The History: Tasmanian bids for an AFL team

By alex.darling17@gmail.com

  • The VFL begins its national expansion

    This expansion involves the relocation of South Melbourne to Sydney, and the admission of team from South Australia (Adelaide), Western Australia (West Coast) and Queensland (Brisbane). Tasmania holds back from expressing interest in a VFL team, despite having one of the most solid supporter bases for the game.

  • Tasmania begins a belated push to enter the national competition now the AFL.

    A bid is prepared for a TFC involving a $30 million, 30,000 capacity stadium being built in Hobart. The bid is unsuccessful and the stadium not built.

  • Fremantle plays its first AFL match

    The Dockers admission to the competition comes at the expense of Tasmania, which also made a pitch for a team in 1995

  • Port Adelaide plays its first AFL match

    Again, the Power's introduction comes at the expense of Tasmania, which had a second pitch for an AFL team rejected in '97.

  • Hawthorn and St.Kilda start playing home games in Launceston

    The move for both teams to play home matches at York Park (now Aurora Stadium) is supported by the Tasmanian state government aimed at building local supporter bases. St.Kilda ends this arrangement in 2006.

  • The AFL receives unanimous support to create clubs on the Gold Coast and in Western Sydney

    Subsequent calls for a Tasmanian team are met with their strongest support yet, with many believing the traditionally football-loving Apple isle is more deserving of a team than the Rugby League heartlands.

  • Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon officialy launches the latest bid to enter the AFL

    The bid is called Tassie It's Time, and is prepared in response to Gold Coast and GWS being admitted. But CEO Andrew Demetriou dismisses the latest bid, saying “They probably do deserve a team, we shouldn't dismiss the contribution that Tasmania has made to our game... They are absolutely entitled to put forward a proposal, but the commission has already decided where the 17th and 18th teams are going."

  • The Tasmanian government announces it has secured Mars confectionary as a major team sponsor

    The deal is reportedly worth $4 million over 3 years.

  • North Melbourne reach an agreement with the Tasmanian government to play two home games in Hobart each year.

  • AFL Tasmania Chief Scott Wade restates Tassie’s desire for a footy club

    Wade tells afl.com: "(We want) an AFL club in Tasmania that we can develop a long-term relationship with, whereby the club is one Tasmanians call their own," and says Tasmania can attract a market where a club can prosper.

  • Demetriou announces plans to step down at season’s end.

    Media reports speculate his successor will be the one to introduce a TFC, as a report on the future of AFL in Tasmania is tabled.