With Tasmania hopefully this year being announced as the 19th team to enter the AFL and to join the competition in 2027 now is the time to get other Tasmanian teams into national competitions. The level of support the JackJumpers has generated shows that Tasmanians will support Tasmanian branded teams so I will take a look at the most likely sports that we could have teams in.
WNBL
A real no brainer would be to have our own women’s basketball side in the WNBL. Hobart had their own side in the WNBL from 1986 to 1996 they were runners up in 1989 and 1990 with the team being champions in 1991. The WNBL is run separately from the NBL and the league has different teams to the NBL so it is unknown if a Tasmanian team would also be called the JackJumpers or if it would have it’s own branding. But we have all the infrastructure to run a women’s team all we need is the financial support from the state government.
Super Netball
The state government pays the Collingwood Magpies $1.23 million over 3 years to play 1 pre season game and 1 regular season game in the state each year. Why can’t we take that money and put it into our own team. Netball is a very popular sport in the state and with MyState Bank Arena and the Silverdome ready to go there is no reason we could not have a side in the competition. There have been some reports that Netball Australia will look to have new teams join in 2027 but hopefully we have some major developments in a Tasmanian side before then.
A- League Men & Women
On the 21st of January 2023 the first ever A-league regular season game was played in Hobart and 5,127 people watched Western United play Sydney FC at North Hobart Oval. This crowd was the biggest Western United has had for a home game this year and shows the fantastic support football has in the state.
Tasmania has put a bid in to join the A-league in the past but it was knocked back with Western United and Macarthur FC joining the league but both teams have failed to get support with a lot of poor attendance numbers for home games. Football is the most popular sport played in Tasmania and although we don’t have a major rectangular stadium our past bid had plans to build one. North Hobart Oval is great temporary ground for a team until a new stadium can be built with games being able to be played at UTAS Stadium in Launceston as well.
Australian Baseball League
This might seem like a strange one but in 2017 it was reported that the ABL was interested in having a team in Tasmania and it would only cost $700,000 a year in state government funding. Games would have been played at North Hobart Oval and UTAS Stadium but the government did not support the idea and nothing happened. A smaller sport like baseball would be a great idea for Tasmanians to support and build a big following locally and put Tasmania on the international stage with baseball fans around the world.
The time to act for these sports is now before a Tasmanian AFL team starts playing games.
Be First to Comment