AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan acknowledges Tasmania

Declaring that the Australian Football League is not complete without a Tasmanian team, McLachlan said the awarding of a 19th licence was "a decision that will finally make our national competition truly national".

Amid all the celebrations, back-slapping and banner run-throughs, there was something extremely hypocritical about listening to McLachlan reciting Tasmanian football heritage and justifying the state's inclusion when he and all his predecessors have ignored those very arguments for generations.

When McLachlan reflected on the "decades of Tasmania fighting for the right to be represented" he declined to add "and having that fight universally ignored by us".

"A 19th club in Tasmania, for Tasmania, uniting Tasmania," McLachlan added, thereby conveniently declining to acknowledge that the previous uniting force in Tasmanian football has traditionally been a total distrust of the AFL.

With a straight face, McLachlan said Tasmania belongs in the AFL and AFLW and as part of the national football conversation.

"There have been urges and pushes and discussions for decades. It's probably overdue," he preached to the converted at North Hobart Oval on Wednesday.

McLachlan referenced Tasmania's four Australian Football Hall of Fame legends Ian Stewart, Peter Hudson, Darrel Baldock and Royce Hart before handing over the stage to contemporary stars including Matthew Richardson, Alastair Lynch and Jack Riewoldt.

It was as if he was breaking this news to Tasmanians previously unaware of the fact.

A few years after inventing women's sport, the AFL had discovered Tasmania.

It is imperative to remember that Tasmania has not been awarded an AFL team, Tasmania has bought an AFL team.

And it has come at an unprecedented price.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff willingly committed Tasmanian tax-payers to stumping up $12 million per year over 12 years towards a team, plus $60 million for a high-performance centre. Oh, and $375 million on the 23,000-seater stadium.

Almost universally, Tasmanians were pleased to be finally joining the national league - albeit half a century too late - but there was a snag eating away at most of them.

An expensive and unneeded stadium represented a third elephant in the room - the one wearing an unnecessary and ridiculous hat.

What is the AFL's obsession with the Tasmanian stadium having a roof - a deal-breaker specifically referenced in McLachlan's grandiose sermon?

According to the website weatherzone.com.au, among Australia's major cities, only Adelaide gets less annual rainfall than Hobart with the Tasmanian capital's 612.2mm about half that of Sydney (1213.4mm) and yet McLachlan has made no suggestion of needing a roof on the SCG. Meanwhile, Canberra is the coldest capital but again the AFL is only too happy to pander to mainland stereotypes and impose ridiculous and ludicrously-wasteful conditions on a Premier so star-struck that he managed to forget the names of both the AFL boss and the Prime Minister.

Rockliff also dug out the "punch above our weight" cliché before tactfully reminding McLachlan and his cohorts: "You cannot leave Tasmania off the map and call yourself the Australian Football League" - despite the fact they had successfully done just that for more that 30 years.

Tasmanian freelance journalist and commentator Andrew Cooling spoke for many in an opinion piece subtly headlined: A Great Sporting Wrong Has Finally Been Righted.

Reflecting on how Tasmania had been "shamefully overlooked and undervalued by the AFL", Cooling provided a spot of welcome historical relevance.

"Today's announcement brings an end to what has been a disgraceful snubbing of a heartland state and a black mark hovering over the league," he wrote. "It's a salve for a decades-old wound that has persistently pained Tasmanian footy fans."

Another freelance Tasmanian journalist, fellow Examiner columnist Brian Roe, also raised the not unreasonable question of how a stakeholder contributing just 1.05 per cent of the total currently-anticipated construction costs gets to put conditions on the overall build.

"Of itself, (this is) a fascinating reflection of how it has all come to this," he lamented on Sunday.

As has been stated before, while the Premier and Prime Minister are happy to take credit for spending other people's money, the real winner from this deal is the AFL which has got everything it wanted - including a wasteful and superfluous stadium with an unnecessary roof - for the paltry contribution of just $15 million.

No wonder McLachlan couldn't stop smiling.

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