David Harding
Superstar Scott SandarsTasmania - AFL Vs A League Battle who'll win?
January 15th 2010 07:46
Tasmanian AFL supporters will again be left out as the AFL expands allowing a Gold Coast, and a West Sydney team into the league. With the Tasmanian State League in it's early days now, with it returning last season this could have been a big shot in the arm for that competition. Case studies have shown that Tasmanian youth are battling over whether or not to play the oval shaped ball game, or the round ball game.
In 2005 or close to it a Hobart millionaire, whose name is not relevant, was going to put up the 1 million dollar license fee to enter the A League as a new side. At the time though, the A League hasn't considered an expansion beyond the sides they already had, now we see the expansion plans are on the agenda. Tasmania's newest A League bid is growing momentum now that there is a sheikh from the oil-rich Arab Emirate of Dubai ready to put some money in as seen by this quote from
So now we wonder, what does the future hold for Tasmanian Football should the A League take over here? Melbourne Victory has played games down here for the last few season, Hawthorn has played regularly in Tasmania since they started their deal back in around 2003.
Tasmania had an oval proposed in 1996 known as Glenorchy Stadium, the Oval was to be built at the Elwick Showgrounds, where the greyhounds, and trots were raced weekly. Now they have moved these events from the grounds, there is only the market, and Royal Hobart Show and selected events that are hiring the grounds.
This is a bit about Glenorchy stadium, and a link to view the oval, and dimentions as they were to be made as...
Click Here
I feel had Glenorchy stadium have been built Tasmania would have had a chance of getting a more successful bid, currently Tasmania has 4 venues that, could sustain a decent crowd, KGV Oval, if you removed the hill at the end that has the KGV Soccer Park could be removed completely, the hill near the scoreboard can be removed and there could be Grandstands built in the places of these hills. They really serve no purpose, putting seating around these areas would be better, cars enter from the swimming pool side anyway, and it would save cars driving around behind the goals should you lock off that area.
Bellerive Oval is still a good venue, I personally do not like the placing of this venue, never have and really never will. But anyway the oval is place in the middle of housing, near the beach, the nets are near the park there that is close to the beach, entering the ground is pretty difficult, parking is incredibly stupid. The common idea I had was parking on the domain, like they do for Christmas shopping, and have buses that drive to the ground and allows you the ability to get a ticket to the venue that way.
Another venue is the currently used York Park, I have not been to this ground since the redevelopment, seems to have a decent amount of space to development, needs to grow, needs to get bigger if Hawthorn wishes to play a Collingwood there in a regular season fixture. There is no way the AFL would ever move a game there during it's current state, you would lose out too much.
Again, the proposed Tasmania United has promised to solve the North/South rivalry, which has plagued this state not only in sport, but politics, and in general. We are probably the only state that does this in Australia and it's frustrating. Rivalry in sport is great, battling it out on the footy field is what needs to stay but other then that we are Tasmania and if we cannot act like a Tasmanian without fighting each other, then what are we going to do?
But there has been a proposal to play 12 games at Aurora Stadium, and 8 games at Bellerive Oval, each season. This is what the AFL team would need to do, find a common ground and start to have the games between the two, we can then have our state in the AFL, finally! But, I do not see this happening, why? Simple, the South has no ground that the AFL are satisfied with.
Andrew Demetriou came down in 2003, and spent time at Bellerive and rejected any notion of a move for the teams that AFL Tasmania CEO Scott Wade was looking at bringing to Bellerive Oval. It did not take a rocket scientist to see this was going to fail.
I have already mentioned in this blog why, and no one seems to want to work out these issues, a letter to the AFL detailing the transport of fans from a certain point would see the ground attract more. Has this been done? By the looks of things, no.
AFL Tasmania, and the State Government needs to reassess the proposal of Glenorchy Stadium, as well as Cricket Tasmania, this way, we have a venue that will attract big games, big crowds and all the bigger events around the world, including a World Cup game if the Australian bid is ever successful.
But now that we have gone through this, what would happen here if there was a showdown between the two sport? The Tasmanian Government has said should an AFL big be rejected, they will fund an A League bid, now if there was a rich man behind this bid, it could bring in talent, and make the team more interesting for others, so what would happen? AFL in Tasmania could start to disappear.
Participation in junior levels would drop off, if a young kid can pay top flight sports for their state, they would certainly start to make that dream happen. That added attraction here is that there is a chance of playing for Australia, and playing overseas if they become good enough. Where does their football future lie in the AFL? Well they would enter the draft, and could be drafted anywhere, could play anywhere and have no chance of staying as a Tasmanian.
Playing for Australia isn't an option in any time soon if the International Rules series stays dead, as it looks like it may well do. Young players will go from playing Aussie Rules, to playing the other football code in droves, and we will see a fragile league die once and for all.
Would it be that dramatic? Probably not, but who can know what will happen if Tasmania is ignored by the AFL, but shown some respect by another league? What will happen to Tasmanian Football if the AFL wants to keep promising and failing to deliver...
Tasmania United FC.
The possible future for Tasmania....
In 2005 or close to it a Hobart millionaire, whose name is not relevant, was going to put up the 1 million dollar license fee to enter the A League as a new side. At the time though, the A League hasn't considered an expansion beyond the sides they already had, now we see the expansion plans are on the agenda. Tasmania's newest A League bid is growing momentum now that there is a sheikh from the oil-rich Arab Emirate of Dubai ready to put some money in as seen by this quote from
A sheikh from the oil-rich Arab Emirate of Dubai has been linked to Tasmania’s bid for an A-League team. It’s a perfect fit, according to Tasmania United FC bid boss John McGirr. The as yet un-named international man of mystery could be to Tasmania United FC what Roman Abramovich is to Chelsea, the bid boss says. McGirr let slip about the sheikh on Monday at a news conference in Hobart to announce the Tasmanian government’s $40,000 contribution to a feasibility study.
Click HereSo now we wonder, what does the future hold for Tasmanian Football should the A League take over here? Melbourne Victory has played games down here for the last few season, Hawthorn has played regularly in Tasmania since they started their deal back in around 2003.
Tasmania had an oval proposed in 1996 known as Glenorchy Stadium, the Oval was to be built at the Elwick Showgrounds, where the greyhounds, and trots were raced weekly. Now they have moved these events from the grounds, there is only the market, and Royal Hobart Show and selected events that are hiring the grounds.
This is a bit about Glenorchy stadium, and a link to view the oval, and dimentions as they were to be made as...
The Glenorchy Stadium was to be built in the Hobart showgrounds in Glenorchy in 1998 if Tasmania was successful in its bid for an AFL team. The stadium would have been the team's only home ground, but the appeal was unsuccessful and the stadium never built.
Click Here
I feel had Glenorchy stadium have been built Tasmania would have had a chance of getting a more successful bid, currently Tasmania has 4 venues that, could sustain a decent crowd, KGV Oval, if you removed the hill at the end that has the KGV Soccer Park could be removed completely, the hill near the scoreboard can be removed and there could be Grandstands built in the places of these hills. They really serve no purpose, putting seating around these areas would be better, cars enter from the swimming pool side anyway, and it would save cars driving around behind the goals should you lock off that area.
Bellerive Oval is still a good venue, I personally do not like the placing of this venue, never have and really never will. But anyway the oval is place in the middle of housing, near the beach, the nets are near the park there that is close to the beach, entering the ground is pretty difficult, parking is incredibly stupid. The common idea I had was parking on the domain, like they do for Christmas shopping, and have buses that drive to the ground and allows you the ability to get a ticket to the venue that way.
Another venue is the currently used York Park, I have not been to this ground since the redevelopment, seems to have a decent amount of space to development, needs to grow, needs to get bigger if Hawthorn wishes to play a Collingwood there in a regular season fixture. There is no way the AFL would ever move a game there during it's current state, you would lose out too much.
Again, the proposed Tasmania United has promised to solve the North/South rivalry, which has plagued this state not only in sport, but politics, and in general. We are probably the only state that does this in Australia and it's frustrating. Rivalry in sport is great, battling it out on the footy field is what needs to stay but other then that we are Tasmania and if we cannot act like a Tasmanian without fighting each other, then what are we going to do?
But there has been a proposal to play 12 games at Aurora Stadium, and 8 games at Bellerive Oval, each season. This is what the AFL team would need to do, find a common ground and start to have the games between the two, we can then have our state in the AFL, finally! But, I do not see this happening, why? Simple, the South has no ground that the AFL are satisfied with.
Andrew Demetriou came down in 2003, and spent time at Bellerive and rejected any notion of a move for the teams that AFL Tasmania CEO Scott Wade was looking at bringing to Bellerive Oval. It did not take a rocket scientist to see this was going to fail.
I have already mentioned in this blog why, and no one seems to want to work out these issues, a letter to the AFL detailing the transport of fans from a certain point would see the ground attract more. Has this been done? By the looks of things, no.
AFL Tasmania, and the State Government needs to reassess the proposal of Glenorchy Stadium, as well as Cricket Tasmania, this way, we have a venue that will attract big games, big crowds and all the bigger events around the world, including a World Cup game if the Australian bid is ever successful.
But now that we have gone through this, what would happen here if there was a showdown between the two sport? The Tasmanian Government has said should an AFL big be rejected, they will fund an A League bid, now if there was a rich man behind this bid, it could bring in talent, and make the team more interesting for others, so what would happen? AFL in Tasmania could start to disappear.
Participation in junior levels would drop off, if a young kid can pay top flight sports for their state, they would certainly start to make that dream happen. That added attraction here is that there is a chance of playing for Australia, and playing overseas if they become good enough. Where does their football future lie in the AFL? Well they would enter the draft, and could be drafted anywhere, could play anywhere and have no chance of staying as a Tasmanian.
Playing for Australia isn't an option in any time soon if the International Rules series stays dead, as it looks like it may well do. Young players will go from playing Aussie Rules, to playing the other football code in droves, and we will see a fragile league die once and for all.
Would it be that dramatic? Probably not, but who can know what will happen if Tasmania is ignored by the AFL, but shown some respect by another league? What will happen to Tasmanian Football if the AFL wants to keep promising and failing to deliver...
Tasmania United FC.
The possible future for Tasmania....
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