Be careful New Zealand

[taz]

I cant express strongly enough my anger and contempt for the AFL and in particular Andrew Demetriou because of the treatment they have meted out to Tasmanians. During Mr Demetriou's recent trip to Tasmania he spoke at the Hawthorn Football Club lunch and in doing so highlighted his view of Tasmania. Mr Demetriou stated at the lunch that Tasmania will not get a team whilst he is CEO. Indeed, the arrangements cooked up between the AFL, Mr Demetriou, the Hawthorn FC, the North Melbourne FC and the Tasmanian politicians are such that it is certain that Tasmania will not get a team in AFL for at least the next 20 years.

One of the points the AFL, Mr Demetriou and the Tasmanian politicians pressed during the course of "selling" the arrangements with Hawthorn and North Melbourne to the Tasmanian public was that such it would pave the way for a Tasmanian team. What a crock!
Tasmanians have been poorly served by their politicians the many years. The arrangement with Hawthorn and North Melbourne has ensured that Tasmania will not get an AFL team in the foreseeable future but rather contribute to propping up cash strapped teams from Melbourne's eastern suburbs whilst Tasmania's health service health service remains crippled by underfunding forcing the State Government to go cap in hand to the Federal Government.

The other argument that was proffered was that the arrangements would have a net benefit for Tasmania because of the tourism and activity that the sponsorship of such games would generate. this is a complete nonsense argument and has highlighted the naivete of the Tasmanian politicians and public in swallowing such a proposition.

Doubtless, the St Kilda Football Club regret the decision to exit from Tasmania and constantly reminded of such by the success both in terms of membership, financial support and on ground performance that flowed to Hawthorn as a result of their arrangements with Tasmania. Doubtless the AFL continues to remind the St Kilda Football Club of that regretful decision and I suspect has pressured the Saints to play in New Zealand. I suspect that fix is on again for New Zealand.

[WellardSaint]

I fully understand why you are angry.
Tasmania has a great history of football.
I fail to understand why the AFL thinks New Zealand is the new frontier. They Kiwis cannot embrace such a game, it will simply be a novelty for them.
Why doesn't the AFL put effort into more important things, like improving access to Etihad seating, and an uneven draw that favours the Pies/Essendon?
The Saints apparently struggle with Seaford, although this is hotly debated.
Why can't St Kilda look after their own house rather than worry about travelling overseas?

[taz]

One of the points that is probably not apparent in my post is that the current sponsorships deals in Tasmania may serve to appease those supporters of those particular clubs. however, the arrangements are clearly short-term because there is a strong and growing discontentment in Tasmania to those particular football clubs when we are being forced to pour money into propping them up whilst out health system is falling apart. Mr Demetriou recent comments during his to Tasmania were very poor and have left a very sour taste with Tasmanians towards the AFL and the arrangements.

[bergholt]

Why can't St Kilda look after their own house rather than worry about travelling overseas?

we don't have enough cash because we don't have enough supporters, so we'll always be at the mercy of forces beyond our control. just like north and footscray.

[stevie]

Why can't St Kilda look after their own house rather than worry about travelling overseas?

we don't have enough cash because we don't have enough supporters, so we'll always be at the mercy of forces beyond our control. just like north and footscray.

We could travel overseas from Seaford to play Geelong....

[Saint Bev]

Being a Tasmanian myself, I totally understand where you are coming from. Its a disgrace. I am still trying to understand why we have a second team in Qld and NSW when they have little interest in AFL footy. I don't care if they are the growth areas in Australia, they are not AFL minded. The AFL is still propping up Sydney, so why would GWS be any different. Lions supporters have dropped off. Hardly anyone goes to the Suns games and yet what do the AFL do for the original sides like St Kilda, Footscray, Melbourne and North? The whole thing is a joke.

I also don't understand why our memberships have dropped off when we have had so much success in recent times. It leaves no alternative to the club but to explore opportunities else where, even if it is NZ. Is no use the fans complaining when they are not even prepared to go and see Lenny Hayes 250th, buy a membership or cheer our side.

If St Kilda supporters want a strong Club, they need to go to the footy when its cold, put their hands in their pockets. Stop bagging the cheer squad and help them, Get a bit of passion and make Ethihad a feared place to visit just like we did at Moorabbin.

[WellardSaint]

Channel 7 - AFL Game Day. Reporter says the Tassie Govt has paid $16 million over 5 years for AFL games to be played in Tassie.
I suppose all those Tasmanians waiting for surgery will be overjoyed, going to a live AFL game can be therapeutic and is better than medication.
Go figure.

[WinnersOnly]

Agree totally 'taz' the AFL's (Demetriou) treatement of Tasmania is nothing short of disgraceful. The Tasmanian public deserve there own team and should have been developed before GC & GWS. They obviously are more concerned with attempting to take on the other codes in the northern states than rewarding the grass roots football states. Hopefully this will bring the demise of the Demetriou, as the AFL has become a monopoly $$$ .

[saintspremiers]

Channel 7 - AFL Game Day. Reporter says the Tassie Govt has paid $16 million over 5 years for AFL games to be played in Tassie.
I suppose all those Tasmanians waiting for surgery will be overjoyed, going to a live AFL game can be therapeutic and is better than medication.
Go figure.

Settle pettle. $16 million over 5 years is not a lot of money. How much benefit to the economy down there has it produced? If its more than $16 million then no issues.

Taz - well written piece. Maybe Tweet a link to it to a journo so it gets published?

[plugger66]

I must have missed something. Dont Tassie get 6 games a year? Sorry but Tassie isnt a growth area and maybe Sydney and GC will be. The TV rights deal suggests it is working already. I know it maybe harsh but the only way Tassie can get a side is if a side relocates there. I would expect North may in the next TV rights deal.

[joffaboy]

I must have missed something. Dont Tassie get 6 games a year? Sorry but Tassie isnt a growth area and maybe Sydney and GC will be. The TV rights deal suggests it is working already. I know it maybe harsh but the only way Tassie can get a side is if a side relocates there. I would expect North may in the next TV rights deal.

Exactly right. How many National teams in any sport succeeded in Tasmania? It couldn't even support a basketball team.

There are less people in Tasmania than in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, but how many games are played there since Footscray moved from the Western Oval?

Tasmania just isn't big enough. Quite simple.

[Dave McNamara]

Great, heart-felt post Taz.

Re the funding issues, I guess it may be a bit like the GP debate here in Melbs'. Is the govt' expenditure reaping a net gain or not??? The answer seems strangely hard to find...?

Re the health system, at least Wilkie has come through it seems... possibly as appeasement for Juliar screwing him over re the promised pokie legislation??? http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political ... 20ejl.html

As for a Tassie footy team, I too would love to see it. Preferably a relocated Nuff Nuff Melbourne - though that's another topic... south of Melbourne, how ironic... Even more preferably, a relocated amalgam of Nuff Nuff and the Dreamons... maybe now I'm dreaming on...?

I lived in stunningly beautiful Hobart for two years in the late 80's (fleeing the Saintas of the 80's maybe???). I still remember how Tassie didn't have a statewide league. They finally got one..., it didn't last. Is there a statewide league again???

Taz, the problem I see with Tassie getting a team is the lack of population. As you'd know, this population is then split three ways (south, north and NW). Could the people ever even decide on a venue to play home games out of??? I doubt it.




(I still recall the tale of the famous attempt to end the divisions and symbolically bury the proverbial hatchet. A neutral site was chosen. but the attempt was abandoned when the ground proved too hard to dig a big enough hole...)

[taz]

Taz, the problem I see with Tassie getting a team is the lack of population. As you'd know, this population is then split three ways (south, north and NW). Could the people ever even decide on a venue to play home games out of??? I doubt it.

Tasmanians are surely a parochial lot. However, I have absolutely no doubt that a single Tasmanian team would go further than any other step, taken by a politician or otherwise, to heal that division. I wonder if Victorians are fearful of unified Tasmania? Crikey, imagine the Spirit of Tasmania loaded to the Plimsoll line with Tasmanian supporters coming through the heads of Port Phillip Bay to descend upon the MCG!

[santazzi]

I must have missed something. Dont Tassie get 6 games a year? Sorry but Tassie isnt a growth area and maybe Sydney and GC will be. The TV rights deal suggests it is working already. I know it maybe harsh but the only way Tassie can get a side is if a side relocates there. I would expect North may in the next TV rights deal.

Unfortunately for us in Tassie you are spot on, that is the reality of the times...........Mark my word, New Zealand will have a couple of teams in the expanded ANZFL before us. We just breed, develope and export talent............that is the lot for "nations" that are dveloping and on the outer...........feed the centre!!!!

[taz]

P 66 you have missed something… The point !

First, Tassie don't get any games. Hawthorn and North Melbourne play 6 games in Tasmania. The Tasmanian public pay for them to do so.

Second, Tasmanian might not be a growth area ..... that's just the way we like it!

Third, are you seriously suggesting that the TV rights deal was secured by not giving Tasmania a licence?

Fourth, I don't begrudge the Gold Coast or the Kangaroos.

Fifth, don't be sucked in by the spin. The fact is Tasmania does have the population and the numbers in terms of dollars do stack up. This is confirmed by an “appropriately qualified” expert in Saul Eslake. In this respect it is interesting to note that yesterday Fev played at New Norfolk (in Saints colours) and pulled a crowd on par with that at the Gold Coast game.

There is a very bitter taste in the mouths of Tasmanians with HFC and NMFC arrangements and AD does nothing to help. In the longer term I suspect it will not augur well for Hawthorn, Melbourne the game and more particularly the short-sighted self-serving politicians.

[bergholt]

Second, Tasmanian might not be a growth area ..... that's just the way we like it!

well, you can have it that way. but you're unlikely to get an afl team any time soon.

The fact is Tasmania does have the population and the numbers in terms of dollars do stack up. This is confirmed by an “appropriately qualified” expert in Saul Eslake.

what makes eslake "appropriately qualified"? he's a macroeconomist. he knows about fiscal policy, monetary policy, interest rates, exchange rates. even in that capacity he's wrong as often as he's right. how is he qualified to comment on the profitability of afl sides?

[taz]

Second, Tasmanian might not be a growth area ..... that's just the way we like it!

well, you can have it that way. but you're unlikely to get an afl team any time soon.

The fact is Tasmania does have the population and the numbers in terms of dollars do stack up. This is confirmed by an “appropriately qualified” expert in Saul Eslake.

what makes eslake "appropriately qualified"? he's a macroeconomist. he knows about fiscal policy, monetary policy, interest rates, exchange rates. even in that capacity he's wrong as often as he's right. how is he qualified to comment on the profitability of afl sides?

As to your first point, I agree that Tasmania is unlikely to get an AFL team soon. That's my point! The die has been cast ... I won't see a Tasmanian team in my lifetime. The quality league is poorer for that.

As to your second point, I am comfortable with his qualifications. There are dimmer lights than him trumpeting on the issue.(excuse the mixed metaphors )

[BigMart]

Yeah, Tassie has given nothing to the game......

I have had my say on Tassie.... Disgraceful decision when we left... What's more disgraceful is the AFL and some clubs using the state for money, because they are starved of elite footy.... It's taking advantage of people.

Loyaly is not a term the AFL would know much about, and couldn't care less about anything that doesn't make money for the brand.... Keep turning your back on the suppors a

[joffaboy]

As to your first point, I agree that Tasmania is unlikely to get an AFL team soon. That's my point! The die has been cast ... I won't see a Tasmanian team in my lifetime. The quality league is poorer for that.

As to your second point, I am comfortable with his qualifications. There are dimmer lights than him trumpeting on the issue.(excuse the mixed metaphors )

point is Tasmania dont just automatically deserve an AFL team. they have saturation point at 6 games already. And with the pathetic petty north-south rivalry in Tasmania, the team would never get the whole state behind it.

Saul Estlake is a con artist like all economists. They get it wrong all the time, and really nobody cares if you are comfortable or not. I am sure a professional organisation like the AFL have their own "experts" on these subjects, or do you think they just decided on GWS and GC on a whim?

[borderbarry]

I would rather have seen S.A. and W.A. given a 3rd team, than 2nd teams for Sydney and Qld. Then the new teams would have had a genuine supporter base.

[taz]

As to your first point, I agree that Tasmania is unlikely to get an AFL team soon. That's my point! The die has been cast ... I won't see a Tasmanian team in my lifetime. The quality league is poorer for that.

As to your second point, I am comfortable with his qualifications. There are dimmer lights than him trumpeting on the issue.(excuse the mixed metaphors )

point is Tasmania dont just automatically deserve an AFL team. they have saturation point at 6 games already. And with the pathetic petty north-south rivalry in Tasmania, the team would never get the whole state behind it.

Saul Estlake is a con artist like all economists. They get it wrong all the time, and really nobody cares if you are comfortable or not. I am sure a professional organisation like the AFL have their own "experts" on these subjects, or do you think they just decided on GWS and GC on a whim?

The term "automatically deserve" is an oxymoron. The same in part applies to the balance of your slanderous response. Grow up!

[BigMart]

Yeah, Tassie has given nothing to the game......

I have had my say on Tassie.... Disgraceful decision when we left... What's more disgraceful is the AFL and some clubs using the state for money, because they are starved of elite footy.... It's taking advantage of people.

Loyaly is not a term the AFL would know much about, and couldn't care less about anything that doesn't make money for the brand.... Keep turning your back on the supporters at your peril Andrew, you greedy disgusting pig.
we have <20 000 people support the new clubs.... >100 000 would follow Tassie and it would unite the state and pack a 30 000 stadium weekly.

I hate the AFL for this very reason

I hated it when we abandoned Tas because it showed we use d them for self interest and as soon as we didn't need the, dumped their arse... He was I thinking we were spreading our brand, getting new members, giving something back to Tassie which has given us plenty

Including our current skipper and our greatest skipper

[plugger66]

Yeah, Tassie has given nothing to the game......

I have had my say on Tassie.... Disgraceful decision when we left... What's more disgraceful is the AFL and some clubs using the state for money, because they are starved of elite footy.... It's taking advantage of people.

Loyaly is not a term the AFL would know much about, and couldn't care less about anything that doesn't make money for the brand.... Keep turning your back on the supporters at your peril Andrew, you greedy disgusting pig.
we have <20 000 people support the new clubs.... >100 000 would follow Tassie and it would unite the state and pack a 30 000 stadium weekly.

I hate the AFL for this very reason

I hated it when we abandoned Tas because it showed we use d them for self interest and as soon as we didn't need the, dumped their arse... He was I thinking we were spreading our brand, getting new members, giving something back to Tassie which has given us plenty

Including our current skipper and our greatest skipper

Hate is such a great word word. Anyway I have no idea what you are geting at. Seems a very emotive post with no substance.

[asiu]

i read joffs post as a tassy boy would Taz , 'n i didn't see slander.
... i saw an at the target response.

slightly over the top rebuke , imo.

[Saint Bev]

THe Gold Coast is a growth area in what? Population has declined, thats not growth. Every team that has started here in the 21 years I have lived here have either gone broke or are in big trouble. And don't be fooled by the crowd attendance you see on TV, those numbers are a long way off the amount of people that actually go. I know for a fact that the AFL keeps Sydney afloat. So all the excuses don't add up.