TWO of the biggest names in Tasmanian football have backed a call to resurrect ­defunct club Sandy Bay almost 20 years after the Seagulls folded.

Hall of Famers Robert Shaw and Scott Wade support an attempt to rebirth the club, a founding member of the also extinct southern-based Tasmanian Football League.

Their aim is for Sandy Bay to be an SFL club, which could be formed under a revised State League model.

media_camera Former Sandy Bay Football Club president Bill Sorell consoles Nigel Palfreyman after Sandy Bay’s final match – against Clarence at Bellerive Oval – in August 1997.

Shaw – who was recruited from Sandy Bay in 1974 to play for Essen­don in the VFL – said boasting a junior club with teams from under-8s to under-18s ­already playing out of Queenborough Oval, meant re-establishing the club could be done.

“There’s still a void,” he said. “I’m not saying that it would be a State League team but certainly a strong community football club in a league like the now SFL.

“Importantly the infrastructure is already there for the people to come in and plan around – you can make this work.

“I certainly would love to be involved in any attempt. If there’s a planning committee set up it would cost me a bit in airfares, but I would put my hand up to help out.”

Another involved in the push is former AFL Tasmania chief executive Wade.

While now busy managing the 2017 Australian Masters Games – to be held in Tasmania in October next year – Wade said his emotional attachment with the Seagulls meant he would throw his support behind a bid.

“The first football team I ever supported was Sandy Bay and my first footy heroes were former Sandy Bay players Scott Palfreyman and Billy Butler,” he said.

“My grandparents lived in Dynnyrne Rd and my grandfather was a passionate Seagulls supporter.

“I wasn’t involved in a playing capacity at Sandy Bay because I followed my father’s path and chose to play at Hobart under the father-and-son rule. However, I do have an emotional connection to the Sandy Bay Football Club and I believe the time is right to get serious about the idea of resurrecting the Sandy Bay Football Club.

media_camera Graeme Mackey, right, and Sandy Bay teammates hold the trophy after winning the 1978 TFL final.

“All I’m prepared to say is that I’m happy to invest my time, effort and energy into making it happen.

“I can invest some time ­immediately, however I am enjoying the project that I’m currently managing which is the Australian Masters Games.

“Post that I may well be able to devote a great deal of time to the Sandy Bay project.”

The proposal would be for Sandy Bay to join the SFL under a two-tier structure with the top tier acting as a feeder to the five southern TSL clubs, which would field seniors only.

SFL president Madeline Ogilvie said she would be more than happy to discuss any bid to re-establish Sandy Bay.

“They would obviously need to be granted a zone first,” Ogilvie said. “But if there’s a community push to bring back Sandy Bay, we would be very happy to speak with them.”