Colin Carter appointed to review Tasmania’s case for AFL team

The AFL has announced that former Geelong Cats President and AFL Commissioner, Colin Carter has been appointed to review the business case for a 19th licence in Tasmania.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein, Hawthorn’s Jeff Kennett and North Melbourne’s Ben Buckley agreed to the AFL’s recommendation that Carter conduct the critical review.

In a statement released by AFL, AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan said Carter, who has been involved in football for more than 35 years and was also the founding partner of Boston Consulting Group’s Australian operation, had agreed to undertake the review of the submission provided by the Tasmanian Taskforce, led by Bret Godfrey.

McLachlan noted "Colin Carter has been a leading administrator in football and was instrumental in providing the framework for the national competition and the key tenets of equalisation, which has made our game so strong.

"Colin is renowned for his vision and also his commitment to governance.  He has made an incredible contribution to Australian football as a consultant, as a club director, AFL Commissioner and long-serving President of the Geelong Cats.  He understands football, he understands community and the importance of the game, and he understands the economics and structure of our competition at each of the national, club and community levels."

The AFL statement noted that McLachlan had agreed with the Tasmanian Premier that Carter would complete his review of the Taskforce submission for a 19th licence for Tasmania by mid-year, however Carter’s review would not be considered by the AFL Commission until the end of the year when there was a clearer picture of any Covid-19 impact on the 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership season. 

The AFL strategy team, led by Executive General Manager Walter Lee, would also provide support to Carter as he looked into the requirements and pre-conditions for a successful and sustainable team and the impact on the competition of a Tasmanian team, if a licence was granted.

Late February saw the Tasmanian Premier call upon the AFL to provide a solid timeline for when Tasmania would get its own team, threatening to end the state’s financial support for Hawthorn and North Melbourne occasional fixtures in Hobart and Launceston.

Premier Gutwein was reported to have written to McLachlan with an “ultimatum” to the AFL about a timeline for a standalone Tasmanian team. Premier Gutwein’s letter threatened that without a solid timeline, the Tasmanian Government would end negotiations and financial support for Hawthorn and North Melbourne playing AFL Premiership fixtures in Hobart and Launceston.

As such, Premier Gutwein has welcomed the appointment of Carter as the independent consultant to review the business case for Tasmania’s own AFL team commenting “I am of the view he will provide a fair and balanced assessment of our business case, which will confirm that the inclusion of a Tasmanian team will not only stack up financially, but also complete the AFL by making it a truly national competition.”

Carter began his career in football in 1985, when as a consultant to the then-VFL commission he authored the strategy that laid out the national competition, the equalisation strategies (draft, salary cap, revenue sharing and reduced list sizes) and ground rationalisation that now underpin the AFL competition.

He served as a Geelong Football Club director from 1988-93 before joining the AFL commission, where he served until 2008, when he re-joined the Cats’ Board and served as President for a decade.

Carter shared "I look forward to the work ahead of me in this role, and reporting back to the AFL competition, the clubs, the commission and the wider fans and supporters in every part of our game.

"Our game has had a deep connection within communities for more than 150 years and I have always placed great importance on both maintaining those links and building our strength into the future as our game and our communities continue to evolve and develop."

Image: Former Geelong president and AFL Commissioner Colin Carter. Credit: AFL Media