Some people living on the mainland will say that one of the reasons that Tasmania can’t have it’s own AFL team is that the state is divided between North and South and that the state will not come together to support a team that plays a majority of it’s home games in one part of the state. Well as a Tasmanian I can tell you that this is not true and I will explain why.
So where did this North vs South sporting rivalry thing all start?, In my experience it goes back to the days before there was a state wide football league. The state was divided between 3 main leagues the TANFL in the south the NTFA in the Launceston area and the NWFU in the north west. These 3 leagues would regularly play representative games between each other and there would be debate about which was the stronger league. In 1986 the TFL was formed with teams from the south and north with north west teams joining a year later. This was the start of sate wide football.
There would continue to be a strong rivalry between the northern clubs and the southern clubs. A new representative game was setup northern players vs southern players which kept the rivalry going strong. Through out this time Tasmania would play state of origin games vs other states and all of Tasmania would come together to support the team regardless of which part of the state they lived.
In 2001 the state wide league folded and the 2 main leagues in the state were the NTFL in the north and SFL in the south. The north vs south representative games continued but now Tasmania had a sate team in the VFL with home games being played in the south, north and north west. The Hobart games would get bigger crowds then the northern games but you have to remember that at this time Launceston had Hawthorn AFL games and the south didn’t which would have made the VFL game more appetising to southern football fans. The VFL side folded in 2009 and the state wide league was bought back and remains to this day with the 2 north west teams leaving the league in 2018.
With UTAS stadium getting an upgrade and a new stadium planing to be built in Hobart. A split of 6 and 5 home games between the south and north would be ideal for a Tasmanian AFL team. UTAS stadium normaly gets bigger AFL crowds then Blunstone arena but big factors in this is UTAS is closer to the Launceston CBD and has better parking options also Hawthorn is more a more popular team then North Melboure. Spiting the home games would make it easier for people to buy memberships to the games in there area. There will always be people who don’t want to travel 2 hours to the other side of the state to watch a game.
Cricket and basketball have shown that people in the north, north west and south will support a team called Tasmania. The north south rivalry has always just been a bit of fun between club teams. Any club rivalry would have no effect on the support of a Tasmanian AFL team that is based in one part of the state or plays a few more games in one part or the other. We are one state 500,000+ strong and we are ready for our own AFL team.
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