If YOU’RE a Tasmanian football fan, you could be forgiven for believing our island state has been totally abandoned by the sport's governing body.
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In the latest act of desertion, the Australian Football League has ruled that the state's best young female players will be shipped off to New South Wales to play in a new women's national competition with Greatest Western Sydney.
Not only is it insulting to those top-level female players, it's the latest nail in the coffin for Tasmanian football fans hoping for at least some recognition as a traditional AFL state.
Tasmania boasts a rich Australian rules tradition - dating back as far as the 1860s. In fact, it was the first location outside of Victoria to host a game.
Our homegrown talent graces the Australian Football Hall of Fame with names such as Darrel Baldock, Royce Hart, Peter Hudson and Ian Stewart rated among the greatest players to ever pull on a guernsey.
But when it comes to Tasmania being recognised by the powerbrokers inside AFL House in Melbourne, then it's a different story.
The state has been overlooked on many occasions in terms of having its own team in the national competition. There were many commentators who believed the Apple Isle should have been included before teams from non-traditional AFL states such as New South Wales and Queensland.
They now boast four teams between them and still there is no inkling of a Tasmanian team at the top level.
So the latest snub by the AFL towards our female stars is particularly insulting to every Tasmanian sporting fan.
Anyone who watches AFL on television will already know that the level of support for the code in New South Wales – particularly Western Sydney – borders on pitiful.
Meanwhile, Tasmanians at both ends of the island flock to the handful of games in our state by their tens of thousands.
The national women's league may have as many as 10 teams in its inaugural year in 2017 - the likely makeup being four from Victoria, and one from Western Australia, South Australia as well as Queensland and New South Wales.
A final announcement on the competiton is expected by the end of the month.
What a sad and sorry situation it is that Tasmania will once again be overlooked in what is falsely being labelled a national competition.
