TASMANIA Football Club president Guy Abel has appealed to fans not to be late for the early 1.10pm start of the Devils' VFL first semi-final at Bellerive on Sunday.
Abel's plea yesterday followed queues of up to 70m at entrances to the oval in both Church St and Derwent St shortly before the start of the Devils' second elimination final win against Frankston on Sunday.
Up to 3000 of the record 10,176 fans missed most of the first quarter.
"We will look to improve the speed at which we get people into the ground," he said. "Because it's a 1.10pm start, people are best advised to arrive at the ground by no later than midday.
"That's because even if they have to wait 15 to 20 minutes [to get in], it means they are not backing up 25 minutes before the game starts."
Abel said the club would review crowd access to the oval with the TCA and was confident improvements would be made.
"We are very appreciative at the way the public supports the Devils' games but it's not good enough for people coming into the ground 15 or 20 minutes late," Abel said.
"We want fans to enjoy the whole game. It's a great venue with lots of seating and a grass area where people can bring their kids, have a picnic lunch and kick footballs on the ground."
He discounted the idea of having officials go down the queues selling tickets because of the problem of trying to give fans the right change.
Devils coach Mathew Armstrong said he was delighted with the way his players had put in to extend the club's record winning sequence to 10, ahead of this weekend's game against the Northern Bullants.
The only injured player of concern is Luke Shackleton, who has had X-rays on a strained shoulder.
Regarding Sunday's match, Armstrong said: "It got pretty warm, about 21 degrees by quarter past three, so we we rotated players off the bench pretty regularly.
"The support of the crowd was fantastic and they helped lift us to another level in the last quarter and away we went. Justin Plapp with his eight goals was just fantastic."
Armstrong felt it would be courting disaster to think the Carlton-aligned Northern Bullants would provide an easy kill for the Devils after they were belted by reigning premier Sandringham 16.20 (116) to 3.11
(29) in the second qualifying final.
"The Bullants won't have taken too kindly to that, so there's no doubt they will be coming down to rectify it," he said.
Under VFL rules, the Bullants can play 12 AFL-listed players, including rookies.
Last Modified on 30/08/2005 10:27