus crisis made the TSL unsustainable financially as he believed the AFL would no longer fund the state league to the same extent if at all and the clubs other revenue streams, such as bingo and gate receipts, had also dried up due to the shut down.

He said the future lay in regional footy and inter-­regional rep games and no longer paying every player for every game.

Martin said clubs were not paying players or coaches while games were suspended and said the standard of competition was by far ahead of anything in regional competitions.

“To be honest, I’d shudder to think of some of the results that would occur if we went back to regional footy,” Martin said.

“North Launceston and Launceston, for example, would kick cricket scores against some of the teams in the North.

“The same would occur in the south.

“Finally, without wanting to sound personal, the Wade era was not a stellar one for Tasmanian footy.

“I think that’s a view shared by the vast majority of the Tasmanian football community.

“There was a lot of division, ruined relationships, disharmony and a lot of mistakes made in his 17-year tenure that did footy no good at all.”