flying south

Ben McGlynnAflfooty games in Tasmania are reaping wins on and off the ground

WORDS BRETT STUBBS

For nearly all of last century, Tasmania was a major Australian Rules Football (AFL) talent exporter, but it was a one-way street – though Tassie is proud to claim Hall of Fame legends like Peter Hudson, Darrel Baldock and Ian Stewart as its gifts to the game. But now, top-level matches are being imported into this football heartland. Thanks to a deal between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Tasmanian Government, the state can offer the whole package, and hosts four premiership games a season plus a pre-season match.

The result of a brief experiment back in 2001 when the Hawks decided to play a home game outside Victoria, the new regime was bolstered by a major three-year sponsorship deal in 2005 between Jetstar, the Hawks, AflTasmania – the sport’s controlling body in the island state – and AflLive in Tasmania, the government committee charged with bringing top-level football into the state. Tourism vies with forestry, mining and primary production as the state’s biggest industry, and visitor numbers have grown by 60 per cent since 1998 and predicted to soon top 1 million per annum.

Rick Ladson State Tourism Minister Paula Wriedt says up to 5,000 footy fans travel to Tassie each game, staying on average between two and three nights. “If you combine the interstate and the intrastate it equates to about AU$2 million per game into the local economy,” she enthuses. “For a lot of the supporters it may be the first time they’ve come to Tasmania, so they come down for the footy, stay for a couple of days and that’s enough for them to get a taste. Sixty per cent of visitors come back within three years! [So] if we can get them over here for a footy game, it’s going to have a flowon effect in the following years.”

Hawthorn Chief Executive Ian Robson maintains that the Hawks wouldn’t have undertaken the deal if Jetstar hadn’t come on board to ensure the club’s Victorian-based members had easy access to games. “But now we want to encourage our members to make a one-night trip into a two-night trip, or a two-night trip into a three-night trip, so it’s helping both parties,” says Robson. “Some of the other Victorian clubs also play home games interstate, but getting to those states can be a lot more challenging. It’s a partnership that’s helping everyone; we’re playing winning football in Tassie, more tourists are going down there and Tasmanians get to see live Aflfootball.” With the Hawks winning 10 out of the 14 games they’ve played at their Launceston base, Aurora Stadium, it seems the home-ground advantage is alive and kicking!

A happy Hawks fan heads
to Tasmania with Jetstar But it’s not just at the top of the tree that Jetstar’s sponsorship is helping Tasmanian football. The Tasmanian Devils, who play in the Victorian Football League (VFL) – arguably Australia’s second-best competition – and the state’s top under-18 team, the Tassie Mariners, have also benefited. AflTasmania General Manager Scott Wade says the relationship between the two cannot be underestimated. “It’s fantastic and we couldn’t be playing in the competition without the support, co-operation and flexibility of [a company] like Jetstar,” says Wade. “The management of Jetstar and the staff at the airport have been really accommodating in terms of supporting the Devils and the Vflcompetition as a whole.”

In community grass-roots football, Jetstar is the ball sponsor of Tasmania’s 13 senior competitions and of the Devils in the VFL, as well as supplying flight vouchers for each competition’s “best and fairest” winner. In Wade’s words, “You can go to watch Grassy play Currie on King Island or Tasmania versus Geelong, and they’ll be kicking Jetstar footies around.” We’re proud to be involved. Go Hawks!

For all your travel choices, go to www.jetstar.com