Tasmanian AFL team respond to Premier’s push for date of launch change

Tasmanian AFL team chair Grant O’Brien has responded to Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s recommended change of date for the club’s launch on March 18. Here’s what he said.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff, Tasmanian AFL Team Chairman Grant O'Brien, former AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan, AFL CEO Andrew Dillon at Dial Park, Penguin. Picture: Grant Viney

The Tasmanian Football Club will not move its launch date despite Premier Jeremy Rockliff recommend a shift.

Mr Rockliff wrote to club chair Grant O’Brien on Tuesday, after the pair met earlier this week, suggesting a delay of the announcement by one week.

He suggested a change from March 18 to avoid a clash with the state election which will be held on March 23.

But Mr O’Brien and his club board are holding firm.

On the day, the team’s name, logo, colours and foundation jumper will be revealed at a number of events happening simultaneously across the state.

“The decision to launch our club was made in September last year. Our communities, in particular our supporters, volunteers, players and fans around Tasmania are very excited,” Mr O’Brien said in a club issued statement.

“We will be going ahead on March 18, and encourage people to register, come along and help us celebrate.

“We will not be commenting on issues during the election campaign, these are matters for the people of Tasmania.”

The response came have Mr Rockliff raised his own concerns in an open letter.

The pair met on Monday when Mr Rockliff first raised the idea.

“I remain concerned that no matter what efforts are made, it will be near impossible to avoid the politicisation of the team launch so close to the election,” he wrote.

“The launch of our Tasmanian team should be a moment of great unity and pride and not used as a political football.

“I remain of the view that the best thing for the Tasmanian team is to delay the launch by one week.

“As a passionate advocate of our own team, wearing our own jumper and singing our own song, the last thing I want to do is to subject the launch to the politics of an election campaign.

“I do, however, appreciate that this is a decision for you and your board alone, and I well understand all the planning that has been put into the launch events.”

Mr Rockliff said he would not attend any of the six statewide community events on the March 18 launch date.

He said he would encourage all Liberal MPs and candidates to “take a similar approach”.

“Should they proceed as planned during the election campaign, I will of course do my absolute best to take as much political heat out of the celebrations as I can,” he wrote.

“As difficult as this decision has been, rather than attending, I will instead be watching proudly online to ensure that every possible ticket is available for grassroots supporters, rather than politicians.”

When the club confirmed the community events, executive director Kathryn McCann said AFL and AFLW stars would be involved.

“We’ve been spending quite a bit of time thinking about what this launch could be,” she said.

“We could have done this big, flashy, glitzy show in Hobart.

“We had those proposals in front of us, and what we did was we stepped back and thought ‘actually, we’ve set this club up on a trajectory to be community-based. What would be the right thing for us to do in launching this club?’”

The AFL has been contacted for comment.