It was when 16,734 people turned up to watch the Hurricanes play their first Big Bash League game at the University of Tasmania Stadium.

The game was the region’s first test. Do we want more games in this part of the state? The result was a resounding, “yes”.

What followed was for next season to have two games in Launceston.

The first was on December 30, 2018, which is a tough period to hold an event – unless there are fireworks. Yet, 12,445 people attended the match. 

Two days earlier Hobart hosted a match and only managed to get 10,478 people through the gates.  The Christmas Eve game was similar in size with 9132 people in attendance.

It’s often been argued that parochialism does very little to bring our island state together. But, there is always a place for a little competition and why not in one of the most entertaining competitions held in Australia in recent years.

The Hurricanes rarely use the city in front of the team name anymore. They are just the Hurricanes – well they are to us here in Northern Tasmania. They are a team for Tassie and haven’t felt more welcome this season anywhere but Launceston.

This is why we should have more games.  But to achieve this more patrons need to head along to the match on Thursday night.

It’s a chance for Launceston to prove that the World Cup organisers got it a little wrong giving Hobart all the Twenty20 games in 2020.   While Australia won’t play down in the Apple Isle, we will have some great games to attend including New Zealand.

What the organisers may not have known was Northern Tasmanians love world cup matches. 

In 2003, Launceston hosted a rugby world cup match between Romania and Namibia. 

More than 16,000 people went along to view the action.

If we want more games up North, we have to show that increase would also make commercial sense. So far, that case is a strong one.