Home » AFL Footy News » Empty seats to packed stadiums: How it started and how it’s going for Tasmanian AFL fans
Empty seats to packed stadiums: How it started and how it’s going for Tasmanian AFL fans
While the internet is awash with memes about how plans have been scuppered by the global pandemic, an AFL presence in Tasmania is bucking the trend.
The threat of coronavirus on the mainland has transformed a potentially barren AFL landscape in Tasmania into one the most optimistic footy fan would never have imagined, let alone believed.
Local fans have very quickly gone from boiled lollies to chocolates.
On Saturday, UTAS Stadium will host the Sydney Swans v GWS Giants clash.(
AAP: Scott Barbour
)
2021 started with the possibility of no AFL games being played in Tasmania in 2022 as part of a mooted strategic withdrawal of Tasmanian government sponsorship from AFL teams Hawthorn and North Melbourne.
Now, thanks to Tasmania’s largely COVID-free status, the state has hosted more AFL games in 2021 than ever before with the biggest and best yet to come.
For the first time, Launceston is preparing to host not one, but two AFL finals.
On Saturday, Sydney will play GWS in an Elimination Final at York Park.
While on Sunday, Essendon returns to the scene of its Round 14 game against Hawthorn to play the Western Bulldogs in the other Elimination Final.
And it might not end there.
AFL general manager Travis Auld suggested Tasmania could host more finals beyond this weekend.
Essendon played in the state for the first time in nearly 30 years and, predictably, the match sold out in a flash.
Tasmania also sold out a 13th match in under an hour as Collingwood, for the first time ever, prepared to play for premiership points in the state.
Alas, that game against Hawthorn suffered the same fate as dozens of others around the country and had to be relocated at the 11th hour, after an unauthorised, COVID-positive traveller arrived in Launceston.
Having Tasmania host high-quality AFL games due to pandemic-created quirks is not a trojan horse to a Tasmanian AFL team, but it is a nice change to have the state considered a serious part of the football landscape.
It has been a source of growing Tasmanian frustration, that poor crowds for Gold Coast, Giants and Fremantle games in Hobart and Launceston are regularly cited as evidence Tasmanians won’t support an AFL team — ignoring the fact the same games in Melbourne would also draw disappointing crowds.
On Sunday, UTAS Stadium will host the Western Bulldogs v Essendon Bombers match.(
AAP: James Ross
)
Just 10 days after the Carter Review recommended creating an AFL team in Tasmania, two finals have sold out in Launceston, albeit in a stadium with a reduced capacity.
Imagine the support if a team called ‘Tasmania’ was playing in Tasmania every second week.
As negotiations continue for future sponsorship deals with Hawthorn and North Melbourne as well as a pathway and timeline for a Tasmanian AFL team, it’s still possible Tasmania might not host AFL games in 2022.
But the rhetoric sounds like bridge building.
Tasmania’s Finance Minister, Michael Ferguson, said the government was stumping up $500,000 per final.
It is an interesting deal considering the AFL had few other viable options and Tasmania can’t cash in on Victorian tourists.
“I think it validates the relationship we have with the Tasmanian government,” Mr Auld said.
