Brent looked back at how football administrators reacted to a potential Tasmanian AFL team throughout the decades.
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SEN Tassie
Looking back at Tasmania's path to an AFL team (01/07/24)
(upbeat music) - Right across Tasmania on SCM Tassie. This is the Devil's Advocate with Brent Castella. Follow us online at SCM Tassie and text anytime. 0 4 3 7, double 5 2 5 3 5. - We've had to work hard to get our AFL license, haven't we? For many, many years we did all we could to take our rightful place in the national competition. My favorite quote is this one from the late great Michael Kent, who pushed our case for so long. - I don't think they can continue to leave Tasmania out. It's a bit like leaving Greece out of the Olympic Games. - Our first real push came in the early 1980s when Alan Ailott visited the state for a series of meetings. At that point he was a VFL chairman. I spoke to him about it years later for a story I compiled for wind news. - I don't think it's really got to the growing up contracts and signing on the dotted line. But there was pretty opportunity for it to happen. - But most of the time we ran into dead ends and it appeared those in charge at the AFL simply told us what we wanted to hear. Here's Ross Oakley. - There's probably only going to be a small window of opportunity when it comes, if it comes. - Once he left, Wayne Jackson had this to say. - There is some attraction to the Sydney market to another licence for the AFL but we would anticipate that being post the Olympic Games. The Tasmanian proposal is certainly more advanced than any other. - Andrew Demetrieu then took on the top job. - I've always said that if there's another team down the track, our next cab off the rank would be Tasmania logically. - And of course there was Gillen McLachlan. - I'd love the Tasmanian Avenue for the team. I've said that before. I've thought I've said also as I think Tasmanians deserve their own team. - One person that got sick of hearing excuses was former Premier Peter Gutwin. During the height of the COVID pandemic, he stood up to the AFL. - Quite frankly, I don't think is good enough. We're a football state. The AFL should be treating us with more respect. We will not finalise the arrangements for the next contract with Hawthorne or North Melbourne until we have clarity from the AFL in terms of our own licence. And it was a move that worked to the point where on May 3rd last year, the state's long-awaited dream finally came true. - There are big days and then there are really big days. For our national game of Australian rules for ball and for the state of Tasmania, this feels really big, historic. - Of course, the AFL has put a new CEO in place since then and for a wide ranging chat on all things Tasmanian football, Andrew Dillon will be my very special guest here in the studio on today's edition of the Devil's Advocate. ♪ The devil's side ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ - Here's AFL CEO Andrew Dillon isn't too far away. My other feature guest on the show today is Tasmanian football royalty. It's former VFL AFL player and coach Robert Shaw, who I'm really looking forward to having a deep dive into all things football with. Thanks to our friends at Batru World, we'll also whip around the country to see how our Tasmanian players fared in their respective competitions over the weekend. That's all coming up for you on a very big edition of the Devil's Advocate over the next hour.