Highly respected player and coach Lance Spaulding passes away

The Tasmanian football community is in mourning after the passing of one of the state’s most highly respected and well-loved figures.

Lance Spaulding was one of Tasmanian football’s most highly respected coaches. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Tasmanian football has lost one of its most loved figures with the death of highly respected former player and coach Lance Spaulding.

Spaulding passed away on Tuesday at the age of 62 and was widely respected in the Tasmanian football community after a lifetime spent as both a player and coach.

Head of AFL Tasmania Damian Gill expressed his condolences to Spaulding’s family and friends on Wednesday and said his loss would be a major one for Tasmanian football.

“Lance was a larger than life figure. He was one of the good guys and it’s gutting for everyone in footy circles that he is no longer with us,” Gill said.

“I know a lot of people in football will be hurting. A lot of people in our workplace are hurting, he was one of the genuine good guys.”

Spaulding’s close friend, former teammate and TSL manager Andy Bennett echoched Gill’s comments.

“I’m absolutely devastated,” Bennett said.

“I’ve been involved in football across three states and after playing with Lance at Sandy Bay, I would describe him as the best teammate and clubman I’ve ever encountered, and that’s something I don’t say lightly.

“Inevitably in football you have traditional opposition and people you ‘don’t like’ because they played for or coached an opposing club. Lance transcended that. He was a genuinely good bloke, and you couldn’t not like him.

“Lance will be deeply missed, and I feel deeply for his wife, Mandy, and his wonderful family, his friends, of whom I proudly consider myself one, and everyone who had the pleasure of meeting him.”

After his playing days with Sandy Bay in the old statewide league came to an end, Spaulding spent a number of years developing the next generation of talent as both a senior and assistant coach at numerous levels.

Lance Spaulding during his time as North Hobart senior coach. Picture: Chris Kidd

He began with St Virgils’ in the early 90s before returning to Queenborough and the Lions from 1994-97 as both a senior and reserves coach throughout that three year period.

His biggest coaching role to that point came in the early 2000s when he was appointed the Tassie Mariners midfield coach in the under-18 competition before a six-year stint as a Tasmanian Devils assistant coach in the VFL led to him taking on the top job for the 2008 season.

He would become the last Devils coach following the side withdrawing from the competition in favour of restarting the Tasmanian State League (TSL) where Spaulding would continue his coaching career at North Hobart between 2012 and 2014.

Spaulding gives his final address as Tasmania Devils head coach in 2008. Picture: Kim Eiszele

The man famously known as ‘Springer’ led Hutchins to a premiership in the 2022 Old Scholars Grand Final in his last official football role.

When he wasn’t busy on the football field, Spaulding also worked for Tasmanian diary company Ashgrove, famously known as ‘Tassie’s happiest milkman’.