Whatever happens in Tasmanian politics, whoever leads the island state, the AFL’s position has not budged one millimetre: The Devils will only enter the competition if a roofed stadium is constructed at Macquarie Point.
No stadium, no team.
Rum’un, the Tasmania Devils’ club mascot is at risk of extinction because of dramas in the state’s parliament.Credit: AAPIMAGE
That position was reiterated by the AFL on Wednesday, as the Tasmanian parliament considered and debated the potential removal of Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff, whose support for the stadium has been critical to the agreement that would see the Devils become the league’s 19th team.
The AFL has a contract with the Tasmanian government, which has to provide this expensive stadium (opponents dubbed it “the Gil Mahal” after departed AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan) – as the price of admittance to the competition that has long plundered Tassie’s players and dollars.
A hard-headed portion of the 18 rival club presidents will sniff Tasmania’s political convulsions and hope that this uncertainty surrounding the stadium scuppers the 19th license.
Those presidents know that, should the Devils collapse, that $360 million designated to Tassie over a decade will remain in the AFL coffers, and the drafts of 2027, 2028 and 2029 that are slated for pillaging by the new team will be preserved.
But rendering the Devils an endangered species in utero is certainly not the wish of the AFL hierarchy – now led by CEO Andrew Dillon – who want to see the Devils delivered in 2028, and the stadium that will cradle the infant club completed shortly thereafter.
The Devils were spooked by the political unrest on Wednesday, as a tearful senior executive Kathryn McCann pleaded for the politicians to stick with the stadium deal, which is not a matter of negotiation for the AFL.
The AFL is counting on the stated position of the opposition Labor party leadership in Tasmania supporting the stadium that the Liberal Rockliff government is seeking to shepherd through two houses of parliament.
It would be easier to get this stadium approved in the parliament if the present premier remained at the helm, clearly. But if he goes, he will either be replaced by another Liberal, or Tasmania will hold an election.
Brendon Gale left Richmond to become inaugural chief executive of the Tasmania Devils.Credit: Getty Images
An election, according to one MP (who spoke on condition of anonymity) would be the worst outcome for the Devils, since it would involve some delays, and throw the stadium into a higher degree of doubt.
The MP wasn’t convinced that the Labor opposition were as unequivocally in favour of the stadium as the AFL would hope.
Rockliff is the devil they know, so to speak. And the Devils and Brendon Gale, a native from Tassie’s north-west, know that Tasmanians have a talent a) for torpedoing dams, pulp mills and, indeed, anything they think mainlanders have foisted upon them; and, b) find it difficult to agree on such matters, divided as they are between north and south, and other tribal affinities.
Adelaide Crows chairman John Olsen, a former South Australian premier and current federal president of the Liberal Party, has been strongly in the Devils’ corner, extolling the virtues of the stadium to state MPs; he cites the Adelaide Oval as evidence of a stadium’s civic value.
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff is adamant the stadium must be built.Credit: AAP
Gale acknowledged the uncertainty, while making clear that the Devils will continue to plan as though they’re entering the AFL as scheduled.
“I know there’s a lot of political noise around us at the moment, and naturally it raises questions and uncertainty,” Gale told this masthead. “But our focus hasn’t changed.
“We are building something special here – something powerful, enduring and deeply important to Tasmania.
“The foundations we’re laying are strong, and our momentum is real. So we’ll stay in the moment, keep pushing forward and control what we can control.
“The politics will run its course. The approval of the stadium has always been subject to passage through both houses of parliament.”
Wisely, the Devils are keeping their eye on the ball. If they are felled, it will by external forces, not because they lose their feet.
