TSL clubs fear football in Tassie is dying
FUNDING for Tasmanian football is the worst in Australia and the AFL is sitting back watching Tassie football die.
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FUNDING for Tasmanian football is the worst in Australia and the AFL is sitting back watching Tassie football die.
That’s the view of Lauderdale president Julie Kay as the surviving seven TSL clubs prepare for their crisis meeting with AFL Tasmania at Campbell Town on Thursday.
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Kay accused the AFL powerbrokers at “Docklands” of a head-in-the-sand attitude to local football.
The game has reached crisis point.
In the past two years the 10-team TSL has lost three clubs in the Prospect Hawks, Devonport and Burnie – all under the watch of former AFL Tasmania CEO Rob Auld, recently appointed the AFL’s national game development manager.
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The loss of Burnie two weeks ago sent shockwaves through the remaining seven cubs, now fearing for the survival of the State League competition, consisting of two clubs from Launceston and five in Hobart.
Kay believes the AFL has sat back and watched it happen.
“It’s like anything – if you don’t care for it, nurture it, develop it and resource it properly, it will die,” Kay said.
“Basically, I think that AFL at Docklands believe that if they provide North Melbourne and Hawthorn, which I call the entertainment tax, if that’s all they think they need to provide and just let grassroots and our football die, that’s what’s going to happen if they don’t do something about it.
“They have just not cared about it.”
The clubs are concerned about funding.
They each receives $100,000 to run their operations each season, but before that money is handed out, more than $10,000 is deducted by AFL Tasmania in “levies”.
The clubs are particularly interested to know what happens to the combined $300,000 annual grants that should have gone to Prospect, Devonport and Burnie.
“One of the most pressing items is player retention, and of course appropriate funding levels, which compared to all the other states around Australia is absolutely abysmal,” Kay said.
“We don’t know yet where that $300,000 is going – that’s one of our questions.”
The clubs will seek the unbridled support of the AFL.
“It’s about what the AFL’s plans are,” Kay said.
“We need to know what they are going to do – what’s going to happen and to see whether there is any support from the AFL at Docklands and make sure we have a future in football in Tassie.
“The clubs are concerned. We really are.”
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