Hard to believe Tasmania was once referred as the fourth football state. But after the national under-18 championships, poor Tassie is now dead last. So can its status be fixed?

Throughout the 1980s when a then-VFL club would recruit a player from Tassie, he was going to be fairly good. Or at least, hard at it and probably tough as nails. 

Only the best from the island was sent to the best state football league in the country back then.

That’s the same state that produced Darrel Baldock, Royce Hart and Peter Hudson – three bygone key forwards, who comfortably could be in an All-Australian Team of the Century side.

So when Tasmania beat Victoria B on Sunday, June 24, 1990 in Hobart by 33 points, it confirmed my thoughts: that is, they’d give you one helluva match.

Sure, just like 1960 at York Park over the Victorians, it was a victory against a second-string side.

But think Gary Ayres, Chris Langford, Mick Martyn, Tony Liberatore, Matthew Knights, Damian Monkhorst and Terry Wallace – and Victoria still had a strong nucleus.

Victoria, who had in 1989 defeated the Tasmanians by 56 points, sought revenge for 1990 a year later, getting over the line by 10 points – and that was that.

Phasing state-of-origin fixtures out appeared to wipe Tasmania off the proverbial footy map of interest.

For eight years from 2001, the VFL-aligned Tasmanian Devils filled a need. From a mainlander’s perspective, it seemed to make common sense where the best local and non-AFL Tasmanians could prove to be a force.

It also appeared to be one way where Tasmania’s AFL bid could grow support and build a platform to enter the national competition.

[And for the record, the AFL actually continues to own the club, via AFL Tasmania, and could revive it should the AFL choose.]

From 2003 until 2005, the Devils made the finals. But after all sorts of internal pressure, AFL Tasmania decided to close up shop in 2008 in favour of reviving its state league, again.

But this was preceded by the Tassie Mariners for the sole intention to join the under-18 Victorian-based TAC Cup, the side lasting from 1995 until 2002.

The Mariners departure has pretty much coincided with the fall of grace of Tasmanian football. What purpose did this have? In hindsight, it’s a really head-shaking moment.

The Mariners still exist in name, but their limited season involvement was best demonstrated after their 0-3 finish at the national division two under-18 championships.

Add a few ‘exhibition’ games against TAC Cup sides and by May the best Tasmanians no longer have an entrance to the AFL draft six months later.

This was highlighted when not one Tasmanian made an Allies side to take on division one state sides this month.

When that concept was first conceived at AFL senior level in 1995, more players came from Tasmania than anywhere in NSW, ACT, Queensland or Northern Territory. Now it’s the entire opposite.

The solution to this all? Well, there’s no easy fix. But bring back the best under-18 Tasmanians into a regular league would be a start.

But not necessarily as the Tasmania Mariners as such. Tasmania should be split in half to propel twice as many young players in the state.

A new 10-team, 18-round league as follows could play underneath the TAC Cup, but essentially alongside the SANFL and WAFL under-18 competitions in time.

The other measure is a slight tweak to the TSL. So to not dilute the talent, reduce the State League to eight sides: four in Hobart, two in Launceston and two on the North West coast. 

Additionally, schedule all State League matches on Sundays, occasionally on Fridays under lights. Why? To garner stronger support from the football public who on Saturdays follow NTFA, NWFL and SFL clubs. 

One point of difference for the TSL would also allow its clubs to form alignments with the regional level clubs.

But the Sunday model proved successful during the early 1960s for the VFA, the forerunner to the now VFL reserves state league, which changed its match days from Saturdays. And by the late 1970s, the VFA had live TV coverage every Sunday before the VFL/AFL ever did.

The last change is ground rationalisation to include regular double-headers. So, four Hobart clubs share Bellerive and North Hobart Oval, while Launceston and North Launceston play games at Aurora Stadium. 

The idea of watching back-to-back Blues and Bombers games on a Sunday afternoon to bring the crowds in should encourage everyone in the state to think big.