Tasmania Unwanted in the AFL

[brod]

There would be one group deadset against a team located in Tasmania - HAWTHORN FC.
At the moment it is a great source of membership and revenue that they have a strangle hold on.

[Sojourner]

There would be one group deadset against a team located in Tasmania - HAWTHORN FC.
At the moment it is a great source of membership and revenue that they have a strangle hold on.

I thought the same, so you can imagine my surprise when I read that Hawthorn are supporting the bid! - Perhaps if they think it doesnt stand a chance they will still then remain on good terms with the Tassie Govt - a major sponsor of their club!

[Dog_ger]

It will have to happen.

Team 19 - Northern Territory

Team 20 - Tasmania

Maybe then 2 divisions.

It only gets better...

[Strawb]

F*ck west Sydney The AFL needs 3 more teams Canberra, Darwin and Tasmania, West Sydney will fail like the Adelaide Rams. A code that will not be accepted by most people in that area. The rams were accepted by Adelaide but after two years closed down deep in debt and the West Sydney team will be the same. How much money has the AFL pumped into the Swans to keep them afloat? The problem is You have Parramatta Eels, Wests Tigers and Penrith Panthers. They are all NRL clubs the AFL don't see the picture they should move to sure up Tasmania. I would rather see a Tassie Team than a West Sydney team. The West Sydney Razorbacks are struggling for support.
Now onto the Gold Coast as long as the Titans are winning people will support them, they have a top stadium and a first class admin. This is a better set up than anything the Gold Coast has had before.

[MightyEagles]

Tasmania could always pull out of the VFL and join us here in the SANFL. I know there's the money and travel factor, they will be used to it. For us, we just have to get used to it.

[JK]

I'm not sure that the Rams failed SS ... I just think the whole NRL-ARL thing meant they only had a brief purpose in mind for the Rams and they were never really going to survive.

[evans01]

I'm not sure that the Rams failed SS ... I just think the whole NRL-ARL thing meant they only had a brief purpose in mind for the Rams and they were never really going to survive.

i think coz the entire superleague experiment failed, an very costly excercise by Mr Murdoch.........

[cripple]

The AFL has previously stated that any new team needs to draw on a population of at least 750,000 in order to be successful in terms of crowds, sponsorship, stadia and the like. Tassie's population is downwards of 300000 and most of these people already support a team. I know forestry makes money grow on trees, but they would struggle more the North melbourne with small crowds and the interest would wane having 11 matches a year.

[Dirko]

I'm not sure that the Rams failed SS ... I just think the whole NRL-ARL thing meant they only had a brief purpose in mind for the Rams and they were never really going to survive.

Yeah spot on CP. They were a pawn in the big game. Bloody good night the Rams especially when the played at Hindmarsh !!

My old man still has a heap of the bumper stickers, might grab one and sticker up the car

They got 137968 people through the gates during season one at an average of 15329
Season two 7682 avaerage.

[Wedgie]

Tassies population is 400k and its spread out, I think the biggest town Hobart only has 200k.
The ABS predicts that the population in Tas is going to go down in the next 40 years too.
That doesnt even take into account the lack of corporate dollar there too.
Simply not viable.
Even Canberra has a bigger population.
Darwins smaller again.

[Sojourner]

Another point that I would like to bring out, is that if you go to Western Sydney and talk to people about AFL, often there are two responses, the first being that they are not interested, or a second response is to slag the game off with comments about it being "Aerial Ping Pong" or whatever. Western Sydney may have a population of 1.3 million, yet how many of those people are interested in AFL as opposed to people who are not interested and people who specifically hate the AFL?

Various groups of migrants are moving to the area, yet the interest is still Soccer and Rugby.

In Tassie there is no such battle for the attention of people, they can get crowds of people who love Aussie Rules football to games without a problem as proved when the Hawks play there. Western Sydney will be all about convincing people that hate AFL to suddenly like and support an AFL team and there is not a snowflakes chance in hell of that even remotley happening, despite how much Andrew Demetriou (who reminds me more and more of John Howard) says that there will be from his Ivory Tower!

[Interceptor]

Tasmania's only hope is for a relocated Melbourne side.
ACT and NT sides simply aren't going to happen for a long, long time -if at all.

The AFL hierarchy is all about running the game as a business and that means they're looking for strong potential markets to grow the business with an aim of maintaining/enhancing the game's position as Australia's dominant football code.

Obviously, they have decided on the Gold Coast and Western Sydney as those markets.
People can scoff at Western Sydney choice, but I doubt the AFL have gone with this location without doing significant homework first. No doubt though that it could be a tough sell, especially if the side is struggling on field. I'm sure there will be plenty of people ready to pounce with "I told you so" types of criticisms if things aren't looking that great in the first couple of years, which would be shortsighted. It will be longer term than that -more like 5 years to assess a team there properly.

[Tassie Blues]

Don’t start with the 2 headed jokes just yet remember what state the incest family is from.

I think Tassie are the own worst enemy when it comes to getting an AFL team as there is still the whole North v South thing. They still don’t even have a state wide comp. As much as I would like to see it happen I really think Tassie needs to get a good state league that the whole state is involved in.

[evans01]

the afl wanna get their house in order before they expand, for example far to many teams in Victoria................many of which have struggled for years and seen little or no success so the afl need to both consolidate and expand......look at the weaknesses and expand to your advantage.......

like it or not afl is a business and an expensive one at that, sure you can go to tassie, but with a small population can they support it over an extended period??...........especially when the chances of early success are limited and the answer would be no...

so unless your willing to put your money where your mouth is the answer is not Tassie...................................