GAZMANIA is about to take over the state as the Footy Show takes centre stage at Wrest Point tonight.
Returning to Tasmania for the first time since 1997, the award-winning TV show will record its episode tonight in Hobart after a social media campaign that used the hashtag #gazmania.
Tasmanian-born Garry Lyon ventured to Zoodoo yesterday to record a segment for the show and is excited to be back in his home state.
‘It’s great to be here,” Lyon said. ‘It’s all been a bit of fun [but] it’s a great place, Tassie. We love taking the show on the road.”
Lyon was born in Devonport and moved to Victoria after only three weeks, but the campaign to bring the show back to Tassie centred around his roots in the Apple Isle.
His father Peter moved to Devonport after playing for Hawthorn in the VFL in the 1960s and was a playing coach for three seasons for the senior team.
Lyon’s mother Beverly has travelled with her son for the show alongside his father from Kyabram in Victoria.
‘We’re thrilled. We’re absolutely delighted to be back,” Mrs Lyon said. ‘I remember when he was playing schoolboys, they were looking for all their birth certificates and they couldn’t find it, so I said to try looking in Tasmania as he was born in Tassie. Because he was so young when he left, they assumed he was Victorian but he is a Tasmanian.”
Lyon said he was excited to have his parents watching in the audience tonight.
‘It’s a nice opportunity to have a couple of days with them,” he said.
The show at Wrest Point is a sellout but there will be activities for the public including a Footy Show party zone from 5.30pm.
This article was originally written for The Mercury
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