Tasmania's funding of NBL and AFL in spotlight

Endless signs of promise have emerged prompting considerable grounds for optimism that the future will be so much more productive than what has gone before.

However, it will only be when real results start kicking in that true judgements can be made.

If all election pledges are to be believed, UTAS Stadium will be hosting elite contests in at least three different sports, Tasmania will soon be able to join all national leagues and Launceston City will get a home ground good enough to join the breakaway European Super League.

However, promises are not always kept, as anyone attempting to drive to Hobart on a dual carriageway Midland Highway would probably notice.

With the renegotiating of both AFL deals looming larger than Ben McEvoy entering a kids' playhouse, Tasmania's new government needs to take a long, hard look at where sport sits in its priorities.

In a month which saw Launceston host five national sporting contests (AFL, NBL, A-League, Supercars and the Australian under-19 hockey championships) I also had the unplanned opportunity to witness the Launceston General Hospital in action.

It was a superb display of defensive resilience as an under-manned team pulled out all the stops against overwhelming numerical superiority to achieve a healthy result.

Even the most sports-mad among us would find it hard to justify major sporting investment after witnessing the impact of prolonged underfunding of our health system.

However, there is much to be addressed by Peter Gutwein, or whoever wears the captain's armband, but obviously only once they have dealt with whatever misdemeanour Adam Brooks has conjured up this week.

National league participation and venue suitability are the hot potatoes most in need of some cream, diced ham, grated cheese and another five minutes under the grill to crisp up nicely. But I digress.

At a time when it is heavily investing in a Tasmanian franchise joining the National Basketball League, the state government must decide whether $8 million per year is a justifiable expense to host visiting teams in the football equivalent.

Gutwein's pre-election stance, in which he refused to continue renegotiations with Hawthorn and North Melbourne without a definitive Tasmanian team timeline from the AFL, would suggest he doesn't think it is.

Tasmanian netball and soccer bodies have also shown a desire to join national competitions but remain hamstrung by a lack of venues.

Such is the dearth of basketball and netball venues in Launceston - particularly when the keys to the Silverdome were simply handed over to visiting NBL outfit the New Zealand Breakers - that the Tornadoes have been training at Deloraine and the much-anticipated Hawks-Cavaliers netball grand final rematch was played at, er, St Helens.

Even below the elite level, the saga has had a knock-on effect considerably inconveniencing junior netballers and basketballers.

The lack of a suitable rectangular stadium was cited as one of the main reasons for Tasmania being cut from the list of potential venues for the FIFA 2023 Women's World Cup being jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Like proven Premier League goal-scorers, elite sporting venues don't come cheap.

And that would certainly be the case for any rectangular soccer ground in Hobart or the joint-use basketball/netball/football redevelopment of UTAS Stadium in Launceston.

Justifying the financing of either while overseeing a chronically-underfunded health system could well prove as misguided as tackling difficult social issues like racism by having a four-day break from social media rather than, oh I don't know, maybe tracking down and punishing those responsible for racist behaviour.