The AFL are looking at introducing a brand new concept to be known as either the Champions League, or Premiers League, which will see teams from regional leagues fight it out in what the AFL is trying to sell as a Champions League/FA Cup style tournament. This however is not a new concept, as the then VFL used to have what was once called the Club Championship of Australia tournament.

Between 1972 and 1975 the premier teams of South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia, together with either the Tasmanian state champions (1972-73 and '75) or a composite team of players drawn from the premier clubs of the NTFA, NWFU and TFL (1974) contested a bona fide Australian championship series in Adelaide.

But there were also post season tournaments before this, they were contested during the period 1888 to 1914 between the premier teams of South Australia and Victoria were consistently described in the Melbourne ('the Age') and Adelaide ('the Advertiser') press of the time as being for the championship (or premiership) of Australia.

As the competition was suspended during the First World War, the tournament was never played again, until the start of the next batch of post season competitions that commenced in 1972.

In 1976 the National Football League's tournament consisted of leading clubs from the VFL (5), SANFL (4) and WAFL (3) and was, prior to the VFL's late 1980s metamorphosis from state to national competition it was the only ever genuine full scale Australian club championship ever to take place.

Throughout the history of the AFL there has been interstate tournaments that have been run, but very few have seen the introduction of Tasmania in them. A Peter Hudson lead Glenorchy went to South Australia in 1975, this team had won almost every premiership in Tasmania, and also captured the famed State Premiership, they had narrow loses in the past, but they battled a furious North Melbourne side, lead by the great Ron Barrassi.

Win Television in Tasmania had confirmed the participation of 2010 Premiers Clarence, who are going to face, should this tournament go ahead, which it appears more than likely, will be facing WAFL Premiers Swan Districts in the first game of this competition.

The AFL is also going to allow the Giants to take part in this league, the games are going to be played before AFL games, the question remains, will the AFL be funding the travel by teams, and will their be prize money given, if this truly is going to be an FA Cup/Champions League competition you would think there would be prize money given for the win.

To make the league interesting, it would be good if the competition allowed the lower league clubs from Tasmania, WA, Victoria, Queensland, SA, and NSW. This would give the tournament a bit more of a league feel, and would also lift the profile of the regional leagues.

Which is pretty much what the AFL are reportedly trying to do, Foxtel has already according to reports scored the broadcast rights to the tournament, and while it's good the games will be shown, the ABC should be also allowed access to the games, because these leagues are traditionally shown on the ABC Network throughout the country.

The league will need more fine tuning, and the other clubs around the country will need to find a way to strengthen their team to be a challenger. It will be interesting to see if fans do support this concept, in years gone by fans had came out to support it.

This will be as close as we are going to get to seeing a return of the State of Origin, with the different states being represented, maybe in 2013 the AFL can take another look at the State of Origin Tournament.

The Australian Master Rules are running their own State of Origin competitions, recently Tasmania walked away with the Over 35s Premiership after they had beaten South Australia. A few years ago, I had attended a Master Rules tournament at Anzac Park in Lindisfarne, former TFL legends were on show, and managed to take out both series' that were going on. Tasmania weren't able to defend their crown, but the Master Rules Competition was a pretty good viewing at the time.