Is Roo serious?

[Dogwatcher]

Interesting that there's a call to axe the reserves and shift them to SAAFL clubs, meaning division one.
That'll make the lower clubs happy, losing gun players and talented kids to a higher club at the whim of an SANFL club.
Clubs are happy to see their players head to an SANFL club to have a crack, generally, but shifting them to div one clubs won't produce much delight.
Also, if it costs so much to run a reserves team, who's going to cover that cost for SAAFL clubs? Those clubs have also been hit hard by the changes in football, along with societal changes in the past 20 years.
I'm not sure if the reserves does not serve a purpose...how many of the kids drafted in the past decade have been playing league at their clubs? Many would spend their time in the reserves, developing their skills.
I know that Roo is a very good friend of a board member at Westies, wonder if they've had a chat about this...

[Squawk]

Just on SANFL clubs and crowds, there are some good points being made of late.

The league must be scratching its head with SANFL attendances this year. They have put next to no media promotion into it, increased ticket prices at the gate by 20%, programmed competing Friday night games and yet crowds have been great. AFL crowds (in Adelaide) on the other hand have been poor. It's almost getting to the point where the League might have to think about surveying SANFL club members about AFL attendances, LOL.

Just about every SANFL club has had real financial troubles in the last decade. Central has won just about every flag in that time and they can't afford to upgrade their oval lighting. North has done well but only after J-Lo came to the rescue with a pokies venue licence. South has done well, but largely due to a $1 year peppercorn rent for Noarlunga noting it has had a low membership base for years; Norwood struggled with losses in about 5 consecutive years and is still hard at it to keep its nose above water; Sturt has had problems with BarZaar and Unley Oval; Port nearly collapsed last year but then about 5,000 old and new faces signed up memberships in addition to the existing 3,000; the Bays have made a huge investment in their club facilities/function centre; And somehow Westies has survived with a base of not much more than 1,000 members until recently; and I'm not sure of the financial history with the Eagles but they seem to struggle to get crowds to match their on field performances in the last 10 years.

Contrast this with the local AFL clubs who have spent massive money building Taj Mahal facilities; Expanded their on field and off field staff enormously; Undertaken overseas trips to research best practice ; introduced new technologies like heart monitors, trackers, video capability to be sent to player's smart phones; About the only things they haven't invested in as yet are a hyperbaric chamber each and a private mountain in the Swiss Alps to do Altitude Training at, sight unseen. Oh, and the private jet to transport players to away games at low altitude.

[SANFLnut]

What about the kids that get drafted here and are not ready to play league footy yet? Bet the Power would have loved Pittard, Butcher , Moore, Trengove etc. running around in the amateur league last year.

[saintal]

Some very good pts made in this thread. I suggest people leave comments on the adelaidenow link.

[SnappyTom]

Just on SANFL clubs and crowds, there are some good points being made of late.

The league must be scratching its head with SANFL attendances this year. They have put next to no media promotion into it, increased ticket prices at the gate by 20%, programmed competing Friday night games and yet crowds have been great. AFL crowds (in Adelaide) on the other hand have been poor. It's almost getting to the point where the League might have to think about surveying SANFL club members about AFL attendances, LOL.

Just about every SANFL club has had real financial troubles in the last decade. Central has won just about every flag in that time and they can't afford to upgrade their oval lighting. North has done well but only after J-Lo came to the rescue with a pokies venue licence. South has done well, but largely due to a $1 year peppercorn rent for Noarlunga noting it has had a low membership base for years; Norwood struggled with losses in about 5 consecutive years and is still hard at it to keep its nose above water; Sturt has had problems with BarZaar and Unley Oval; Port nearly collapsed last year but then about 5,000 old and new faces signed up memberships in addition to the existing 3,000; the Bays have made a huge investment in their club facilities/function centre; And somehow Westies has survived with a base of not much more than 1,000 members until recently; and I'm not sure of the financial history with the Eagles but they seem to struggle to get crowds to match their on field performances in the last 10 years.

Contrast this with the local AFL clubs who have spent massive money building Taj Mahal facilities; Expanded their on field and off field staff enormously; Undertaken overseas trips to research best practice ; introduced new technologies like heart monitors, trackers, video capability to be sent to player's smart phones; About the only things they haven't invested in as yet are a hyperbaric chamber each and a private mountain in the Swiss Alps to do Altitude Training at, sight unseen. Oh, and the private jet to transport players to away games at low altitude.

Excellent post, Squawk. Totally agree... ST...

[Pseudo]

... I suggest people leave comments on the adelaidenow link.

What, and confirm that people actually read their poxy tabloid?

[Dirko]

One too many concussion injuries me thinks.

Yep, my thoughts exactly.

Geffugged peanut....

[Gozu]

Pretty poor article by Roo. If the Crows have 45,000 members and are now losing money that says to me the people running the club are doing something wrong. I'm sure there are a million areas the Crows could cut back on spending even outside of the player payments. But yeah sink the boot into the SANFL, the whole reason the Crows and Power even exist.

[The Sleeping Giant]

Yeah but it's his mates running the show at the crows.

[heater31]

Absolute Rubbish, I bet the Jarman brothers paid him to write that tripe. Andrew in particular wants the Reserves comp gone as he has financial gain with his 'Football Academy'.


Not sure with the quoted running costs for a reserves side either. The players are paid peanuts and most of the support staff are volunteers or are involved with the League side

[tigerpie]

Get fugged Roo

GOLD!!!!

[Sir Red of Norwood]

Roo can eat a d|ck, the SANFL does not exist purely for the purpose of being an enabler to the wastefulness of the AFL clubs in this state. the SANFL owns the licences right? that makes the 9 clubs 'the boss man' in the relationship right? Not happy to see local footy being picked on here, not after the excellent way it has bounced back after the damage done to it by the V/AFL.

[Dutchy]

Pretty poor article by Roo. If the Crows have 45,000 members and are now losing money that says to me the people running the club are doing something wrong. I'm sure there are a million areas the Crows could cut back on spending even outside of the player payments. But yeah sink the boot into the SANFL, the whole reason the Crows and Power even exist.

Port have 35,000 members, thats 80,000 AFL club members in the state, and its the SANFL clubs fault , gimme a break...

[SABRE]

Perhaps all businesses that Mr Ricciuto has an interest in can be listed here.
I would certainly like to know them by name so I can boycott them until we
get a full apology for this disgraceful attitude.

Better still, all true South Australians should completely boycott the Victorian
joke calling itself an AFL.

[tigerpie]

first the 19's now they want the reserves gone as well!!!.....where does this end ffs...the inception of the adelaide football club almost killed the GFC,(coach players support staff,admin etc) and yes i know it hurt every club.Through determination and sheer hard work the GFC and other clubs fought back and are now being rewarded for their efforts with good crowd numbers and membership.. And with great development programs, the AFL is benefitting by the standard of athlete presented to them at the draft camps.So now they want to give the sanfl clubs another whack in the hip pocket...GOOD ONE!!!.....What a greedy article by a bloke that i used to respect.

[Barto]

I'm not sure if the reserves does not serve a purpose...how many of the kids drafted in the past decade have been playing league at their clubs? Many would spend their time in the reserves, developing their skills..

Could be a hidden agenda there, imagine the outcry if an AFL rookie were playing ammos. We MUST have a Crows and Port reserves in the league then!!!

Or perhaps I'm mistaking Roo's idiocy for malice and he hadn't thought that far ahead.

[Barto]

Absolute Rubbish, I bet the Jarman brothers paid him to write that tripe. Andrew in particular wants the Reserves comp gone as he has financial gain with his 'Football Academy'.


Not sure with the quoted running costs for a reserves side either. The players are paid peanuts and most of the support staff are volunteers or are involved with the League side

Andrew Jarman is still involved in football? Unreal.

[The Apostle]

... I suggest people leave comments on the adelaidenow link.

What, and confirm that people actually read their poxy tabloid?

Take my advice and just read The Australian...i'd rather have 0% SANFL than the shite that's dished up in the sports section of The Antagoniser!

[Barto]

Contrast this with the local AFL clubs who have spent massive money building Taj Mahal facilities; Expanded their on field and off field staff enormously; Undertaken overseas trips to research best practice ; introduced new technologies like heart monitors, trackers, video capability to be sent to player's smart phones; About the only things they haven't invested in as yet are a hyperbaric chamber each and a private mountain in the Swiss Alps to do Altitude Training at, sight unseen. Oh, and the private jet to transport players to away games at low altitude.

Good point by the way, again some idiotic on the comments section of the article suggested that the clubs should keep every cent and be "super clubs". Oh really? How many facilities can the Crows build? It seems pointless for the AFL clubs to hoard masses of money if the commitment to football development is abandoned. Some people just dont even see the bigger picture at all.

[whufc]

Wasnt it Tyson Edwards who refused to play SANFL last year when dropped from the AFL, also didnt Shaun Rehn sue AAMI Stadium (SANFL owned) a fair while back........

mmmmmmmmmmm. Edwards, Rehn and now Riccuito all have something in common.