HFL Division 1 (Central)

[always there]

Take Torrens Valley out of the equation ATS, not paying big bucks for players, yeah right that is funny. But your are right smaller towns Bridgewater, Lobethal, Ironbank great junior program not big bucks for seniors. It is possible have faith in your local talent and build on it don't disregard what you have right in front of you.

[supercoach]

I just looked at ironbanks last team for A grade this year and they had 17 local juniors playing. Would be interesting to see comparative numbers for locals for lofty, Bridgey, blackwood and TV. All the teams that finished out of the 5. I would say lofty and ironbank did not fork out much coin. On the other hand barker proved what fools they are in paying wat they did to proven losers all for nothing in the end and uraidla can laugh all the way to the bank 4 flags in 5 years.( no kids but). Winners are grinders and good on em.

[bailey39]

I just looked at ironbanks last team for A grade this year and they had 17 local juniors playing. Would be interesting to see comparative numbers for locals for lofty, Bridgey, blackwood and TV. All the teams that finished out of the 5. I would say lofty and ironbank did not fork out much coin. On the other hand barker proved what fools they are in paying wat they did to proven losers all for nothing in the end and uraidla can laugh all the way to the bank 4 flags in 5 years.( no kids but). Winners are grinders and good on em.

How many local juniors in Uraidla's team yesterday?
I dont understand why we pay some of the people we do when alot of our juniors turn out to be very good players!

[cracka]

I just looked at ironbanks last team for A grade this year and they had 17 local juniors playing. Would be interesting to see comparative numbers for locals for lofty, Bridgey, blackwood and TV. All the teams that finished out of the 5. I would say lofty and ironbank did not fork out much coin. On the other hand barker proved what fools they are in paying wat they did to proven losers all for nothing in the end and uraidla can laugh all the way to the bank 4 flags in 5 years.( no kids but). Winners are grinders and good on em.

If the are happy laughing all the way to the bank with 4 flags in 5 years then fine. I don't want to then hear them crying poor us coz they've got no juniors & need help from other clubs or need the rules changed.

[always there]

Might have taken a few years but Lobethal have proven that money is not needed to create a winning side and Bridgewater are on the same track. Belief and perseverance can work. Pity the big boys feel the need to have instant success. Success is much more satisfying when you know you have worked on it. Happy to see some clubs sticking to their pride some may not have made top five but still staying true to their club and towns.

[Afterthesiren]

Good chat here. I hope the Clubs vote so the rules stay the same in Central. Then I hope the HFL has the balls to advise Uraidla if they don't have 5 sides on Saturday then it's off to Country Div.

[norm11]

What age group are the 3 kids sides??

[Afterthesiren]

What age group are the 3 kids sides??

U17, U15 & U13.

[Lake]

Kepa(senior colt), sutton, kluvanek, tudor, pridham all juniors not to mention all the players who have stayed around for year after year. seems to me that a few clubs should be looking at uraidlas culture to see how success is built.

[always there]

So are you saying 5 local juniors in you A grade side Lake. So what happens when you run out of juniors deemed good enough to play in your A grade side? You will need to spend more money on recruits and push more local juniors away, your team is undeniably a great side but they are ageing and will need to be replaced eventually. And so the cycle will begin again. Many clubs have a great culture and have recruits that remain for many years so you are not unique.

[The Panther]

I don't think cutting player payments in the A grade will mean more under 13's will play at Uraidla.
It is a challenge for all smaller towns to fill junior sides from time to time.

[saintal]

So are you saying 5 local juniors in you A grade side Lake. So what happens when you run out of juniors deemed good enough to play in your A grade side? You will need to spend more money on recruits and push more local juniors away, your team is undeniably a great side but they are ageing and will need to be replaced eventually. And so the cycle will begin again. Many clubs have a great culture and have recruits that remain for many years so you are not unique.

Richards and Moulds also locals/former juniors. But not too many others I think.

[has been]

There are some good points being made on here for once. I think we all agree that money is the root of all evil and will kill off local footy if we continue to pay copious amounts out that should instead be spent within the club itself. I can appreciate and relate to how difficult It is for sides outside of major towns like hahndorf , barker, blackwood etc to maintain junior numbers including uraidla. The fact that uraidla spend coin and get quality players that hang around has no bearing on their kid numbers. They are fortunate enough to have a group of players that know how to play in and win big games when needed. They will have a problem though when those guys retire in a year or so. The club I admire over the past 2 years is Lofty who have said no to paying players but I know from the members there I talk to that the club is a much better place to be around. They have mountins of kids participating. I found out recently that the hfl have like a junior sub committee looking into the structure of junior footy in the hills at present. A little birdie said the 4 clubs on that committee are guess who ? The big 4 towns who don't actually have problems so they can't possibly be serious can they. By the way can mt barker take that stupid sign down that stretches across gawler street. Also heard they pay people to run the sponsorship and other facets of the club. What hope do a lot of the other clubs have. Maybe we are headed down the path of super comp with 4 teams in it and a comp with the clubs that don't want to pay big bucks and a comp for the c graders.

[dutchoven]

Who are "the big four" that we are hearing so much about these days?
Im guessing Mt Barker, Hahndorf, Blackwood!!!! Then is it Mt Lofty, Uraidla, Bridgewater, Onkas or Lobethal?
and is this based on success or population?

[norm11]

Would dropping the under 15s and having under under 13s and under 17s only help out the clubs struggling to fill the 3 sides

[Power From Port]

Would dropping the under 15s and having under under 13s and under 17s only help out the clubs struggling to fill the 3 sides

I can see where you're coming from but by dropping U/15's you potentially have 13 year olds playing against 18 year olds which can't be any good. Maybe making the junior grades U/14's and U/17''s might work better.

[Esteban Vihaio]

I just looked at ironbanks last team for A grade this year and they had 17 local juniors playing. Would be interesting to see comparative numbers for locals for lofty, Bridgey, blackwood and TV. All the teams that finished out of the 5. I would say lofty and ironbank did not fork out much coin. On the other hand barker proved what fools they are in paying wat they did to proven losers all for nothing in the end and uraidla can laugh all the way to the bank 4 flags in 5 years.( no kids but). Winners are grinders and good on em.

If the are happy laughing all the way to the bank with 4 flags in 5 years then fine. I don't want to then hear them crying poor us coz they've got no juniors & need help from other clubs or need the rules changed.

Not following the league I wonder if I am missing something? i see that Uraidla have sides for under 13's, junior and senior colts. How could the cry that they have no juniors?

[cracka]

There are some good points being made on here for once. I think we all agree that money is the root of all evil and will kill off local footy if we continue to pay copious amounts out that should instead be spent within the club itself. I can appreciate and relate to how difficult It is for sides outside of major towns like hahndorf , barker, blackwood etc to maintain junior numbers including uraidla. The fact that uraidla spend coin and get quality players that hang around has no bearing on their kid numbers. They are fortunate enough to have a group of players that know how to play in and win big games when needed. They will have a problem though when those guys retire in a year or so. The club I admire over the past 2 years is Lofty who have said no to paying players but I know from the members there I talk to that the club is a much better place to be around. They have mountins of kids participating. I found out recently that the hfl have like a junior sub committee looking into the structure of junior footy in the hills at present. A little birdie said the 4 clubs on that committee are guess who ? The big 4 towns who don't actually have problems so they can't possibly be serious can they. By the way can mt barker take that stupid sign down that stretches across gawler street. Also heard they pay people to run the sponsorship and other facets of the club. What hope do a lot of the other clubs have. Maybe we are headed down the path of super comp with 4 teams in it and a comp with the clubs that don't want to pay big bucks and a comp for the c graders.

You are 1/2 correct in this. It used to have a rep from Birdwood, Maccy, Hahndorf, Lobethal & Gumeracha & 2 HFL board members & was called the Junior Advisory committee. Now I think it is just the 2 HFL board members, 1 from Hahndorf & 1 from Lobethal who sat down together 1 sunday & tried to come up with some proposals to help out Junior footy in the Hills. As far as I know the Junior advisory committee is no longer around.

[cracka]

I just looked at ironbanks last team for A grade this year and they had 17 local juniors playing. Would be interesting to see comparative numbers for locals for lofty, Bridgey, blackwood and TV. All the teams that finished out of the 5. I would say lofty and ironbank did not fork out much coin. On the other hand barker proved what fools they are in paying wat they did to proven losers all for nothing in the end and uraidla can laugh all the way to the bank 4 flags in 5 years.( no kids but). Winners are grinders and good on em.

If the are happy laughing all the way to the bank with 4 flags in 5 years then fine. I don't want to then hear them crying poor us coz they've got no juniors & need help from other clubs or need the rules changed.

Not following the league I wonder if I am missing something? i see that Uraidla have sides for under 13's, junior and senior colts. How could the cry that they have no juniors?

Being that I am the Junior rep from Onkas I do know a bit about this. When the teams in the country U13's had a bye Uraidla would borrow players from those teams just to field a side. Their U15's also needed help from opposition clubs to field a side. Onkas helped them out twice this year so they could have games. I do feel sorry for the Uraidla Junior rep as he does so much work for that club to keep their juniors going & I don't think he is getting much help.

[cracka]

Kids generally want to play football with their mates for their town and for their club. This is tradition and pride in a club many have been born into and grown up with. To tell a young lad he can not play for his club, with his mates or for his town is ridiculous and I can only imagine how this would make them feel. Most clubs do lots of ground work to keep their juniors like Auskick, visit schools with football clinics and generally get involved with the local schools to ensure their interest in footy. Uraidla has a number of schools in its local area I believe. How do they go with Netball juniors? Sure give the boys an option to play elsewhere but don't force them to travel out of town for training and playing. Clubs that work hard on their junior program should not have to help those who don't. How about some one ask the boys how they feel.

I did at Onkas U15's this year to help out Uraidla & the boys (not the parents) all said they would rather miss out on a game & run water for their mates than play at another club. We also did it last year to try & help Gumeracha in the U17's with the exact same result. I would hate to be the one who has to tell a kid "you cant play at Onkas coz we've got to many numbers, you'll have to go to another club" if capping was brought in.