Expansion AFL face senate inquiry re: Tasmania

[seanoff]

seriously, what a load of shit.

the afl can put teams where ever they see fit and where ever they make sense commercially.

the senate should put its mind to sorting out the tax system, not trying to tell private organisations how to spend their money.

 

[DOSACHOKER]

West Sydney and Gold Coast will happen and Tassie wont get a team for 5 years. Big D from the AFL is doing behind closed door deals with AFL TAS as we speak, Devils gone from VFL last game this Sunday, AFL Tas starting up a state-wide league from next year after being floated mid season and have told selected clubs either join or go to the wilderness! that is basically less than 6 months to set up a statewide comp the public has been argueing about for 10 years and consistently told would never happen till 8 weeks ago??

You read it here first Tassie will have an AFL side in 2013/14 based at either Hobart (Bellerive Oval home of Tigers cricket team) or Launceston (Aurora Stadium- local footy club and some random A-League soccer games), both infinately better grounds than Gold Coast grounds, (Bellerive oval on a beach for a start with a high performance centre under the grandstand, some AFL Clubs are just getting one of those! plus an indoor training facility and former home of Tassie Devils) and it will be a relocated Melbourne team, either Kangaroos or Melbourne

If you think I'm blowing smoke well and good but I can guarentee that AFL Tas and the AFL are doing some very hasty behind closed door deals, there was even a 1 Million $ offer that AFL Tas could have chased to save the Devils but chose not to.

This sentate enquiery may oncover some pretty shadey deals me thinks, maybe it will be more interesting than we first thought.

 

[Gibbke]

At least $200m over 5-10 years?? That is not much of a budget. More of a stab in the dark. I wonder where he got that figure? I would say the sun doesn't shine there.

Demetriou said publicly that the AFL would spend $100m on each franchise "for as long as it takes" last year when North rejected the deal...

 

[krudmonk]

Aren't there any serious matters to debate that day?

 

[peas_and_corn]

http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=2570613&TABLE=HANSARDS

Fielding... the man who received 0.9% of the primary vote and managed to get a seat out of preferences... it's no wonder he's trying to score cheap headlines, his seat will be up for grabs at the next election...

Dunno. There's a hell of a lot of stuff at play here that a Government Senator could be wanting to belt the AFL round the head with or use as bargaining chips in order to guarantee himself a seat for time immemorial (if he secured a Tassie AFL team)

Areas where the AFL is vulnerable to Fed Gov pressure and might not want to answer questions:

TV deals in the context of a possible reform to cross media ownership rules. (And the terms of reference clearly state: "whether the AFL commissioners' obligations to current supporters of the game override their desire to promote larger television audiences for it".


Drug testing (Howard already stuck his nose in)

Salary cap and restraint of trade issues (Fed competence here and the SBW debacle as a hook)

Nobody will turn up form the AFL if extraneous issues such as drug testing are in the terms of reference.

seriously, what a load of shit.

the afl can put teams where ever they see fit and where ever they make sense commercially.

the senate should put its mind to sorting out the tax system, not trying to tell private organisations how to spend their money.

Indeed. Especially since this is more of an executive function and not a legislative function of governance.

 

[SweetLeftFoot]

Perfect example. Kangaroos

AFL bailed them out many of times, then when things are on track, AFL says "thats it, we want you to move to the Gold Coast or you will lose your money"

Yeah, that's a strategy that worked PERFECTLY for the AFL isn't it.

What masterminds they are. I look forward to Andy D's Art Of War on the bookshelves for Christmas.

 

[SweetLeftFoot]

Mind you, I suppose the senators from Tasmania have to find something to do after about 10am in the morning. 12 senators to represent the interests of 500,000 people .

They are doing what they the Constitution empowered them to do - protect the interests of a small state against powerful mainland interests.

 

[SweetLeftFoot]

the senate should put its mind to sorting out the tax system, not trying to tell private organisations how to spend their money.

And the tax system is ... government telling private organisations what they can do with their money.

Some fairly fundamental misunderstanding of how the world works going on here.

 

[Rob]

Andy D could make them look stupid if he wanted (and was bright enough).

"Why won't you admit a team from Tassie?"
"Because it will generate zero extra income for the league in the short and long term, and we'll have to split the leagues current income an extra way. Tell you what, if you want to subsidise the AFL's annual dividend every year, then we'll gladly let them in"

Check.

 

[zachary]

Senate - "100 million a year in TV advertising? So What? You are not a private company with Shareholders to please. You receive Government money to provide sports and entertainment for the public. Have you asked the people of Australia (whose tax dollars you are using) whether they would rather you built up small, pre-existing markets with a century-old heritage, rather than creating a team from scratch purely to fill in TV hours?"

What tax dollars does the AFL get? Next to nothing! Soccer is getting mega - millions of government money and the government doesn't tell them where to put their teams. If the government thinks there should be an AFL team in Tassie then lets see them put up the money!

 

[Redb]

Senators playing to their constituents....good luck with that.

As for government money, the Feds tried to bully the AFL overs its drug policy by threatening to pull funding, when the Feds looked into it they found about 400K in funding for aboriginal programs. $400K out of a $300 million dollar business.

Just smoke and mirrors - haven't any of your anti AFL trolls seen the Hollowmen ?

 

[Dont be a lemon]

Kerry O'Brien is obviously trying to shore up his reelection prospects.

 

[finders]

What a waste of time and more importantly taxpayer dollars. A Senate inquiry can't force a business like the AFL to grant TAS entry to the competition, so what's the point of this? How ridiculous. Stupid politicians.

Couldnt agree more! If the Federal govt want to stump up the 30 MILLION bucks a year to run a Tassie team then they might have something to say otherwise keep your dirty noses out of our footy business.Esp the religious grandstanding nutter Fielding from Victoria.

 

[finders]

What tax dollars does the AFL get? Next to nothing! Soccer is getting mega - millions of government money and the government doesn't tell them where to put their teams. If the government thinks there should be an AFL team in Tassie then lets see them put up the money!

Soccer gets ten of millions of our taxpayer money and still its dying in the arse if you look at the crowds so far this season!22,000 at the Dome friday night with no AFL competition and only 7000 in Adelaide tonight

Looks like the party is over again for wogball.It gets abit of extra bandwaggon support when the World Cup is on and then its back to the usual ho hum support
How many times have they had at getting a decent popular national comp going?

 

[stmookeyj]

$6m over 3 years? So, 2 mil a year. Not guaranteed for longer than 3 years though. Well, at least that is 5% of what would be required to stat up an AFL team. I guess that is a start.

That's more than what GC and WS have stated.


As for this, can we please fix the health system before we consider this enquiry?

 

[Denmark AFL]

call them the tassie royals

 

[Wednesday]

What tax dollars does the AFL get? Next to nothing! Soccer is getting mega - millions of government money and the government doesn't tell them where to put their teams. If the government thinks there should be an AFL team in Tassie then lets see them put up the money!

The Western Oval, Arden St, Punt Road and Prince's Park developments are all funded by the federal government, the state government, the local councils and the AFL to some degree. Governments both state and federal have contributed to the MCG development over the years and will no doubt be called upon to contribute to the Gold Coast stadium when the time comes.

If AD knows whats good for him he'll go along, smile, humour them and answer the questions politely.

 

[zachary]

The Western Oval, Arden St, Punt Road and Prince's Park developments are all funded by the federal government, the state government, the local councils and the AFL to some degree. Governments both state and federal have contributed to the MCG development over the years and will no doubt be called upon to contribute to the Gold Coast stadium when the time comes.

If AD knows whats good for him he'll go along, smile, humour them and answer the questions politely.

Chicken feed compared with quarter of a billion for soccer's new stadium, plus $60 million from the Federal govt to help soccer expand - what about a level playing field!

 

[Wednesday]

Chicken feed compared with quarter of a billion for soccer's new stadium, plus $60 million from the Federal govt to help soccer expand - what about a level playing field!

It's also a Rugby stadium.

 

[zachary]

Soccer and Rugby League get rewarded for years of failure and the AFL gets punished for successfully managing its affairs. Go figure. Oh, I forgot, soocer is owned by Frank Lowy and rugby League is owned by Murdoch, whereas, Australin Rules is owned by the people!

 

[fishmonger]

Australin Rules is owned by the people!

if by people I assume you mean Andrew Demetriou, Mike Fitzpatrick and Kevin Bartlett ... then

 

[zachary]

if by people I assume you mean Andrew Demetriou, Mike Fitzpatrick and Kevin Bartlett ... then

No, I mean the 500000 members who are the legal owners of the clubs. The AFL IS the clubs - Demetriou and Fitzpatrick are just employees. The AFL is a totally community owned sporting organisation, unlike the A-hole-league and half of Rugby league, which are privately owned by multi millionaires. So why are we giving government money to these rich bastards?

 

[pazza]

This could be fun.

Love to see Vlad try to defend the indefensible.

Oh it wouldn't be just the Tasmanians backing it either. Think about the amount of seats held by Labor in Western Sydney. Think of the RL people (and the RL backed media like Roy Masters) getting in their collective ears about AFL in West Sydney. Think of how many votes that would equal.

 

[DrJon]

They are doing what they the Constitution empowered them to do - protect the interests of a small state against powerful mainland interests.

How are they "protecting their interests"?

By grandstanding on a populist platform, by calling for a committee that will consist of a whole heap of the more inconsequential yet desperate senators appearing to be tough and standing up for the interests of a real football followers" against a massive monolithic AFL that has lost touch with it's grassroots **

It will achieve absolutely bugger all except give Steven Fielding more airtime than he deserves, which may assist in his dicey re-electiion prospects. It isn't binding, and it won't get Tasmania an AFL team.

**My emphasis - I wouldn't be surprised if it ( or something depressingly similar) is trotted out during the enquiry though.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Soccer and Rugby League get rewarded for years of failure and the AFL gets punished for successfully managing its affairs. Go figure. Oh, I forgot, soocer is owned by Frank Lowy and rugby League is owned by Murdoch, whereas, Australin Rules is owned by the people!

And soccer and ruby league are imported from England, not Australian invented and grown. Another reason why they get gov't funding - heaven help we should have own game (no matter how much better it is), our own culture. That's no longer PC.

I suppose the Senate enquiry (regardless of how farcicial it is) is a backhanded compliment to the popularity and cultural importance of our Australian game. Afterall, can you imagine the Senate holding an inquiry into either the A-League or rugby codes putting a team into Tasmania - or anywhere else for that matter. Simply wouldn't happen.

BTW - a Senate inquiry could be the worse thing that could happen for the AFL Tasmania bid - as it may force the AFL to spell out precisely why Tasmania can't match West Sydney for future growth prospects for our game.