Groovers! I have spent the last week working basically non-stop on the song Rise Up All You Devils, which some of you may not know the back story of. I come from Tasmania, which is the island state of Australia (right down the bottom under the mainland). We have a state population of just over 500,000 people, so it's pretty small. By far the biggest sport in Australia is our own unique brand of football, which is known as AFL, or Footy (as we say). Basically the entire Australian population (and certain states) are either major fans of AFL, or the other football code which is Rugby. Tasmania is most definitely one of the Footy states, meaning it is the number one sport in our state. Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia; these are the Football states. They are like the heartland of AFL within our country. Queensland and New South Wales both have multiple teams in the AFL but they are considered Rugby states because that code is more popular in those northern states.
As a kid it was known as the VFL (because it originated in the state of Victoria) but then as the years went by and more and more teams joined from other capital cities in Australia, it became the Australian Football League. But unfortunately decade after decade after decade, Tasmania was never given a licence. They always said that Tassie was too small and too poor to fund an AFL team. That was crap. But that's how it was for decades.
We were never given a team, even though Tassie football talent continuously left our state in order to get into the mainland football system. Every single team from all over Australia (18 teams) has at least one or two or three Tasmanian born players on their list. Tasmania has produced many well-known talents and a number of players that have reached Legend status (in the AFL Hall of Fame).
More than one year ago, after decades of pushing, the AFL finally granted Tasmania a licence to play in the big league. We definitely have the talent to fill a side (but you don't have to have just Tasmanians, you can get anybody from anywhere, even overseas if they are good enough). AFL has had players from the United States, Canada, New Zealand (obviously because we are neighbours), China, among many others. AFL is such a wonderful sport because it does not matter if you are tall or short, heavy or slim, every single team has players of all shapes and sizes. You just need to be super fit and talented handling the oval ball. It is fast and furious and that is why 50,000 people or more can turn up to watch a regular weekend game. The last couple of grand finals (the last day, best of the best) has had more than 100,000 attendees at the game and probably more outside watching or in the pubs watching on big screens. I don't think there is a game more exciting in the world.
But one of the biggest contingencies of being given the 19th licence is that we need to construct a brand-new stadium in Hobart, which has to have a roof. It will only be the second football stadium in the country to have a roof. With Tasmanian weather, having a roof will be wonderful. It will make going to games far more comfortable and inviting.
Anyway, I will try and quickly get to the point. The Tasmanian government is behind the push to get the license and they agreed to accept the license with the deal that it comes with a brand-new stadium, which will be on the beautiful waterfront in Hobart. It's going to be beautiful. But of course, there are a number of other politicians in fierce opposition. The majority of them want a Tasmanian football team but they DON'T want the stadium, which is going to cost in excess of $1.3 billion.
Their argument is that our budget and our debt is far too high to warrant such an outlay (when we have two other stadiums in the state that are fit for AFL). But neither of those stadiums are designed solely for football. The stadium at Mac Point will be brand-new state-of-the-art and designed solely for AFL, but can also be used for many other things such as Concerts, major conferences, international cricket, et cetera. So it's a multipurpose stadium and I love the idea and concept of what it will look like. I think it will be wonderful for Hobart and for the public to be able to attend a game and walk to the CBD or waterfront or Salamanca.
Now, the music point of all this history lesson is that I wrote a protest song about a month ago in order to get the PRO stadium team up and about (which other groups are doing wonderfully well also). It was taken very well, lots of wonderful and positive comments on Facebook. But over this last week I spent about five days creating a new version. I sent that to the hierarchy at the Tasmanian Football Club (who are the overseers of the entire deal with the AFL) and they absolutely love it! I'm currently working with two guys behind the scenes and one of them is a media consultant, who has agreed to meet with me this coming Thursday to discuss the official launch process and getting the song onto radios and other media platforms.
We had a big rally back in July where a couple of thousand people attended and we walked in unison, which I was a part of. That garnered TV news, papers, everything. It sent a clear message that the public WANT the team and stadium deal completed. But still the naysayers and anti-progress people continue to ramp up the negativity and it is simply creating massive delays to the beginning of construction. There is a number rally set for November 30 which will be held on the state Parliament lawns. Most likely I will get to speak at the rally but even more important is that the song, Rise Up You Devils, will be broadcast during the rally. There reckon there could be at least 4000 people in attendance, so that is great news for me!
As more things get planned, I will let you know! Thank you for taking the time to read my latest blog. Thanks for all the support :-)