HFL Division 1 (Central)

[super.b's]

Dr, ive been involved in most of the night games at lofty including the first one against ironbank. personally i love them, i find it much better atmosphere playing at night, and certainly the much larger crowds provide this. cant remember whether or not weve played a friday night one but i think these would be 100 times better than the current sunday games. im not too sure how the 'away' sides have felt about them, i have heard they believe the advantage for us is too great. but as far as atmosphere, crowds and in turn, gate, canteen, and bar takings go their great for the involved clubs. now that our oval is alot better than past years its probably not out of the question for two other clubs playing their match there when we are away. not sure though. hope this helped doc.

[super.b's]

the mail medal goes through the central and country A's and B's medals as well as leading goal kickers. and i believe the one that everyone waits for- the golden whistle.

[Rapper]

I must say Im suprised that no other club has installed light like those at Lofty. I have only been to one game there and it was great.

This could be a dumb question, why do they have a umpires award. Do they pick the coach of the year in each grade?

[devilsadvocate]

Doc, Night footy is awesome! Friday nights would be ideal, but apparently the league is reluctant to entertain this idea due to juniors having to play their matches the next day. The crowds are at least double what we would normally get, probably because people from other clubs come over to have a look.

Rapper - Aren't Callington already in central league playing in raiders jumpers at shanty oval?

The Golden Whistle should go to Scott Sutherland - given how much he argued with the umpires on Sat, he must be a far better umpire than everyone else!!!

[robby]

HAHA , very good call DA.

[Armytank]

No one else has installed lights of that calibre because they are too bloody expensive, the only reason Mt Lofty have them is because they were partly helped with a council grant if I understand correctly.

Playing night footy is a great novelty, it has great atmosphere, bigger crowds and of course more gate and bar takings but this only helps the home team. Sure someone could run a "home" game there when Lofty are away but I would imagine that the extra funds taken over the bar and at the gate would be negated by the hire cost of the facility. So why play a home game away from your own club?

Friday nights are dificult with junior grades, remember u12's start at 8:50 on Staurday mornings and the A's don't finish until after 5:30 most days. That makes for a long night if all is played in the one night. So Saturday nights make sense with the juniors kicking off around 1:00pm which is what has happened in the past Lofty vs Ironbank games.

But this also makes Saturday nights long and reduces the away teams takings over the bar and meals back at their own club as some clubs may not get back to their own oval by 8:30 - 9:00pm.

Mt Lofty have a great advantage playing at home under lights but I suppose it could be argued that it is no different to Melbourne teams playing at AAMI Stadium or Subiaco.......but we ain't the AFL! Playing in the feezing cold at Heathfield on a Saturday night is not my idea of a good time either.

It is an interesting concept that I both enjoy and loathe, I hope it does not go away but I hope it is not more frequent as well. This is just my honest opinion and food for thought I suppose, I look forward to your comments!

[Justquietly]

Hard to please, Army Tank? Fair point, good to get the view of a non-devil.
If you're worried about it being too cold...my friend, it's the hills, winter and maybe you're not running hard enough
Dropkick - admittedly, the Demons were the better B's team, on the day... and in all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a Lofty Uri's B grade decider.
Both teams were missing some integral players, as you stated, and Lofty were without Madsen and A's still minus 3 players, so B's will get stronger.
What about someone else, how are the Barkers and Ironbakanks and Blackwoods looking in B's?

[robby]

Barker looked very good against the Devils in B grade, but i do think they had quality players running round in the B's they arent always their and also with A's probably not in finals, could be a threat, Ironbank will always be a threat with some of the quality in their B grade. Blackwood thumped Ironbank last week so should be in reasonable form.

[devilsadvocate]

Armytank, I understand that opposition clubs are lured to play night footy against the Devils with a cash sweetener to offset the loss of takings back at their own clubrooms. Plus lets face it, nobody makes money on meals sold at their club.

On the point of it being cold, all night games are in April or early May to avoid the cold winter nights. Don't you train at night during the week? At Lofty we train tuesday and thursday nights at 6:15, which roughly equates to the time we'd normally be playing night games. We do this because we have a good time, and it helps us on Saturdays too! Hills footy is all about freezing your nuts off in winter. Otherwise the seson would go from Oct - Mar, and I can see a whole lot of issues there!

[Armytank]

Sorry if it came off a bit negative JQ, you are probably right about the running bit Saturday's are cold enough at Heathfield on those concerete steps without the sun going down as well but isn't that why we love footy in the Hills?

The way I see it is that Ironbank would be looking forward to the week off and hitting that first week of spring flat out, Blackwood the same (show up at half time and still win) and who knows about Barker?

[Justquietly]

Yeah...3 B grade teams with no A grade participation (maybe Barker)...you can almost smell finals.

[Mop Up]

As far as Night Football goes, I think it is a great thrill to play under lights and have bigger crowds there but if it is played more than possibly the novelty of it will wear out and crowds will start to not show up.

Ironbank are the smokey in the B grade being they've beaten Uraidla twice and drawn with Mt Lofty. It is a matter of what team shows up on the day. Very Hot and Cold. ( Been beaten by onkas, hahndorf, lobethal)
Blackwood always produce good B grade outfit but you would say Lofty is still the favourite depsite their loss

Golden Whistle should be dumped this year HAHA..thanks to the appauling standard of umpiring. Not sure how it's been at other games but many A grade games this yr have become a dabacle due to some clear mistakes. Gifting 2 or 3 goals to teams in close matches. Umpires should not decide the outcome of games.

Anyways as we're all saying.....BRING ON FINALS

[great dropkick]

The concept of night footy might be good, but I think a few clubs have woken up that playing Lofty under lights just adds to their strength. I mean haven't they had the lights up a few years now, but it seems only last and this season that they have been really keen to play at night. Probably because the gate money and extra takings help out to lay the tracks for the money train. So if you don't play em .. how do they pay em? Would be unfortunate if the other clubs did decide not to play them. Maybe the idea of neutral clubs playing under lights there has merit, but Lofty would probably want their cut!

[super.b's]

my god he's a bitter dropkick today lads.. what an astonishing thing mtlofty do. how dare they raise money for their club.... alot of hard work went into getting those lights up mate, now if ur done bagging what the devils do then maybe u should head down ur commitee meetings and sort out some fund faisers of ur own. who knows u might be able to afford sutherland for another few weeks.

[Special K]

The Indian knows what its like to win a mail medal ask him, also ask Silky he would love to tell you how many mail medalshes won and what they look like

[Dr.Football]

I say good luck to the club that gets it shite together and builds lights that are to the standard of night football. If other clubs are worried about the Home ground advantage, get some lights. As for the bar takings, seriously people how much are we taking over the bar on away games. In my opinion it is up to each and every one of us to promote the great game of Aussie Rules, and if night games will drag the couch potato out to our games then lets do it. As for the cold, even caveman knew how to light fires ie offset the additional gate takings with the purchase of outdoor gas heating. I know as a player i would much rather play night games, away or home.

[in and under]

Now I am a Lobey man and i would be very happy to see our club take part in night fixtures, and i think all clubs should build on getting quality lights, arent hahndorf next on the list to get some decent lights?

[devilsadvocate]

Love your work Doc. You must be a smart fella!

Clubs make their money from home games. The Devils are happy to subsidise clubs for lost away game bar and meal earnings because we are keen to promote the game with the fantastic spectacle that is night footy at Heathfield. I'm sure that if any other club had suitable lights, we would be willing to have a night fixture with them.

On home ground advantage, just because we are playing under lights doesn't give us a greater advantage. EVERY club trains under lights all year, so if you actually go to training, you should be used to the lights. What about Uri's home ground advantage over the last few years. All those games have been played during the day, so should we force them to play at night to counter that dominance? If you want to counter this perceived home ground advantage, it's simple - get as many of your clubs supporters to away games as possible. That's been one of the drivers of Mt Lofty's success this year, and credit must also be given to those clubs who have come to Heathfield in force to barrack for and support their sides. Nothing beats playing in front of a massive crowd with some good old banter being thrown around.

[Rapper]

I cant believe we are still going on about Matt Cooper

[great dropkick]

Super bs ... although not quite so I noticed last Saturday! ... Scott Sutherland is on board with us because he luvs the club atmosphere and is mates with some of the guys. Regardless of what you mite think, all our guys play for a token amount, let's face it, Uraidla isn't that big a place ... haven't got the resources of the money train. If Tav, Loffs, Ando, Mitch and co were in it for the dough, they would most certainly find clubs closer to home to play for .. they all stayed after winning a flag cos they luv Uraidla and the atmosphere. Be interesting to see if ... and it's a big 'if' ... Mt Lofty do win the flag, how many of the 'check book charlies' hang around ... Tressinski, Gordon, Wait, and that Mehhtar bloke all appear mercenaries to me. Don't forget, Uri has consistently been at the top end of the scale for a few years, so surely if we were paying big bikkies, our financial state wouldn't be as sound as it is. For us it's a case of minimum outlay for maximum returns ... By the way, the Devils may well have appreciated playing on a superb surface last Saturday. Though they have made an effort, Heathfield still remains very much a goat track ... perhaps spend money on things that matter the most boys!