Helping local sporting leagues restart from the COVID-19 crisis should be priority for Government: TSL club president

A Tasmanian State League club president believes money will be better spent helping grassroots sport rebound from the coronavirus pandemic than hosting AFL games in empty stadiums.

A start date for the TSL season is still yet to be announced. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

ANY money saved on AFL matches not being played in Tasmania in 2020 should be funnelled back into rebooting community sport, Lauderdale president Julie Kay has declared.

Premier Peter Gutwein on Wednesday cast doubt on whether the state will see top level games this year when he said he was in “no rush” to see contests unfold in empty stadiums.

Kay and Tourism Industry Council chief Luke Martin believe there is little benefit to Tasmania by allowing fly in, fly out AFL games without crowds, and Kay has no doubt any surplus funds could be injected into helping local competitions get back underway.

Lauderdale Football club president Julie Kay. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

“AFL teams coming down for a few hours to play a game with no one here … I don’t understand any benefit in that for us,” said Kay, who is also a member of the Tasmanian AFL team taskforce.

“The biggest issue for us is to get our community football up and going. That’s the thing that involves getting our lifestyles back to normal.

“I think any money that we save from Hawthorn and North Melbourne not playing their games could be used to help local competitions.

“I don’t just mean TSL, I’m talking SFL as well and even other sports, they are all in the same situation we face.”

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All community sport is suspended until May 31, with a restart date to the AFL season expected to be given more clarity following today’s national cabinet meeting.

State-based competitions will await the AFL’s decision before plotting their own paths, with Kay remaining optimistic State League action will unfold in some capacity this year.

“They [AFL Tasmania] are just waiting to see what the AFL does, they have been given a set of protocols that the AIS has developed in terms of what would happen in the club space in terms of health and safety guidelines.

“They would be ones the AFL are using as well I guess.

“I would still hold hope there would be an end date to it all, that if we can’t get going by a certain date then we make that call on it.

“But while there has been no call about a particular cut off date, then we all live in hope we might get up and going.”

Kay said the TSL club presidents will likely organise a meeting next week.