Sturt in Financial Trouble?

[The Apostle]

Start rattling cans...

[SDK]

Firstly Unley Common is a disgrace and League football should never be played there, the surface is not good enough and quite frankly is dangerous to play on.
Wayville is too far away from the play and good luck getting a fair deal from the Show Society !!!!
Sturt should consider playing some night games at Norwood Oval. The Sturt area is very close and supporters would not have to travel far and be seated in an historic and traditional venue. If these games were home games revenue from food and drink would go to Sturt and how many would go back to Unley club rooms anyway ? Grab a beer after the game in the Premiers Bar.
Mount Barker is a logical choice and long term might be the anwer .... better be quick before West Adelaide are given more of the traditional Sturt Hills area !

[CENTURION]

Why doesn't The SANFL chip in? After all, it has done for....

[Dutchy]

Not sure the council should be disclosing that Sturt are behind in their rent, how is that good for anyone?

[Spargo]

Grab a beer after the game in the Premiers Bar.

Half time even! One of the few untouched treasures left in the SANFL - along with Westies past players in the carpark at Richmond.

[wildcat]

Why doesn't The SANFL chip in? After all, it has done for....

SANFL can't afford to bail Sturd out, all their dosh has gone (north) west!

[csbowes]

How do you not pay your rent?

If this is because of the sponsors who didn't pay up, Sturt should be pursuing them in the courts with the leagues help, unless of course the sponsorship deals were non-binding (i.e. worthless).

If its because of some other reason, geez I'd like to know how the hell that happens, you pay your bills first, if that means you go without certain players or equipment or whatever, then you do, there's no point being competitive on the field and a basket case off it, you need to be financially stable first, the team then has to come second.

Bottom but stable is better than mid-table but on the brink of oblivion... just look at Rangers FC, who would have thought that could happen to such a massive club...

I still don't understand why the club chooses not to disclose its complete financial situation to the members in plain English and explain what has transpired over the last few years to get us into this situation. I know some said "past is past", but lessons learnt is one of the basic principles of good management (look up PMBOK), how else do you learn if you don't review past actions.

On field, while being a favourite for the spoon, I don't think the team is an embarrassment by any stretch of the imagination, but all these rumours certainly make one question the long term future of the club, not just at Unley, but anywhere.

[ChickCock]

You could always try & merge with North again !

We have plenty of Cash now and luv to share

[Bluedemon]

Sturt has themselves to blame. If Sturt had never left Unley maybe they would never be in this spot right now. They would still have fences around the oval and wouldn't need to hire them. I wish we could use the BBQ on game days near the scoreboard.

It wasnt Sturts fault when they left, all the talk in the mid 80s was about ground rationalisation from the SANFL and the SANFL were going to support the clubs, the focus then changed when the Crows came in and money was spent on them.

The idea of moving to Mt Barker will not happen for awhile now as the SANFL were going to look at building a ground on the Mt Barker showgrounds big enough to play SANFL footy on it with some grandstands, similar in a way to Noarlunga Oval and was going to be shared by Sturt and Mt Barker Roos for some home games. Now this wont happend while the new Adelaide Oval is going to be built.

I like the idea of still using Football Park in a reduced capacity, could be used as the match of the day venue for the ABC maybe.

[jumbo20]

Well how precarious is the situation, not much seems to be known factually or released by the club.If we are not paying our rent what else is not being paid?Players?coaches?Staff?

Transparency please

[Barto]

Sturt has themselves to blame. If Sturt had never left Unley maybe they would never be in this spot right now. They would still have fences around the oval and wouldn't need to hire them. I wish we could use the BBQ on game days near the scoreboard.

Sturt never left Unley.

[smac]

Productive approach there Barto.

If my club were in this shit I'd be working out how I can help, not playing with factual minutia.

[Dutchy]

Well how precarious is the situation, not much seems to be known factually or released by the club.If we are not paying our rent what else is not being paid?Players?coaches?Staff?

Transparency please

Id suggest they are behind in the rent (potentially have an arrangement with the council) so they can meet the commitments you mention above.

[therisingblues]

Sturt should consider playing some night games at Norwood Oval. The Sturt area is very close and supporters would not have to travel far and be seated in an historic and traditional venue. If these games were home games revenue from food and drink would go to Sturt and how many would go back to Unley club rooms anyway ? Grab a beer after the game in the Premiers Bar.
Mount Barker is a logical choice and long term might be the anwer .... better be quick before West Adelaide are given more of the traditional Sturt Hills area !

I was initially revolted by this idea, but the more I think about it the more I realize it maybe isn't so bad, and we are short of options.
Back in the day of ground rationalisation a number of VFL clubs came to use Carlton's home ground as their own. So precendents do exist, even if it's in other leagues.
Footy park's too big and far, Wayville too small, Mt Barker not ready.
Perhaps a stint at Norwood would be alright until Mt Barker gets sorted out?

[therisingblues]

Sturt has themselves to blame. If Sturt had never left Unley maybe they would never be in this spot right now. They would still have fences around the oval and wouldn't need to hire them. I wish we could use the BBQ on game days near the scoreboard.

It wasnt Sturts fault when they left, all the talk in the mid 80s was about ground rationalisation from the SANFL and the SANFL were going to support the clubs, the focus then changed when the Crows came in .

Spot on as I remember it. The media and SANFL applauded us for making the move. Ultimately it wasn't in our best interests.

[DOC]

Prior to playing their home games at Adelaide oval. Sturt sought a merger partner and were unable to find a suitor. They have been doing it hard financially for a long time now and this ends up straining many relationships. The move to Adelaide has proven with the benefit of hindsight to have hurt the club and put it in a weaker bargaining position.

I hope for Sturts very loyal supporters that the impending change to arrangements regarding sharing Unley Oval with other tenants will give them greater financial surety. However, it is not good business let alone fiscally responsible paying for player clearances (such as Ben Kane) last year given the recorded loss of some $360,00 ish. Whilst final books would not neccesarily have been known at the time, they would have had at least a 75% ball park figure.

Neither Mt Barker or Wayville are solutions. Stay at Unley and cut the cloth to suit.

[Barto]

Productive approach there Barto.

If my club were in this shit I'd be working out how I can help, not playing with factual minutia.

Outline the steps you'd take.

[Booney]

Productive approach there Barto.
If my club were in this shit I'd be working out how I can help, not playing with factual minutia.

Outline the steps you'd take.

I too am interested in not only smac's response, but that of others too.

Go on....

[therisingblues]

Prior to playing their home games at Adelaide oval. Sturt sought a merger partner and were unable to find a suitor. They have been doing it hard financially for a long time now....

Neither Mt Barker or Wayville are solutions. Stay at Unley and cut the cloth to suit.

Huh? From memory we moved to Adelaide in 1986.
the 20 years preceding that we'd won more games and more premierships than any other club. Why would we be searching for a merger partner under such circumstances? Surely it'd be more of a takeover, we were a powerhouse back then.
Got any proof?

P.S how can we cut the cloth at Unley? On most days this year it'd be cheaper to have no fence at all and let people in free than put the thing up. How would anyone make money under those circumstances?

[smac]

1. NOT go online and argue irrelevant facts when the intent of the post was both clear and correct.

2. Contact the club and ask what I could do.

3. Go and do it.

In the case of Sturt, perhaps take leadership and form a group to run for the board as the current admin would struggle to give answers.

Sitting around doesn't help, that much I am sure we'll agree on.