Statewide seasons in Tasmania's two major football codes are about to kick off and everything is set in stone to guarantee their success.
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All issues have been resolved, nothing untoward will occur to prevent the smooth running of all competitions and various bitter rivals will share a communal bath and hearty singalong whoever wins on the field.
Soccer's NPL Tasmania and Women's Super League begin this weekend with footy's State League following suit a fortnight later.
Intriguingly, both male competitions have turned to Northern derbies at Windsor Park for their opening round. Riverside Olympic take on Launceston City on Friday night before Launceston host North just an Aidan O'Connor slog sweep away on Good Friday.
However, some killjoys would suggest there may be a few teething issues facing both codes.
Soccer is juggling the customary annual changes to competition make-up with Riverside and Glenorchy joining the WSL and Clarence Zebras galloping off.
Olympic's decision to take on statewide competition saw the club withdraw from the regional Northern Championship Women's league. With an under-womaned Northern Rangers also pulling out, this competition is now looking like a glorified North-West Champs with Launceston neighbours City and United facing countless stops at the Elizabeth Town Cafe en route to fixtures at Somerset, Burnie, Devonport and Ulverstone.
Although never the fastest full-back in the North's fiercely-competitive Sunday Social League, disgruntled Rangers president Gavin Stone wasn't slow to point out that effectively losing one senior side in the region can hardly be seen as growing the women's game in the wake of the Matildas' glowing success at last year's home World Cup.
"A lot of our players felt that the NCW competition is not at a level that makes the commitment worthwhile," Stone said. "They feel that the expansion of the WSL has weakened the NCW to a point that it is no longer competitive so they chose to either move to a club in the WSL or not play."
Sam Kerr would be disappointed, although she probably has more on her plate right now.
The three Launceston venues that will host statewide soccer this season have all undergone something of a facelift.
Despite missing out as a potential World Cup training base, Birch Avenue has been evolving ever since United joined the WSL, City this week appealed for more money to fund their home ground redevelopments and now that Windsor Park has a glitzy new two-storey pressbox, Olympic just need to find journalists to fill it.
City's Prospect Park has also been nominated as a Northern host venue for South Hobart's potential involvement in the A-League second division - a push which appears to have bi-partisan support, or rather lack of it.
Neither major party appears keen to invest in the bid while Football Tasmania has also made clear it does not support the concept, but wishes South well in their endeavour.
Meanwhile the final season of the Tasmanian State League is about to get underway with all parties still in the dark about what exactly will replace it.
The NTFA this week confirmed it will announce the make-up of next year's new Northern Premier League at this season's launch on March 22 with various clubs still waiting to see who will join the two relegated State League sides.
Furthermore, being simultaneously launched across 24 venues on Monday will be the Tasmania Football Club which will definitely be entering the AFL competition in 2028 no matter who wins the imminent state election on March 23.
This is despite the Labor Party making it clear it will renegotiate the contract with the AFL who have also made it clear there will be no renegotiating of the contract and the Liberals making it clear they will cap expenditure at $375 million on a $715m roofed stadium widely expected to cost more than $1 billion.
At this stage it appears somewhat unlikely that the AFL will provide the ideal solution by increasing its agreed contribution of $15 million to cover any budget shortfall.
Let the games begin.
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
It's all kicking off as Tasmania's statewide footy comps get underway
8
1
11.03.2024
Statewide seasons in Tasmania's two major football codes are about to kick off and everything is set in stone to guarantee their success.
$0/
(min cost $0)
Login or signup to continue reading
All issues have been resolved, nothing untoward will occur to prevent the smooth running of all competitions and various bitter rivals will share a communal bath and hearty singalong whoever wins on the field.
Soccer's NPL Tasmania and Women's Super League begin this weekend with footy's State League following suit a fortnight later.
Intriguingly, both male competitions have turned to Northern derbies at Windsor Park for their opening round. Riverside Olympic take on Launceston City on Friday night before Launceston host North just an Aidan O'Connor slog sweep away on Good Friday.
However, some killjoys would suggest there may be a few teething issues facing both codes.
Soccer is juggling the customary annual changes to competition make-up with Riverside and Glenorchy joining the WSL and Clarence Zebras galloping off.
Olympic's decision to take on statewide........
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