Tasmania was shamed on the national stage last night by playing an Australia Cup football match at a manifestly inadequate venue.
South Hobart FC took on visitors South Melbourn in the round of 32 clash in the nation’s premier cup competition, offering a chance to eventually compete against A-League teams and win silverware.
But 95% of the crowd had to stand for the game due to the inadequate seating at KGV Park, the current ‘home of football’ in Tasmania.
“My garden shed is bigger than this,” taunted South Melbourne supporters in a chant on national television.
The crowd of around 4,500 – we asked one of the gate attendants – was roughly six times that which marched to the AFL representative game on Saturday, touted as a ‘show of strength’ by Yes Stadium supporters. It was also much larger than any crowds that attend AFL games at near-death Glenorchy’s home ground next door, ironically with much larger and never-filled seating capacity.
Despite taking the lead through a spectacular overhead kick by Kobe Kemp, South Hobart went down 1-2 to the Victorians. Video highlights of the game are further down this page.
All in all it was a memorable night for Tasmanian football, despite the shortcomings of the venue. Glenorchy Knights who staff the clubrooms did an excellent job of serving the large crowd who were well-behaved throughout the night.
Rectangle required
The match demonstrated that Hobart badly needs an appropriately-sized rectangular stadium for football and rugby, not a second AFL stadium.
Football and rugby authorities generally do not wish to use oval grounds as their pitches are too far from spectators resulting in a poor viewing experience and lack of atmosphere. In fact playing conditions for major tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup usually exclude oval grounds. The proposed Macquarie Point stadium is therefore unlikely to attract rectangular pitch games due to its shape, size and hire cost.
For their part, rugby and football in Tasmania have been reluctant to speak out against Tasmania’s third AFL stadium, fearing ‘payback’ in the form of even lower support from the Tasmanian Government.
All 13 current A-League clubs play at rectangular venues and the League has specified that it would require a rectangular stadium for a Tasmanian A-League team.
Although there is no current proposal for a Tasmanian team, club sides South Hobart, Glenorchy Knights, Olympia Warriors and Devonport Strikers have represented the state in the Australia Cup since 2014 as well as National Premier Leagues finals games.
South Hobart is also slated to play in the Australian Championship, a national ‘second tier’, starting later this year.
Football, with the largest number of participants of any sport in the state of Tasmania at over 31,000, continues to be treated as a second class citizen. The world game offers a genuine path to multiple opportunities at international level – such as that taken by Tasmanian-born Socceroo Nathaniel Atkinson – not just a half-baked friendly against Ireland about every five years like AFL.
Indeed, the lack of a suitable rectangular stadium with a quality playing surface is the main reason Tasmania does not host even junior national team games – Olyroos, Young Socceroos, Joeys, and the female equivalents – like Asian and World Cup qualifiers as well as friendlies. The last such game in Tasmania was thirty years ago. Just to show that these games are ‘available’ to regions who have their act together, the Joeys played some qualifiers for the last Asian Cup at Shepparton in rural Victoria.
Despite recent and ongoing upgrades to the home grounds of Devonport Strikers and Kingborough Lions, no football stadium in the state has even the facilities of Australian rules ground North Hobart with its media building, television tower and large electronic scoreboard, let alone the existing AFL-standard venues.
While Australian rules fans are being treated to fantasy fly-through videos of the proposed Macquarie Point stadium and its palatial facilites, genuine football fans watching a team that actually exists playing in a national competition have to bring their own chairs.
For what it’s worth, hockey fans also bring chairs to major games at the State Hockey Centre (Hobart) such as the FIH Pro League series last year.
Tasmanian Times has calculated that the cost of the new AFL stadium (construction cost and interest on debt) will be more than the average spending on all other sports combined for a hundred years.
Last week the Liberal Party made an election promise of $350,000 to progress a new ‘Home of Football’ concept that will including pitches and changerooms but not a stadium. Effectively the facility is unlikely to significantly increase playing capacity as it will cannibalise existing fields at Wentworth Park.
A litany of lacklustre facilities at KGV
Crowding was the theme of the evening.
A portable electronic scoreboard had to be brought in as KGV does not have one. It even needed its own generator. The lack of a large digital scoreboard also means lost revenue from potential advertising.
A scaffold had to be erected for the main television camera position. Cables were run for hundreds of metres to other cameras.
South Hobart’s ‘VIP’ facility was this marquee in front of a muddy ditch.
People were even standing in the walkways to try to get a decent view.
Want a seat? The grandstand sold out weeks ago so bring your own chair.
One of just two food outlets available for the entire crowd.
Did national television show the true state of facilities for football in Tasmania, like this cracked shelter for the coach and bench?
Revenue was lost because of the limited availability of premium seating in the grandstand. Ironically, the AFL ground next door has much larger grandstand capacity that in 13 years I have never seen full.
In existence for 115 years, South Hobart and other football clubs in the state continue to be treated like rubbish by the AFL-obsessed state government.
Yes lad, you’ve come to watch a real team who don’t need to play in a gilded cage.
They even – shock horror – are brave enough to play without a roof because they aren’t mollycoddled wimps like AFL players.
Alan Whykes is Chief Editor of Tasmanian Times and has watched a lot of football of various codes at a lot of venues.
Tasmanian Times (TT) is a community-based news and current affairs service covering the island state of Tasmania. It exists to provide a diverse view of Tasmanian issues. TT creates and supports independent media content utilising the best of modern technologies and tried-and-true practices of public-interest journalism.
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