Tasmania United Fc Forum |
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| DISCUSSIONS > July 26 - write-up | ||
| Chuq | Date posted | Replies |
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Ok, finally here is my summary of the day ... Left Hobart with Richard (who posts on here, can you guess who he is?) just after 9. Packed camera, banners, some tablecloth weights, the placards previously provided by TUFC. (pics to come). On the way up I saw a car with an orange "Vote A-League" sticker on it! Had a look as I went past and it was Martyn Wells! I think I accidentally pulled in front of him a bit close, sorry Martyn! After a stop for a coffee in Campbell Town, we arrived at the Gunners Arms about 11:15am, and pulled in next to the same car. We entered and Martyn was setting up, a bit of a mix up with the venue, the owner had not informed the staff on duty of our arrival! Never to fear, all was sorted before people started arriving after 11:30am. Rob and Will from the Examiner turned up for an interview, as well as Rick from 7NT (just for a chat - not in his official capacity!). There were about 15 local fans; John McGirr and another (I presume) taskforce member who I didn't recognise also made an appearance. There were another 6-8 Melbourne Victory fans (including Clint, who posted on this forum recently). Although the room was laid out for a formal Q&A session/presentation style, it ended up being more of a bunch of informal groups chatting amongst themselves at the bar! Check out Rob Shaw's article for a bit of what was discussed! The Victory fans had also been given some free tickets (apparently from Kevin Muscat) that morning - although we all agreed that it would be better to give free tickets to those who weren't going to go anyway, we decided it was too close to kick off time for that so distributed them amongst the fans who were there! Unfortunately the trip to York Park wasn't really in sync... people left in a few different groups so we didn't have enought to do a big march.. Richard and I ended up wandering along at about 12:40 with the two banners I made (pics to come.. soon! Not of the march, of the banners :P ) Once inside we met up with Clint's group of MV supporters - we hadn't decided where to sit yet. The best view was the top level of the Gunns stand but no-one else would be able to see us there. The MV guys sat in their usual spot behind the corner flag in the southern stand, Richard and I kept looking for the other locals. We found Jon, Ben, Jamie etc. (sorry didn't get all your names!) calling out from the front row of the top tier. We thought the front would be great for hanging the banners so ran up and grabbed a couple of seats next to them. The banners proved a challenge, there was a metal plate just in front of the railing which would be perfect for clipping them on - however about 2 minutes after we did this, stadium security told us to move them.. presumably because they were covering the Gunns signs around the front of the railing - there were 30 or so Gunns logos, surely people could look at the other 29 of them if they wanted? Anyway, we hung them a bit higher over the railing instead. After an entertaining first half (Melbourne were 2 up), we saw Martyn and John down the front with some TV cameras. We whipped out the "SUPPORT THE BID" placards and called out. It seems both SC and WIN news got a good shot of us - did anything get a recording of this? To make room for this we re-attached the banners over the edge again. We were told this time to take them down by security. Not wanting to get my blood sweat and tears (no really - I cut my finger on a staple on the packet of acrylic paints) confiscated, we retired the banners for the day. Very disappointing, this is something that will have to be sorted out with stadium management if we get a team! During the second half, I wandered around the venue for a few attempts at panoramic images (I will add the links to these when they are done!), and to say hi to the MV guys, they were making much more noise than us! I commented about the banner blocking one of the 30 Gunns logos and one of them asked "who's Gunns"? "The ones who want to build that pulp mill". Chanting begins again "We don't want a pulp mill, we don't want a pulp mill" much to the amusement of many in the area :) Post game, we saw Martyn and John in the grounds outside and they commented they had been told to get off the pitch by security when they were doing the interview for WIN news! Hopefully TUFC will be fully behind us in the "fans rights" department, being a victim of idiot security themselves! After a short walk back to the Gunners Arms (in a great location by the way) I attached my "Vote A-League" sticker (handed out by Martyn previously) to the car and headed off! Happened to see both Martyn's car and Ken Morton's "Morton's Soccer School" car at the servo when we refilled at Campbell Town, and Martyn again on the Brooker (I intentionally pulled in front of him to see if he noticed the sticker!). The conversation on the way up and down included "I'm glad we won't have to do this every single fortnight" and "Hopefully TUFC will have a coach painted in the TUFC colours for the travelling fans!" Security issues aside, all in all a great day, when's the next one? :P |
30th July 2009 | 14 |
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tufcposted at 2:16AM on 28th Jul, 2009 I asked Martyn about the progress of the Business Case at the Q&A. He said they already had a couple of Foundation Members signed up (at $10,000 each), so funding is well underway. Martyn was hopeful that if $50,000 could be raised then the state government might be approached to match it with another $50,000. Given that 2010 is an election year, I think we should do our best to lobby both the ALP and the opposition parties to make a commitment should they win government... By the way Chuq, I recorded the WIN and Southern Cross news bulletins. I'm not very technical (as you know!) so not sure about how to post them somewhere on the web for everyone to see. I can put them onto a DVD for you, and perhaps you can post them? Cheers, tufc (aka Richard) Chuqposted at 6:55AM on 28th Jul, 2009 That sounds ideal Richard! How are they recorded? Direct to DVD using a DVR or something like that?
tufcposted at 12:12AM on 29th Jul, 2009 Yep, they're on my DVD recorder hard drive. I'll copy them to a DVD and drop it round in the next day or two. tufcposted at 2:24AM on 28th Jul, 2009 Chuq, you need to be a subscriber to view Rob's Examiner article. Do you have a copy that you can post here so we can all see? Chuqposted at 5:14AM on 28th Jul, 2009 Pt 1
Here is a transcript of the article! If you prefer, a scanned version with pictures is here - http://users.on.net/~chuq/img/tufc/image-7271731-0001.jpg - sorry you may need to zoom out quite a bit!! Tassie in bid for national soccer team 27/07/2009 12:00:00 AM
JUST days after hosting its traditional A-League pre-season match, Tasmania faces two significant fixtures in the push for its own team. On Wednesday, Tasmania United chairman John McGirr will fly to Sydney to discuss the franchise bid progress with Football Federation Australia commercial manager John Sullivan. The following week, bid proponents will also meet potential investors in Hobart. "The next couple of weeks are going to be crucial," Mr McGirr said yesterday as he watched last season's grand finalists Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United clash at Aurora Stadium. "We requested a meeting with FFA to discuss the feasibility study into our bid and get a feeling of how realistic it's going to be to get a licence." An independent assessment concluded Tasmania was well- placed to host a team, playing home games at Aurora Stadium and Bellerive, but the bid faces plenty of competition to join the national league.
tufcposted at 10:16AM on 28th Jul, 2009 The article is not quite correct here - it was the FFA that requested the meeting with the Task Force on Wednesday, not the other way around. This is significant because it shows that the FFA appears to be very interested in what's going on with the Tassie bid... Chuqposted at 5:15AM on 28th Jul, 2009 Pt 2
The A-League expands from eight to 10 teams this season, with the inclusion of Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury, and while FFA would like to increase that to 12, Canberra, western Sydney and southern NSW are also pushing for inclusion. About 1600 fans have shown their support for the push on the website. The feasibility study identified good community and business support while positive feedback has also come from media, broadcasters and existing A-League clubs. The value to the Tasmanian economy of hosting 13 matches a year has been estimated at $10 million and proponents say they would be keen to schedule games around existing events, such as hosting Sydney at Bellerive around the conclusion of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race. Victory fans and staff yesterday welcomed Tasmania's inclusion in the competition. "This is a good away trip for us so we want a team here as much as you," said Marcel Gachon, of Nunawading. Victory coach Ernie Merrick added: "I think it would be terrific if Tasmania could get a club. I would like that to happen before they get an AFL team. We got a team in the Gold Coast before them and they keep copying everything we do."
Clintposted at 2:09AM on 29th Jul, 2009 Talk about Tasmania United A-League bid on Melbourne-based radio station SEN soon. Listen at htttp://www.sen.com.au/. Chuqposted at 2:47AM on 29th Jul, 2009 Interesting! Do you know if it will be available for download later? Did they say who they would be talking to? Clintposted at 2:56AM on 29th Jul, 2009 Yep, I think Archie Fraser is going to be on. He will be on later as Mark Doran (the host) said he was ill. Not too sure what time yet. At the start of the show Doran mentioned the Tasmania United bid and predictably said the AFL might not be too happy about it. Said that Tasmania 'might try the back door' through the A-League instead. In the context of Karmichael Hunt's switch to AFL, as well as Archie Fraser and Ben Buckley, he was talking about the ongoing war between the codes. It is a very AFL-centric station unfortunately so you'll have to listen to talk about Lance Franklin's hamstring etc. before other sports get a go. Clintposted at 3:10AM on 29th Jul, 2009 Martyn wasn't on the line for long. Not sure if Archie Fraser is going to be on later still. A summary of the interview: - Mark Doran surprised by the progress of the bid. Maybe a lot of AFL people just don't know how far the Tasmania United bid has progressed? Chuqposted at 1:50AM on 30th Jul, 2009 Good stuff Clint - thanks for the update! At least the bid is getting a bit of recognition on the mainland! |
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Foxhawk
posted at 12:27AM on 28th Jul, 2009
Good to hear things went well.
I guess the next step is the presentation of the business plan and formal bid to the FFA.
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