Tasmanian A-League Bid

A-League expansion in Tasmania has been propsed since the establishment of the A-League in 2005. Before the introduction of the league, Football Federation Australia (FFA) chairman Frank Lowy said he hoped to expand the competition into cities such as Hobart and Launceston, among others.

In October 2007, Football Federation Tasmania CEO Martin Shaw suggested that Tasmania would be a viable location for an A-League club, mentioning the fact that it would need support from state and local government. It has been suggested that such a team would play games in both Hobart and Launceston. In 2008, a Tasmanian football taskforce was formed to investigate an A-League bid. The taskforce registered the name "Tasmania United FC" and submitted a bid for the join the 2011–12 A-League season. Despite multiple failed attempts to join the A-League, Tasmania United remains active in promoting a Tasmanian-based A-League club.

Following the success of the A-League, a Tasmanian football task force headed by Hobart-based businessman John McGirr was given the task of finding funding for a Tasmanian-based A-League side. The taskforce has registered the name "Tasmania United FC" and is submitting a bid for the 2011–12 season. In September 2008 McGirr Announced the adoption of an official club logo for the proposed club and announced that the taskforce was on target "to present an extremely strong business case to both FFA and the Tasmanian community and intend to be ready to put a formal proposal for an A-League licence by mid-2009". Tasmanian Football Taskforce official Ken Morton has stated that should Tasmania United FC be awarded an A-League licence then the competition would become "a far more 'national' competition than rivals AFL and NRL, which are based in Melbourne and Sydney respectively. Indeed, the AFL has consistently refused Tasmania's push to have its own team, with economic factors being brought into play. "We have a good cricket team down there who compete well at national level and we believe we can do the same in the A-League." In February 2008, Ken Morton stated "we meet the criteria but we require an owner."

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