Tasmania United

Hi guys,

I post as 'Clint' over at the Unofficial Melbourne Victory Forum. Chuq and Taswegian have probably seen my posts over there, some of which have related to an A-League team for Tasmania. I am an active member of Melbourne's North Terrace. I was a founding member of Melbourne Victory's now defunct 'Union' supporters group and have experience watching and documenting club football in Japan and some university football in the Philippines. I have an intense interest in football in the Asian region and supporters rights advocacy.

I wish to add my voice of support to your bid. Having come down for the first two Melbourne/Adelaide fixtures at York Park in 2006 and 2007 (I was overseas last year), I was really impressed by the support there. I featured in a photograph with fellow Melbourne supporters in an issue of The Examiner in 2007 if anybody has a copy of it! I have been to Tasmania three times now (twice for the match, once for leisure) and have each time been thoroughly impressed by the beauty of the state and the friendliness of its people.

Whilst I believe that the 12th licence will be awarded to West Sydney or Canberra, I urge you to keep lobbying the FFA and other relevant authorities so that we can bring A-League football to Tasmania and take one further step to making this a truly national game at the top flight. Through the A-League you can showcase your state to the entire Asian region and the world.

A few notes on your bid:

- The state should be looking to build a small boutique stadium somewhere for the team. York Park in my experience was not pleasant for viewing football as the pitch was simply too far from certain parts of the ground.

- I worry that the Tasmania United bid team, if given a licence, will decide to adopt a pathetic nickname such as 'Roar' or 'Fury'. Please, please do not fall into the trap of believing these travesties have any marketing pull whatsoever. 'Victory' at least ties in with the name of our state. If Tasmania is given a license and decides to use another nickname, my advice is to keep the 'United' moniker somewhere on the logo at least - don't ditch it completely as it is certainly more relevant for Tasmania than a club like the Gold Coast. Something like 'Islanders' would be my suggestion. Think of something unique to the Tasmanian identity but perhaps not as obvious as 'Devils' or 'Tigers'. Consult potential fans in the process, do not do what the Roar and Fury did.

- Really push the fact that the A-League can put Tasmania on the map internationally. People have seen random Japanese wearing Adelaide United shirts, for example. I have watched Melbourne Victory take on a team of our sister city Osaka, Gamba Osaka in Japan. The players did a tour of the City Hall to celebrate the relationship's anniversary. I know Launceston has a sister city in Japan. Tasmania can strengthen its links with the rest of the world through football. The strengthening of international relations and the intangibles of just getting people from all over the world interested in perhaps investing in or travelling to Tasmania is something other sports simply cannot do. In domestic matches, I can envisage a few hundred easily coming down for a Melbourne Victory-Tasmania clash.

All the best guys and I hope to contribute to this forum in the future. I hope Tasmania can soon have its very own top flight football team!

Regards,
Clint