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- Australian rules football in Tasmania (known locally as "football"), has been played since the late 1870s and draws the largest audience for a football code in the state. While support for the Australian Football League competition remains in the state, and population growth has exceeded the national average, Australian rules football at the grassroots has been in freefall since 2006. The number of participants halved during the 2000s and has not recovered since. Once a heartland of the sport and the strongest state for the sport in the country, its participation rate per capita has dropped below the national average and is now similar to the sport in the Australian Capital Territory and only marginally higher than that of Australian rules football in New South Wales and in Queensland. The popularity of cricket and basketball has in recent decades also significantly surpassed Australian rules. Total participation was overtaken by soccer in the state for the first time in its history in 2020. While the code remains popular in the state's north and Launceston, its popularity has fared much worse in the south and in the state's capital Hobart. With the collapse of numerous clubs and competitions, the sport has undergone numerous restructures over the years and the general consensus is that the state suffered from being ignored by national governing bodies for decades. This prompted the Government of Australia to launch a Senate inquiry in 2008. The Tasmanian team competed in senior interstate and State of Origin football; it won matches against all other Australian states (including Victoria, firstly in their 1960 match and most recently in their second last encounter in 1990) as well as several second division titles (including 1908 and 1947). The side played its last senior representative match in 1993. Tasmania continues to field underage sides in the national underage championships as part of a talent pathway to the AFL and remains a successful side with 8 Division two titles, the most recent in 2018. Tasmania has also fielded teams in the VFL (2001–2008), the TAC Cup (1996–2002; 2019-) and defeated a NEAFL representative side in 2013 as the Tasmania Mariners/Devils. Despite efforts to maintain a pathway to the AFL, in the 2010s and 2020s Tasmania began to produce poorly in the AFL Draft and for the first time in history (including 2020 and 2022) missed AFL Draft selection altogether. Attendance at matches, per capita, up to the 2000s and 2010s were the highest in Australia. Tasmanian crowds at VFL matches averaged 4,000 a season until the Devils unpopular alignment with AFL club North Melbourne began in 2006. AFL matches involving non-Tasmanian clubs averaged over 16,000 per game until North Melbourne began playing home games in Hobart in 2011. Tasmanian television audiences for the AFL were also among the highest per capita, consistently drawing bigger ratings than both Queensland and New South Wales, however they too declined in the 2010s. Over 300 Tasmanians have played the game at the highest level, the AFL. Tasmania has four Australian Football Hall of Fame legends: Darrell Baldock, Peter Hudson, Ian Stewart and Royce Hart. Matthew Richardson has the most AFL goals for a Tasmanian with 800. The highest profile current men's player is Jack Riewoldt who also holds the Tasmanian record for most AFL games. Current women's player Jess Wuetschner holds the AFLW games and goals records for a Tasmanian. The latest $150 million government backed Tasmanian AFL bid was made in 2021 (earlier bids made in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2008 and most recently 2021 have all been rejected by the AFL) and will be voted on by the 18 AFL club presidents in 2022. The AFL acted on the advice of a report it commissioned, the Carter Report (2021), which concluded that although Tasmania deserves and should have its own AFL and AFLW teams, it strongly recommended against a new license and that the state consider relocation of an existing AFL club (the frequently speculated target being the proposed relocation of the North Melbourne Football Club). However the Commission finally decided to allowed the bid to go to a vote after the Tasmanian government dismissed the report and instead announced its intention to pull its ongoing multi million dollar subsidies to Melbourne-based AFL clubs Hawthorn and North Melbourne (who have been contracted to play "home" matches in Launceston and Hobart respectively) if a Tasmanian license is not granted. (en)
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