The City of Launceston is calling on residents to attend this weekend’s Hawthorn game to send a message to the AFL.
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On the lush field of UTas Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, City of Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten joined Hawthorn’s mascot, Hawka, to call on residents to support their team.
“We’re really encouraging people to come out and support it to show the AFL how important Hawthorn is to Northern Tasmania,” he said.
“We know they’ve been through a very slow patch to start off the season, had a win on Saturday which is fantastic and now we want to see another great game here with Brisbane on this coming Saturday.”
Alderman van Zetten said the Hawks provided a social and economic boost to the region each time they visited.
“They bring so much to our city, we’re talking $28 million in four games that we have which is extremely important,” he said.
Coming off the match against a quality St Kilda outfit in front of 15,000 people, Alderman van Zetten hoped people would not dismiss the match against the last-placed Brisbane Lions.
“Come along, support football show the AFL how keen we are to have these games and let them know that we don’t want to lose them,” he said.
He stressed the call to the AFL was about securing more teams with the quality of Richmond or St Kilda to take on Hawthorn.
About 11,000 tickets have been sold to Saturday’s clash but organisers are hoping more than 13,000 will fill the stands.
The match will begin at 1.45pm.
