By Brett Stubbs
TASMANIA will never have an AFL presence unless it can fully support the Devils.
AFL Tasmania general manager Scott Wade says the Devils membership drive has stagnated, causing the same effect on the club's long-term future and that of football in the state.
He said about 1700 members had signed on this year and, despite the poor start that sees the Devils winless and on the bottom of the ladder, the figure is slightly higher than last season.
"But the rate of growth hasn't been what we would like it to be,'' Wade said yesterday.
"I don't think people have any idea how important Devils memberships are to the future direction of Tasmanian football."
"There are a lot of people out there who would love to see Tasmania have a team in the AFL."
"But if we can't get people to support the Devils, I doubt we will ever have a team. It is that basic.''
Wade said memberships were a key performance indicator for the club's ability to go forward.
"What if we could get 5000 to 10,000 paid-up members?'' he said.
"We would have the highest membership base of any club outside the AFL, and more than half of some of the AFL clubs."
"If membership is a key indicator, which it clearly is, most AFL clubs would be unsatisfied with less than 20,000."
"But we have only got about 2000 -- only 10 per cent of that."
"We need to go to 30 per cent or higher -- that is how serious membership is.''
Wade said while crowd attendances remained strong - 4528 and 4024 spectators were at the first two home games -- and sponsorship high, the Devils had identified two areas of concern.
One is the small size of the business community, which he said could sponsor the Devils for between $1000 and $2000 through a series of memberships.
"We also need to make people who support community footy, like the Glenorchy, Clarence and North Hobart supporters, to have them support the Devils,'' Wade said.
"We are not competing with that market, we are actually complementing it."
"I am being ridiculous, but what if the Devils got 15,000 members? That could not be ignored. We are going to focus so hard on growing our membership base over the next few years.''
The Devils take on Sandringham at North Hobart Oval at 1.10pm on Saturday.
Last Modified on 04/05/2005 08:58