Body:
Out of the mouth of one of Australian Football's most respected commentators Tim Lane.The way things are rapidly going this the future of the VFL(sic) the bloody AFL "seconds"
From todays AGE
And what's happened to footy since cricket became a force in Tasmania? It's travelled further south than Roald Amundsen. When the game was truly accessible to the youth of the state, when they could see Baldock, Stewart, and Hudson on their own fields, before their own eyes, footballers seemed to grow on trees like apples in the Huon Valley.
[b]Now, Tasmania plays in the VFL, what we regard as the seconds[/b], and its local competitions are a shadow of their former selves. The rate at which it produces elite level footballers is slowing, the champions are less frequent, and Tasmanians merely see their best talent fly away to become Magpies, Swans, Eagles, or members of some other team of a foreign state.
The AFL claims as part of its mission to be responsible for the development of football in all Australian states and territories. While it can claim success elsewhere, it has demonstrably failed Tasmania and it will continue to do so until it finds a way of including the sixth state in its supposedly national competition.
