As we played the last game of the Launceston (soccer) Tournament, there were a few moments to collect the gear strewn from one end of Churchill Park to the other.

The kids lagging and still chatting excitedly with teammates were not at all fussed by my need to make it to the car, parked at a precarious angle in the stormwater swale, to prepare for a busy week of work.

There were 97 teams and more than 1300 players from across the state involved in a junior soccer tournament on AFL Grand Final weekend!

As of May 2021, according to Sport Australia's Ausplay aggregated data (October 2015 - December 2020), Football is Tasmania's most played team sport.

There are more than 36,000 Tasmanians (6.8 per cent of the state's population) who play soccer each year.

Soccer remains most popular among juniors and their families with 23.8 percent of Tasmanians aged between five and 17 playing the sport.

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Tasmania already leads the nation when it comes to female participation, making up 28 percent of all players.

A local government candidate from the City of Launceston approached me at the Launceston Tournament while I was enjoying a cracking U/10 Final, a self-confessed AFL man, who couldn't quite believe the numbers in attendance.

He offered that he hoped patrons were able to use the new carpark at the old showgrounds. I reminded him that parking close by was, as Tasmanians, our birthright but yes there were cars parked back to York Park. The refurbished carpark at Churchill Park was jammed by lunchtime on Grand Final weekend for a soccer tournament!

At the Hobart Cup Junior Soccer Cup, held during early September, there were 162 teams and more than 2220 players.

With the Devonport Cup not far behind in participation numbers, it is not difficult to build a case for per capita investment in Tasmanian soccer.

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I am a roundball volunteer. We love what we do. We love the game, and we love our clubs.

And I am also an AFL fanatic, a much-maligned Carlton supporter, who blindly follows AFL and is barracking for a richly deserved Tasmanian team.

Therefore, with $750 million committed to Hobart's waterfront stadium, we now look forward to Premier Jeremy Rockliff delivering for the most popular participation sport in Tasmania.

To have the Premier, the Member for Braddon with his office in Devonport, home to the all-conquering NPL and Lakoseljac Cup winners, Devonport City Strikers, who played the A League's Wellington Phoenix during August provides us impetus to strike. There has been no bigger game in recent Tasmanian soccer history, and it was right in the heart of Mr Rockliff's electorate.

But soccer doesn't appear at all on the political radar.

The soccer community has been waiting for a home base for decades.

A rectangular boutique stadium with a state-of-the-art surface, either grass or synthetic, modern offices and function facilities, and a gym and recovery centre that will attract A-League and international teams to our state.

It goes without saying that change rooms for males and females along with facilities to support the most vulnerable members of our community would be of high priority.

Association Football (soccer) has a home in Tasmania, at King George V, known as KGV and named after King Charles III's great grandfather.

Yet disgracefully, some state junior players, particularly females who are more prone to serious knee injuries, choose to stay at home because the artificial surface is so uneven and in need of replacement. They are advised not to train by their coaches.

This is the reality of soccer in Tasmania and administrators encounter similar anecdotes most weeks of the year.

Furthermore, the toilets and change rooms are in such an abysmal state of disrepair they should be but won't be condemned because it would be a blight on the state government and local council.

A few weeks ago, I sat on the couch in the offices of the home of football in Tasmania waiting to meet with the game's governors, Football Tasmania. It was cold and dark and old and not befitting of the headquarters of the largest participation sport in Tasmania.

The place brought memories flooding back because it hadn't changed much aside from the missing aroma of a massive pot of saveloys dished following games against Glenorchy Croatia in the old 1990s State League.

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At that time, we paid our own annual registration and $8 at the gate each week just to play the highest standard in Tasmania. None of us were paid bar an honorarium to the coach. As a player, they are the fondest memories of my sporting career.

We love the game, we work hard 12 months a year, we volunteer, and we love our clubs. We barrack for AFL teams, we want an AFL team of our own, and we have been thrilled by the rise of the JackJumpers NBL franchise.

But Tasmanians deserve access to a range of quality sport facilities and competitions and when it comes to soccer - they have voted with their feet and the Premier needs to listen.

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