I hate it when you've logged into this website and typed up a long post and click submit and then it asks you to re-log in.
Anyway, I base what i'm saying on what i've heard on the grapevine (from various sources) and what i've read in the Advertiser. I've heard for the last year or so that Sturt was very financially restrained because their off-field enterprises (Castle Tavern, Bazaar) weren't doing too well. I have heard of them being compared to North Adelaides predicament a few years back (as far as not having any cash).
Here's an article from Grand Final week from the Advertiser:
Adelaides Favourite Birdcage Liner wrote:Sturt's so grand on smell of an oily rag
WARREN PARTLAND
October 02, 2009 12:00am
MELINDA Benson had a couple of simple questions for husband Matthew when he was offered the chief executive role at Sturt late in 1995.
The pair had been residing in Victoria for five years at the time and her queries were fair.
"How is the club going?" she asked.
"Technically they are insolvent," he responded.
"How did they go last season?" she asked.
"Didn't win a game," he said.
It just happened that two weeks after the conversation the couple was watching a sports show on television and on came the infamous head-butting incident involving Phil Carman.
"And that is Sturt's senior coach," Matthew informed his wife.
Obviously Matthew enjoys a challenge because he accepted the job during the club's darkest hour.
"My poor wife came back to Adelaide wondering what the hell we have got ourselves into - it was quite daunting," Benson said.
"The good thing about footy is the passion around clubs, the selfless passion.
"We were lucky as a club to have a massive supporter base to tap into."
In August 1996 the club organised a legends game at Unley. Almost 5000 fans turned up, setting the wheels in motion for the Double Blues to return to their spiritual home rather than playing at Adelaide Oval.
Being a part of the driving force to return to Unley pleased Benson, who describes 1996-97 as two exciting years with the club finding form on the field. Sturt qualified for the 1998 grand final - losing to the Port Adelaide Magpies by nine points - when Benson had left the club to work with the South Australian Jockey Club.
"I always felt empty leaving Sturt and it did not sit well," he said. "That helped me make the decision to come back (this year).
"We were shaky financially back then. But sponsorship, fundraising and membership, the things which make a club a club, is something we have done well.
"In the SANFL, Port Adelaide and Sturt are seen as the two clubs doing it toughest (financially). They are the two clubs who do the best job with sponsorship and fundraising."
It's ironic that Sturt, positioned in an area regarded as being affluent, has been challenged financially for years while Sunday's grand final opponent, Central District, is a healthy organisation engulfed in blue-collar surrounds. Not that Benson is complaining.
When the Double Blues travelled to Waikerie for a pre-season camp this year, the players pitched in $20 each to pay for the bus. That is the sort of commitment which Benson claims give the club strength of character.
Sturt has a financial involvement with Castle Tavern as well as its gaming and restaurant establishment, Barzaar, on Unley Rd.
The club is confident of announcing a profit this season and is developing plans for a new gymnasium.
"We would love to have millions of dollars rolling in but have to focus on the other sides of the club which make us better," Benson said. "That certainly improves the culture of the place and there is never an assumption that something will be put on a silver plate."
Being in a position to predict a small profit is the bottom line on "hard work" and being tough on costs, Benson said. He added there had been an aggressive look at cost cutting this year.
As for Central District's financial situation compared to that on Oxford Terrace, Benson prefers to laud the Bulldogs' efforts rather than have a jealous outlook.
"That is life - there is always someone better off," Benson said. "If we start sitting in the corner wanting to eat worms because somebody has better facilities than us, then we are gone.
"There is a big part of the club which is very proud about the fact we do have modest facilities and largely do it on the smell of an oily rag but playing in Sunday's grand final against a club which apparently has everything is very satisfying.
"Congratulations to Central, they have a fantastic business model and that is excellent. I don't begrudge them that and there is no jealousy there.
"We want every club in the SANFL to be financially stable. Nobody is disgruntled at Sturt because we haven't got that - it just means there is a challenge to make our facilities better over time.
"The flip side of that is our crowds went up eight-and-a-half per cent this year, the turnout of families and kids at our games is just extraordinary and a lot of clubs are envious of the parklands-type atmosphere we have on a Saturday.
"I'm very confident in the club's future and I think it is a very exciting time for Sturt. We have a fantastic group of young players, a mixture of youth and experience.
"Playing in the grand final on Sunday is a massive bonus for the club."
So, they've gone from crying poor 2 months ago to throwing around money left, right and centre (they've paid atleast $75,000 in transfer fees of late).
Must be one hell of a business plan...
CoverKing wrote:Here's one for ya guys!
and now suddenly seem to have their own pot of gold. 
