Is the SANFL doomed???

[LPH]

Having read the article about the Crows losing $1/2 Million this year...
Port Power continually seeking 'bail outs' for rising debts...
The Magpies' financial woes (I think there will be others, just quietly)...
The lack of significant commercial media coverage (thank God for 'God FM' & RPH)...

I am wondering if the SANFL & Rod Payze need a 'think tank' for the future of our competition?
(Not 150 common people - aka 'Ranga's idea)

With the debate around Footy Park & Adelaide Oval - I think it's time they SOLD UP & injected the cash into the competition.
Having said that, NO problem is ever fixed by simply 'throwing money' at it.

I am of the firm belief that finding a solution to the current problems with footy in this state, is almost at crisis point.

If the SANFL don't act, then I fear our competition is in danger of dissolving or worse, becoming an U25 comp to feed the 2 AFL clubs.

Any possible solutions?

[darley16]

Good topic LEH, throw on top of all that 2 new AFL licenses that will now have 18 AFL clubs taking players from our comp resulting in decline of standard followed by lack of attendence, dropping of media coverage, falling off of clubs sponsorships, clubs struggling financially (its not all pokie $$ that keeps them afloat) and you have your answer.
The question is does the current SANFL administration have the courage and strident militant mind-set to take on their AFL overlords and stand up for the comp by resisting lowering salary caps, reinstergate the successful U17/U19 model, scrap interstate recruiting restrictions, increase the AFL age on recruiting, no Crows or Power reserves sides in our comp. It's clear what the AFL want and that is a U21 or U25 feeder comp called SAAFL.
Our comp isn't doomed if those in the positions of power make a stand, present a solid unified force and do so NOW! By doing too little now, as is the case with the current administators it will be too late to save and the AFL will get their way and then this great historic comp will be doomed.

[spell_check]

I don't want to be seen harping on this, (although I kind of am) but I really think 16 a side plus 3 interchange is the way to go across all grades. The talent will only decrease in the SANFL, so to maintain a decent standard and spread the players wages around a bit better, this should happen.

And it's not a case of "oh, 16 is to many, how about 14 etc.), this is based on the seemingly successful 16 a side rule that the VFA did in the 70s and 80s.

[Dog_ger]

We need better marketing and publicity.

Too much emphasis on AFL.

We need someone that can sell ice to the eskimo's.

It must start firstly with the younger school kids of our great state.

One would think you have to play SANFL before AFL?

Maybe SANFL should be played in Summer not in Winter....?

Maybe a night summer competition instead of what we have now?

What you think 5AA Rowie....?

Cricket doesn't do it for me. What about you...?

[doggies4eva]

If the Crows management can't make a profit out of their business sack them and get someone who can.

[mick]

I'm holding out a dim hope that the AFL will over extend itself with the forays into GC and GWS and the AFL will find itself in dire financial trouble in afew years. Ideally the Port franchise should have been sold to one of these new teams, say GC and one of the struggling Victorian Clubs forced to amalgamate with GWS for example. There is really not enough population to support two teams in SA, and I suspect not enough population to support 18 nationwide. I've been in Sydney when the Swans have been doing well, it's a non event and with the Victorian version of Aussie Rules getting more like basketball or netball every season, rugby league is looking more and more attractive.

[birdmanptr]

The SANFL has been dying for years

Why were crowds down on Sunday cause what we have is 4 teams playing a kinda round robin to see who loses to Centrals in the GF.Good luck to CDFC they are a super power but when they win it again this year next year the SANFL will die a bit more.

Centrals win Sunday and they will need bay covers GF day For the sake of the SANFL they have to miss out on playing the GF for CDFC sake i hope they keep powering on.

[leggies]

I think the AFL should be doomed!! Port should retract and focus on the SANFL. Crows to have a couple more average years and who knows. I am just wary of the AFL adding another 2 teams in the next couple of years too, just seems a little excessive, will be interesting to see how the 18 (????!!!!!) AFL clubs go over the next few years.

I think if the SANFL, the 9 clubs, the passionate supporters like ourselves, and MORE IMPORTANTLY the MEDIA chime in, it could grow again. Then again, I'm probably dreaming. Hasn't it been good to see some coverage in the papers, TV and radio in the past week?!

[sjt]

The SANFL has been dying for years

Why were crowds down on Sunday cause what we have is 4 teams playing a kinda round robin to see who loses to Centrals in the GF.Good luck to CDFC they are a super power but when they win it again this year next year the SANFL will die a bit more.

Centrals win Sunday and they will need bay covers GF day For the sake of the SANFL they have to miss out on playing the GF for CDFC sake i hope they keep powering on.

The crowd wasn't down on Sunday! I think it was below most expectations, but not down. Especially as the "big crowd" pullers in Glenelg, Norwood and Sturt were playing. It was larger than 06,05 and about 40 short of 07. Most of these comparable years were at Adelaide oval as well, which many try to argue attracts a larger crowd.
I guess the Crows and Power having a drop in crowds is Centrals fault as well.
If the internet were around during the periods of Sturts and Ports dominance I wonder what would've been posted.

[Barto]

I don't think the SANFL is doomed at all, quite the opposite. Yes the standard will be leached yet again by the AFL but it's always been the case.

What concerns me is the dying of the two local AFL clubs. In the late 90's they both had excellent crowds, so what's changed? I hear Port fans blaming the location of Football Park, but it didnt seem to a problem until recently. Perhaps it's more to do with the fact that AFL isn't good value for money when your club is playing like crap.

The SANFL represents good value for money and alternative for the football fan in Adelaide, crowds are up and that has to piss the AFL off.

What I want to know is: what happens if the SANFL sell up Footy Park, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on AO and Port still get sub 20K crowds to some games?

[sjt]

I don't think the SANFL is doomed at all, quite the opposite. Yes the standard will be leached yet again by the AFL but it's always been the case.

What concerns me is the dying of the two local AFL clubs. In the late 90's they both had excellent crowds, so what's changed? I hear Port fans blaming the location of Football Park, but it didnt seem to a problem until recently. Perhaps it's more to do with the fact that AFL isn't good value for money when your club is playing like crap.

The SANFL represents good value for money and alternative for the football fan in Adelaide, crowds are up and that has to piss the AFL off.

What I want to know is: what happens if the SANFL sell up Footy Park, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on AO and Port still get sub 20K crowds to some games?

Agree.

[csbowes]

What concerns me is the dying of the two local AFL clubs. In the late 90's they both had excellent crowds, so what's changed? I hear Port fans blaming the location of Football Park, but it didnt seem to a problem until recently. Perhaps it's more to do with the fact that AFL isn't good value for money when your club is playing like crap.

Agree 100%. The problem here is not the stadium, the stadium is fine. The fact is that Port Adelaide have been playing rubbish football for a couple of years and so people won't pay top dollar to see an ordinary side play ordinary football. I'm not trying to bag Port Adelaide here, it's just how I see it. People who whinge about Port's crowd just aren't looking at the facts. When the SANFL was the top league here, Port had abotu 30% of the supporter base.

What does that tell you? Well it tells me that for every fan it gets through the turnstiles, Adelaide should get double that, so if Adelaide is playing well and getting 40,000 the most you can hope Port to get is 30,000 and even then, based on supporter base, I reckon Port is out performing the club that is supposedly for all South Australians. So people should just be happy with 40,000 at a Crows game, 30,000 at a Port one and 10,000 less to each when the team is rubbish.

Simply put the crowds are fine based on the performances of the team and the cost of the tickets.

[csbowes]

What I want to know is: what happens if the SANFL sell up Footy Park, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on AO and Port still get sub 20K crowds to some games?

The SANFL shouldn't be pumping ridiculous sums into the two AFL sides, that'd be ridiculous. Both clubs are more than capable of making money with the right stadium deals and the right game plan on the field (where it all matters). If the league decides to bulldoze Footy Park, then the bulk of the funds should go into investments to make the SANFL clubs stronger. I think handing over money left and right to the AFL clubs would come back to haunt the league.

The AFL (no doubt in my mind) want the two AFL clubs here to separate themselves from the SANFL and become their own entities, much like the Victorian sides. On from that, I think the AFL would like those two clubs to then dominate and control the football landscape here, much like the Victorians control the VFL and maybe how the WA teams control the WAFL (though Barto might want to confirm whether that is the case?).

So giving them money now would just serve to build them up to take the SANFL over... that's my concern.

Already this AFL reserves idea stinks. They ask about where are the Crows going to get the $500K to run a club in the SANFL, hang on a minute, it'll be Sturt and South and Centrals etc that'll be paying that $500K and they'll have to do the same again to have the Port Power reserves in. The local clubs will just lose on dividends and income they would have otherwise got had the two AFL teams not had a reserves team in the SANFL.

It's a recipe for disaster.

[bayman]

i'm agree completely with barto & cs

[csbowes]

While I'm on my tirade here...

I don't see why we can't have the Crows at FP and the Power at AO... FP is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to Crows-centric, so I agree with Port wanting to move from there. Let them make AO their own.

The only concern I have with this idea is I'd expect that from a business and $$$ perspective, it's just not possible for the SANFL to make money with only one team at FP. Port would make big bucks at AO and the SANFL could play there too, but then Adelaide would be left out in the cold, it might make decent money with a new deal from the league, but as a result, the league may lose money on the Adelaide deal and overall be worse off.

It's an interesting thought... nonetheless.

[prowling panther]

Hasn't it been good to see some coverage in the papers, TV and radio in the past week?!

Certainly has, something tells me the finals have started again, or is it just that the 2 awful teams are finished and the papers need something to keep the readers interested in buying their product.

And of course 5AAFL have jumped onto the bandwagon with their complete coverage of the SANFL finals, where were they every other week since the beginning of the season, granted, they do give us the weekly roundup on Sunday evenings, providing they have no other important 'things' to get in the way.

If I want to listen to the finals I will be tuning into the stations that have supported the SANFL through the year.

And I DO think that televising the matches on the day is hurting the attendances in a big way, I do realise we are living in the year 2010, but there must be a better way to do things.

[csbowes]

If the internet were around during the periods of Sturts and Ports dominance I wonder what would've been posted.

I agree with Barto here... while I understand people being bored with Centrals winning again and again and again, it's no different to what everyone went through during the 1950's (being sick of Port), 1960's and some of the 1970s (being sick of Sturt) and the late 1980's and 1990's (geez could Port actually give someone else a chance). At the same time, I think it would be silly of Central fans not to realise that for the benefit of the league, the domination needs to end.

For them, long may it go on, for everyone else, I'm sure we'd all like to see some different clubs compete for a few years at least, just for something different, if there's one thing the AFL did work out right (whether you like it or not), grannies and flags are shared around a fair bit in the national league and that keeps heaps of fans onside. Just look at 1970-1989, hardly any teams won a flag, from 1990 onwards, just about everyone has nabbed 1 or 2.

Centrals dominance does hurt the league a bit... but that's the other 7 clubs fault, not theirs.

Direct live coverage of the SANFL also hurts, I'd much rather see it delayed on ABC2 or ABC3. In fact, I'd like to see some sort of digital channel which just shows SANFL, WAFL, QAFL etc football, would be interesting, but that's me.

[White Line Fever]

i pray footy gets moved to AO.

i would go watch Port games there, in particular night games, and so would most people.

We DO have the population for two teams.

SA - pop 1.2mill - 2 teams - average 600,000 per AFL team
VIC - pop 4mill - 8 teams - average 500,000 per AFL team

So we don't market football properly.
Old mate Nanna state and it p!sses me off with the backward thinking.

The SANFL is getting stronger, just need to stop playing at Footy Park.
I'd rather a packed to the brink Coopers or Bay Stadium than an empty FP.

[Freo HeaveHo]

Ive probably been to ten games this season ... had sunday free but stuffed if i was going all the way to footy park to watch finals footy with no atmosphere what so ever . Surely this has to change. Woulda much rather watch the bays play norwood in a jam packed gliderol stadium.

[csbowes]

Ive probably been to ten games this season ... had sunday free but stuffed if i was going all the way to footy park to watch finals footy with no atmosphere what so ever . Surely this has to change. Woulda much rather watch the bays play norwood in a jam packed gliderol stadium.

SANFL at FP is TOTAL RUBBISH... just not the crowds.

Completely agree with you, much better to have a packed, smaller ground... that's why AO was much better for SANFL finals.