Mr Gutwein said the sport's base is "decaying" in Tasmania and a licence for a Tasmanian team is crucial in arresting the decline.

The AFL was formed 30 years ago as a national competition but without consideration to a founding state, Tasmania; a "heartland" state.

In the early 1860s Tasmania and South Australia became the next states to play the game after Victoria in 1858. In 1990 the AFL said that Tasmania should have a team commencing in 1995. Subsequent CEOs and commissioners have ensured that Tasmania has not got its own team.

A heartland state that is isolated.

Since 1995 the average payments the AFL has made to the clubs is $201 million in total. So, Tasmania has not only missed out on $201 million, but also the economic returns that would have ensued.

In 2001 we entered an arrangement for a penniless Hawthorn to play out of Launceston. Then North Melbourne, with a huge debt, began playing in Hobart from 2012. So, for 20 years now, we and the AFL have been parties to a lost generation of our young people, supporting teams other than our own state-based team and also lacking a clear pathway for our young players in the national competition.

It has been reported that current players are moving interstate to advance their likelihood of being drafted. Hawthorn claim they have been great for Tasmania, but the outcome has been disastrous.

Football in the north has suffered dramatically under Hawthorn's watch with only two of the original five Northern state-wide league teams remaining. The Premier said that in 2001 there was an expectation that the participation base would rise and a pathway created for a Tasmanian team. That has not happened. In fact, the reverse is true.

Tasmania has received an economic return over the 20 years, but we have paid $100 million to two clubs by way of direct payments and membership payments.

For the period from when Hawthorn arrived in 2001 to the end of 2018 our male participation rates plummeted. In 2001 male participation rates were 17 per cent better than other heartland states but by 2018 they were 19 per cent down.

Put another way, in 2018 male participation was 29,058. If we had kept pace with other heartland states, the participation would have been 41,840. A staggering 44 per cent more.

Tasmanian football is at the crossroads. For it to be healthy and grow and to fight off challenges from other sports for participants and spectators, we must have a Tasmanian team. Tasmania is represented in cricket, hockey, now basketball and with soccer very close. The neglect of the AFL and its refusal to grant a licence is now laid bare for all to see. Our propensity to roll over every five years with the contract renewals for the two mainland teams has seen us slip further away from the Tasmanian team vision.

The contract renewals should be subject to the AFL providing a reasonable timeline and pathway to a licence for our own team. A position we should have taken years ago.

Our Premier should be supported for his strong stance. If the AFL continues to ignore the desire for a Tasmanian team, the two clubs Hawthorn and North Melbourne should be removed and taxpayer's money saved until we have our own team. Tasmania's 2020 submission was for a team in five years - 2025. Financially, AFL media rights has had a staggering growth. From $6 million per annum in 1988 to currently $418 million per annum. The AFL claimed that the rights will fall and the $418 million was a one-off year and the next renewal could not reach that level. Yet, in December 2020, after a year of COVID-19, a two-year extension was negotiated with an increase of $56 million per annum.

AFL clubs are calling for a totally independent review of the AFL and it must address the discrimination of a founding state, Tasmania. If Gillon McLachlan's legacy is to be the person who lost a founding state from the game, a heartland state, then so be it. No AFL licence, in a reasonable timeline, then NO Hawthorn and NO North Melbourne.

Premier, we support your position of not renewing the contracts for Hawthorn and North Melbourne in the current circumstances and for Tasmania to be granted an AFL licence. The crowd is on your side. We encourage everyone to read Tasmania's 2020 submission to the AFL and the Legislative Council Select Committee Report.

What do you think? Send us a letter to the editor: