At the end of the senior match,the players from the two senior sides lined up to clap the under-18 teams on to the ground. The crowd roared,cars tooted,the young men leapt like salmons. The crowd stayed and gave the under-18 match their full support. Why? Because,in Tasmania,a growing number of young men and women are indifferent to the game.
Former Hawthorn player Peter Schwab told me that once,when legendary coach Allan “Yabby” Jeans was delivering a pre-match pep talk,the odd thought occurred to him that,“this only matters because we agree it does”. In Tasmania,a significant number of young people – plus any number of affluent refugees from other states – no longer think that footy matters.
About five years ago,the then president of Glenorchy Football Club,John McCann,said the ecology of Tasmanian football was sick. The ecology of Tasmanian football is now beginning to collapse with clubs around the island struggling for numbers.
Earlier this month,Glenorchy,one of the powerhouses of Tasmanian football in the post-war period,let it be known that it will struggle to field a men’s team this season. A list of players who have come to the VFL/AFL via Glenorchy Football Club would include Darryl Sutton,Rodney Eade,Adrian Fletcher,Andy Lovell,Ben Brown,Jimmy Webster,Daryn Cresswell,Brodie Holland and Matthew Mansfield.
Another big name to play with Glenorchy wasPeter Hudson,one of six geniuses of Australian football to emerge from Tasmania during the 1960s (the other five being Darrell Baldock,Ian Stewart,Royce Hart,Brent Crosswell and Johnny Greening). At Hawthorn,over 129 games,Hudson averaged 5.6 goals a match,the highest average in VFL/AFL history.
Hudson started with the Upper Derwent Football Club,which no longer exists. He then played with New Norfolk,which is struggling for numbers. When he returned to Tasmania from Hawthorn,he joined Glenorchy,which is now also struggling for numbers. The game is no longer played in government schools. Hudson was a government high school kid. Exactly where does the AFL expect the next Peter Hudson to intersect with the sport except on screens along with other e-games?