{"id":289828,"date":"2023-04-26T09:02:56","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T09:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=289828"},"modified":"2023-04-26T09:58:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T09:58:13","slug":"ridiculous-captain-claim-unearths-awkward-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=289828","title":{"rendered":"'Ridiculous' captain claim unearths awkward issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hawthorn<\/a> captain James Sicily<\/a> has copped heat from disgruntled Tasmanians after revealing his disinterest in living in the southern-most state.<\/p>\n

Tasmania's new AFL<\/a> stadium looks set to get the green light with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese preparing to announce federal funding for the Macquarie Point venue in Hobart.<\/p>\n

The federal government will reportedly invest $240 million into the 23,000-seat stadium, which is estimated to cost $715 million.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> WTA intervenes to cut short star's baffling press conference<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Bulldogs drop axe on struggling halfback for NRL round nine<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Furore erupts over controversial LIV Golf move<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

The pledge strengthens Tasmania's bid<\/a> to become the league's 19th team, with the AFL \ufeffpreviously imposing that the inner-city stadium must be fully funded before the state will be considered for a team license.<\/p>\n

However, with the approval of the stadium and the proceeding entry into the competition comes the challenge of luring players south to compile a playing list.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, Sicily voiced the issue of players being unwilling to relocate south.<\/p>\n

"I think so, particularly as a young guy, because there's not much happening down there, it could be difficult," he told RSN on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

"I couldn't imagine myself living there. It would be hard."<\/p>\n

Sicily's comments raised eyebrows online with Hawthorn boasting the Tasmania Government as a naming rights sponsor.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

As a part of their long-standing partnership, the Hawks are contracted to play four home matches at UTAS Stadium in \ufeffLaunceston this season.<\/p>\n

Proud Tasmanians, former AFL player Mitch Robinson \ufeffand sprinter Jacob Despard expressed their outrage at the comments on Twitter.<\/p>\n

"I'm sure sponsors love hearing that, considering Tassie pumps $13.5 million into a club that's currently on struggle street," Robbinson wrote.<\/p>\n

"Absolutely ridiculous comment considering how much money the state pumps into the Hawthorn Football Club," Despard echoed.<\/p>\n

The Age writer Daniel Brettig argued that while Sicily was foolish to make the remark, his opinion was covertly held by the wider AFL community.<\/p>\n

"Sicily getting rightly dragged for this," he wrote.<\/p>\n

"That said, he's only mimicking what broadcasters and commentators indicate by their travel decisions and discussions of anywhere that isn't Melbourne or Sydney really."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hawthorn captain James Sicily has copped heat from disgruntled Tasmanians after revealing his disinterest in living in the southern-most state. Tasmania's new AFL stadium looks […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":289830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289828"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=289828"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289833,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289828\/revisions\/289833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/289830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=289828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=289828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=289828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}