When the original rules of the game were being written in Melbourne, Tasmanians were playing footy, too. It’s taken 160 years for the state to get its first genuine chance at the elite level, but early signs indicate the Tasmania Football Club is thriving.
For now, the Devils are playing in the second-tier VFL competition, but that is only as a two-year pathway to a guaranteed place in the AFL and AFLW.
Locals have been voting with their feet. In March, the Devils debuted by selling out their first game at North Hobart Oval. On Anzac Day, they crushed the VFL’s home-and-away attendance record when more than 14,000 packed into Ninja Stadium. At the weekend, despite the pouring rain in Launceston, nearly 2,500 still turned out.
Tasmania, a heartland Australian football state, is finally being represented on the national stage and the Devils have been driven into the national consciousness.
Crikes! Where’s the journalism in this? No mention of how the stadium has bitterly divided the state and destabilised two governments. No mention that seats were given away at North Hobart in an effort to fill the ground. No mention that Ninja Stadium was only 2/3 capacity. #nonewstadium
— Roland Browne (@slowguns.bsky.social) May 5, 2026 at 2:34 PM
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