This is something that a footy club will help with though. Boredom and something to do, it will bring crowds into the CBD before and after games. 80 young famous athletes across men’s and women’s football living there, employment for hundreds of people at the club and the stadium and footy pathways (remember the afl are pouring 360 mill into the state for development), tourists coming to the city for these games. Everything has a flow on effect to make it more appealing to hang around. Have you ever been to Adelaide? When i went there it was absolutely dead, but the footy game brought the whole city alive for the afternoon and night.
Lots of times for work, and Hobart for work a few times.
Tbh both more times than I would like. But for letting off steam, Adelaide is still streets ahead. I did an 8 week course in Tassie once, it was quite intense so you never really engaged with civilisation until the end. We headed out to celebrate completion and it was a good night, but really not a patch on heading out in basically any other city in Australia.
I don’t think a football team is going to shift Tasmanias demographics, and by extension how attractive it will be for a young athlete and their partner (or, perhaps more relevant, if they are single) at all.
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It never seems to occur to people that the reasons most Hobartians and a hell of a lot of tourists from all over the world like the place is because it isn’t just another oz city with all the chain stores and fast food and night clubs etc in your face. There’s plenty of unique places but you have to find them and they aren’t what you’re used to. But it’s also farking tiny and comparing it to much bigger cities is stupid.
That’s the point. It’s too small for this nonsense and forcing it to happen will ruin what makes it tick. Mobs of drunk farkwits flooding Salamanca and the cbd won’t improve the joint for locals. Some bars and steak houses will do well. The casino will do well. The mainland owners of all the new sports pubs and merch stores uglying up the joint will do well. The hospitality/gambling lobbyists will be creaming themselves as they do the bidding of their Sydney and Melbourne masters. Always laugh at these ‘hundreds of jobs for locals’ claims, as if the majority of real roles with any future aren’t already pegged for imports. Careful what you wish for Tassie pro stadium folks. The hospital will still be a 3rd world clinic
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No it hasn’t. A Tassie person ( spare head removed) who has a brain moves to Melbourne as soon as they are tall enough. You might visit Hobart once on a holiday, but why would you go again, even Adelaide is nicer.
Fishing, beer, and whiskey. All very strong appeals to me and all very good in Hobart.
I’ll take that as a strong endorsement of Tassie, every farking day. Jesus, you spent more than five minutes in Bacchus Marsh, your radar is wrecked.
The tourist thing for games in Tassie is a bit overstated IMO.
90% of ticket sales will go to their own members with maybe 3000 tickets per game being available to the opposition and general public. Tassie isn’t suddenly going to see 10,000 invaders from the mainland each game
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Take you for the honorific, only wish I could turn water into wine.
We are trying to get out but Gods are against us, it is true to say that 5 minutes in Bacchus Marsh seems like a very long time. It does produce handy footballers though, all of whom should have been Bombers. Our best Team with Butters, Duggan, Cadman and Lalor could finish as high as ninth.
Not sure you could raise a list of current AFL players from Hobart with those credentials.
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Ha, no just the Riewoldts from recent memory, one of whom is doing his best to become a much richer Riewoldt on the back of smashing the Tassie folk for not being deep enough into the corporate drive. Colby McKercher is a likely sort, and there’s a bit of family connections there so I hope he recovers from wearing those awful stripes and goes somewhere decent.
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Grant Birchall, with his 4 premiership medals around his neck, says hold my beer.
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Please make them take both Reiwoldts back, positive for Vic is we get rid of them, positive for Tassie is their gobs will fix the power shortages they have.
Whole family have holiday shacks on the East coast but one of those you want gone is more Queenslander and American than he is Tasmanian.
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Is Ireland colder and wetter than Tassie?
You’re thinking of Melbourne
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MONA’s David Walsh Recommences Gambling To Help Fund Tassie Devils’ New Stadium
JASON BARRY | Victorian Leg Tennis | Contact
In a scene witnesses say looked less like a government funding discussion and more like the opening of a B-grade Hollywood thriller, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff reportedly travelled to MONA via the posh-pit ferry this week.
The bold trip was to convince David Walsh to restart his gambling career, in an attempt to bankroll the new Tassie Devils’ stadium.
The Advocate understands that, at first, Walsh declined, reclining in his leather-and-velvet chair under the unsettling glow of a digital projection—a slowly rotating cow carcass that hovered above him.
“Jeremy, I’m out of the game,” he allegedly said, flicking a poker chip across the room where it hit a taxidermised vagina hanging from the ceiling.
“Everyone knows I don’t gamble anymore.”
But Rockliff, facing mounting state debt, a hostile electorate, and a furious AFL headquarters, pressed on.
“David, this is bigger than both of us. The stadium… the Devils… the future of Tasmanian footy depends on it.”
Walsh smirked, shook his head whilst completing a Rubik’s Cube in under five seconds.
“What’s in it for me?”
“We’ll name one of the stands after you?” Rockliff offered.
Walsh simply laughed and, after cranking up the unsettling German experimental techno jazz he was already blaring from a speaker, viciously threw black tar across the canvas of what appeared to be the original Mona Lisa hanging on the wall.
“MONA says try again, Mr Premier,” Walsh murmured, shooing away a paid actor who had been waddling around the room like a duck and quacking intermittently for the last 45 minutes.
Rockliff began to sweat.
“What if we let you put a wall of dix in the members’ bar?”
Walsh immediately stood, straightened his immaculate full-dress ceremonial military uniform, and smiled: “Turn the goalposts into dix, too, and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
More to come.
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This is such an amazingly “Tassie stuff” scenario.
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Tasmania Football Club to Enter VFL and VFLW in 2026
05 September 2025
Tasmania Football Club has taken another significant step forward in building our future, confirming that from 2026 we will field teams in both the Smithy’s Victorian Football League (VFL) and the rebel Victorian Football League Women’s (VFLW).
This milestone will see Tasmania return to the VFL for the first time since 2008 and, for the first time in history, compete in the VFLW. Both teams will take part in the competitions on a full-time basis from 2026, with fixtures to be staged across Tasmania’s three regions, giving members and supporters the chance to see the Devils in action on home soil.
Tasmania Football Club CEO, Brendon Gale, said the announcement marks a pivotal moment in the Club’s journey.
“Our entry into the VFL and VFLW is an exciting and strategic step in the development of Tasmania Football Club. It marks the start of our on-field journey and plays a crucial role in laying the foundations for our AFL and AFLW teams in 2028.”
Brendon Gale
Tasmania Football Club CEO
Gale continued, “It also addresses a long-standing gap in the Tasmanian football pathway. For too long, players have had to leave the state to pursue elite opportunities. This program allows Tasmanian talent to develop, perform and be rewarded – right here at home.”
To further strengthen this pathway, the Club will introduce a ‘golden ticket’ for aspiring AFL and AFLW players. At least two rookie list positions will be guaranteed for players who participate in the VFL and VFLW programs across 2026 and 2027, with scope for up to four in total. “That opportunity doesn’t exist anywhere else in the country, and it sends a strong message: if you’re good enough and dedicated enough, Tasmania is the place to be,” said Gale.
Recruitment of coaches, high-performance staff and players is already underway. Pre-season for both squads will commence in November 2025, with the program operating across multiple locations including a combined greater northern hub. This approach ensures players can remain connected to their communities while competing at VFL and VFLW level. Every listed player will also be linked to a Premier League club in either the NWFL, NTFA or SFL.
To lead this initiative, the Club has appointed Aaron Pidgeon as our inaugural Head of VFL and VFLW. Aaron brings significant experience from roles including CEO of Netball Tasmania and Head of Tasmania for North Melbourne Football Club. He will work closely with Head of List Management and Strategy, Todd Patterson, and Head of Recruiting, Derek Hine.
“The Tasmania Football Club is about more than just fielding teams. It’s about building something enduring - an elite program Tasmanians can be proud of. A unifying force that develops talent and contributes meaningfully to the growth of football in our state.”
Brendon Gale
Tasmania Football Club CEO
https://tasmaniafc.com/news/tasmania-football-club-to-enter-vfl-and-vflw-in-2026
Three regions?
North, North West (Cradle Region) & Southern