As inflammatory statements go, it had more than its fair share of petroleum.
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"It's not just the World Game, it's Tasmania's Game."
The comment was made by Tasmania's round-ball state body and clearly aimed at its oval-ball counterpart.
Football Tasmania president Bob Gordon was talking about new figures released by Sport Australia which "confirm that the World Game is by far Tasmania's favourite team sport".
And any doubt about who his comments might have been aimed at was soon cleared up.
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"Sport Australia estimate that nearly 38,000 Tasmanians played football between October 2015 and June 2019, while over the same time just over 21,000 Tasmanians played Aussie Rules," he said. "Football is the preferred team sport of over 20 per cent of juniors in the state. That's more than double the Aussie Rules participation rate for Tasmanians aged under 18."
Not only was he sticking the boot in, but he was calling soccer "football" - surely the closest crime to treason in any footy heartland.
Sport Australia's findings, released earlier this month, show that the 7.4 per cent of Tasmanians who play soccer make it the state's most popular team sport ahead of Aussie Rules (4.2 per cent) and basketball (4.1 per cent).
"The strength of these numbers, especially the junior participation figures, shows that football is increasing its lead as Tasmania's most popular team sport. It's not just the World Game, it's Tasmania's Game."
Sport Australia's findings, and Gordon's subsequent comments, come as the sport variously known as soccer, football or "the round-ball code" appears to be kicking towards new goals.
After several seasons of uncertainty, a few midfield skirmishes and the occasional outbreak of parochial indifference without which Tasmanian sport cannot operate, the sport has drawn some lines for the immediate future and promised not to move the goalposts.
In September, Football Tasmania published a "Competition review to support continued growth of football".
To call it "long-awaited" would be an understatement up there alongside "Man United have gone off the boil since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was appointed".
But, unlike the baby-faced Norwegian, the document does seem to hint at a degree of future stability.
FT's chief executive Matt Bulkeley said the review was about "ensuring the current and future needs of football in Tasmania were well understood and incorporated into Football Tasmania's broader strategy".
Behind this textbook middle-management-speak were recommendations to pursue getting Tasmanian teams into national men's, women's and youth leagues, introduction of a statewide reserves comp plus an underpinning youth championship and the continuity of the Women's Super League.
It also confirmed an eight-team NPL men's competition for the remainder of the licence period (2022) - a scenario made possible by the timely and convenient merger of competitive but homeless entity Hobart Zebras with well-housed but win-shy strugglers Clarence United a week earlier.
This included suspending relegation during that time - a suggestion Norwich would doubtless be keen to see made in the English Premier League.
No sooner had the report come out than the State Government had announced a series of grants under an initiative called Levelling the Playing Field.
If the promised investments at KGV, Lightwood Park, Cornelian Bay, Clare Street Oval in New Town and Meercroft Park in Devonport are as well-thought-through as the plan's clever title, this can only be good news for the future of soccer/football/the round-ball code.
(For examples of forward-thinking investment in Launceston infrastructure, look no further than the new clubhouses at Birch Avenue and Windsor Park.)
The sport's next goal will be to cement a future rather healthier than Solksjaer's at Old Trafford or Norwich City's in the EPL.
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