The Tasmania Football Club, nicknamed the Devils, is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

club set to compete in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL) from the 2028 season and the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

(AFLW) from an unspecified date. The club will be based in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, with matches to be played across the state. Both University of Tasmania Stadium in Launceston and

Blundstone Arena Bellerive Oval, known commercially as Blundstone Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Bellerive, a suburb on the eastern shore of Hobart, Australia, holding 20,000 people it is the largest ...

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

will host games initially, with the southern matches moving to the future Macquarie Point Stadium upon its construction. In May 2023, Tasmania secured an AFL licence following a unanimous vote of AFL club presidents. The club will likely first compete in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

, starting in either 2025 or 2026.

History

The idea of a Tasmanian AFL team had been suggested, and in some cases formally proposed, many times since the 1980s. The successful bid was the result of an organisation known as the Tasmanian AFL Licence Taskforce assembled in 2019, chaired by Brett Godfrey, with backing from the

Tasmanian Government The Tasmanian Government is the democratic administrative authority of the state of Tasmania, Australia. The leader of the party or coalition with the confidence of the House of Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Tasmania, is invite ...

. Grant O'Brien, former CEO of Woolworths and chair of Tourism Tasmania, was appointed the new club's first chairman in July 2023 by the Tasmanian AFL Licence Taskforce. In September, a board chaired by O'Brien was announced including Kath McCann, James Henderson (AFL talent manager),

Alastair Lynch Alastair Graeme Lynch (born 19 June 1968) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is best known as a three-time premiership full-forward for the Brisbane Lions. The Tasmanian ...

, Alicia Leis, Roger Curtis, Laura McBain, Graeme Gardner and Kathy Schaefer.Board to lead Tasmania's AFL club announced, along with culture lead Jack Riewoldt
by Chris Rowbottom for ABC News 13 September 2023 Former Richmond player

Jack Riewoldt Jack Riewoldt ( ; born 31 October 1988) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a three-time premiership player, a three-time Coleman Medallist, a ...

was appointed club culture manager. On 18 March 2024, the club was officially launched with the name Tasmania Devils, using myrtle green, rose red and primrose yellow as their club colours; the colours and guernsey were based on those of the historical Tasmanian interstate representative team, featuring a red "T" on a yellow map of Tasmania. Devils was the club's chosen nickname, based on the local

Tasmanian devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii'') (palawa kani: purinina) is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. Until recently, it was only found on the island state of Tasmania, but it has been reintroduced to New South Wales in ...

marsupial; the nickname had previously been used by the state's VFL and Talent League clubs. The nickname was confirmed only after negotiations with Warner Bros., whose cartoon character

Tasmanian Devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii'') (palawa kani: purinina) is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. Until recently, it was only found on the island state of Tasmania, but it has been reintroduced to New South Wales in ...

meant that it held a trademark on the name.

Corporate

During the 2024 launch, the club commenced selling foundation membership packs for between $10 and $15 AUD with an initial target of 40,000 by October (one of the original conditions of entry set by the AFL). The club exceeded this target within 2 hours and had sold over 121,000 memberships 2 days after launch giving it the highest on-paper membership of any club in the AFL and taking just 24 hours to break the league's all-time membership record.‘Blow your mind’: Tasmania Devils break AFL membership record in 24 hours
by Matthew Sullivan from News.com.au 20 March 2024

References

External links

Believe Tasmanian
- Official Tasmanian AFL Taskforce site {{Tasmanian Sports Teams Australian Football League clubs Australian rules football clubs in Tasmania Sports clubs and teams in Tasmania Sports clubs and teams established in 2023 2023 establishments in Australia Proposed VFL/AFL clubs Australian rules football in Tasmania