Soccer boss still working on A-League team for Tasmania and new soccer stadium for Hobart

With an NBL team on the way to Hobart, soccer officials are about to increase their push for a Tasmanian A-League, chasing down backers for a team and for a stadium. DETAILS >>

Sydney FC celebrate winning the 2020 A-League Grand Final after they defeated Melbourne City at Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta, Sydney. Picture. Phil Hillyard

• Soccer boss hopes star Sam Kerr could lead Matildas in World Cup lead-up games in Tasmania
• UTAS Stadium will be a perfect venue for women’s 2023 Wold Cup say officials

TASMANIAN soccer boss Bob Gordon says the state’s push for an A-League team will ramp up next week when he meet with its financial backers and he is closing in on a greenfield site for a national-standard soccer stadium in Hobart.

President of Football Tasmania, Gordon said the coronavirus had shifted the landscape on Australian soccer but the pursuit of a Tasmanian team in the A-League was still on course.

It comes as the state secures a National Basketball League team to be based at a extensively refurbished Derwent Entertainment Centre and will start competing next year.

“I will be talking to the financial backers of the Tasmanian A-League team again next week, and they are still interested,” Gordon said.

“We are working proactively and cooperatively with the State Government about what needs to be done to make sure we’ve got the facilities where we could play A-League.”

Turning Launceston’s AFL venue UTas Stadium into a soccer-ready pitch was a priority.

“The first step is making sure York Park gets upgraded to rectangular stadium format like Marvel Stadium, where the seats come out into the ground so it’s rectangular,” Gordon said.

“That would allow us to play Matildas games in the lead up to the World Cup, as well as A-League games and Y-League games.

“It would be a lasting legacy for every sport that needs a rectangular stadium and it would also increase the seating for other sports as well.

“We will not get the World Cup unless we have a rectangular format stadium.

“We are still working on an option for a rectangular stadium for Hobart.”

A-League games would be played at both ends of the state.

“The proponents are keen on playing games in Hobart and Launceston, just from sheer economics, you get good crowds at both,” Gordon said.

“But we do need a rectangular stadium in Hobart and it wouldn’t just be for the A-League.

“It could be a concert venue for 12,000 or 13,000 people, and we’ve had an international rugby game down here and we occasionally get an NRL game, and it would be used for events like that.

“But you don’t get those unless you’ve got the facilities.”

Gordon said the A-League group identified seven potential sites for a Hobart soccer venue, and the shortlist had been reduced to three.

“It would be quite a modest investment compared with the billion dollars that’s been spent on York Park and Blundstone Arena,” he said.

“We’ve got three locations and we are still working through that process.”