HFL Division 1 (Central)

[MakeMyDay]

Just back from O/S after many months away and hear Callington is now the problem of Div 1, sorry. Have read past posts and did not gather alot of info. What has gone down there? I am told (feel free to correct me) they sold out the club to please a few vacant people who had kids that wanted a game to Bridgewater. If this is the case I am not happy. I am an original player and no-one asked me, if they had I would have helped stop this decision. They had my details, if this is true its p##spoor. What about the Seniors or don't they matter? Very ordinary that the town has lost the club which started there, how selfish. Sorry to clog this site if I am unwanted but I have contacted 3 original people amd and all said they didnt get a look in. A very weak effort I reckon.

I think you are right Ktm in that no-one wants to hear any more about Callington on this site. United Eagles are over. I can't comment on the reasons you mentioned re selling out to Bridgewater. I do know some original people were asked for input but many weren't when they should have been. The meeting which decided the merger was not advertised until three days before it happened, leaving many unaware.

United Eagles had some incredible glory days early on, but the powers-that-be let the baby out with the bathwater around eight years after its' formation and the club imploded not long after. Best for those involved on and off the field that they remember the club for what it was and what it achieved. Anyone interested in early days memorobilia PM me. Then move on, forget the Eagles and spare this site Callington raves. Plenty of clubs are looking for passionate people. Find one!

PS If you are who I think you are Ktm, 'C's play on Friday nights and Sunday arvos.

Seriously! You 2 have been pushing your barrow for god knows how long. Now your pushing your crap here. HTR, KTM you should've stayed o/s together. All in and around Callington township - not just the football club - past tense - know your past with that club and the demise of persons who just can't move on. Houses suffer white ants same as houses of cards. When they come down upon you, learn from it, suck it up, and move on. Geez! How longs it been? 11th year? Get a life!!

[has been]

Who are playing trials this long weekend ? Be good to get some results on here.

[woodublieve12]

i would like to thank the ironbank footy club for a good hit out today. Games were played in good spirits... Also good to see a few of the lads come in for a beer afterwards. good luck for the season ahead.

[Afterthesiren]

When will the HFL intoduce a cap on the numbers of players in a junior team? I know quite a few leagues are doing this now. The number I think is 28 - 30, this should be introduced immediately. Clubs with excess juniors will then have to direct those players to neighbouring clubs. This will at least enable these young kids a kick on Saturdays rather than watching from the sidelines or being lost to footy altogether. If there was any cause for a special general meeting to be called this would be one. Get it done HFL. Save our junior footy.

[tomo]

i would like to thank the ironbank footy club for a good hit out today. Games were played in good spirits... Also good to see a few of the lads come in for a beer afterwards. good luck for the season ahead.

Who won this game?

[old fullback]

Callington,Callington,Callington,

[woodublieve12]

i would like to thank the ironbank footy club for a good hit out today. Games were played in good spirits... Also good to see a few of the lads come in for a beer afterwards. good luck for the season ahead.

Who won this game?

plympton reserves got up by about 6 goals.... Plympton A's won by bout 10 points... both sides and grades were pretty depleted...
Ironbank may need to tweek there game plan, pretty predictable...

[bailey39]

When will the HFL intoduce a cap on the numbers of players in a junior team? I know quite a few leagues are doing this now. The number I think is 28 - 30, this should be introduced immediately. Clubs with excess juniors will then have to direct those players to neighbouring clubs. This will at least enable these young kids a kick on Saturdays rather than watching from the sidelines or being lost to footy altogether. If there was any cause for a special general meeting to be called this would be one. Get it done HFL. Save our junior footy.

Yeah Kangarilla who won the SC premiership last year look like they wont be able to field a SC team. Theyve approached all the big Central div clubs looking to see if the have excess kids that they can give a game each week but apparently no one wants to give them any help

[Bat Pad]

Yeah I dont know what people are thinking. Allowing kids to play for the footy club they
want to play for. Madness

[Gervais]

When will the HFL intoduce a cap on the numbers of players in a junior team? I know quite a few leagues are doing this now. The number I think is 28 - 30, this should be introduced immediately. Clubs with excess juniors will then have to direct those players to neighbouring clubs. This will at least enable these young kids a kick on Saturdays rather than watching from the sidelines or being lost to footy altogether. If there was any cause for a special general meeting to be called this would be one. Get it done HFL. Save our junior footy.

you can't dictate where a junior plays. if they would rather play for their club and maybe only get a game 2 out of every 3 weeks, then so be it.
kids and their parents aren't interested in playing for a team they have no connection with. they want to play with their mates, not fill in for kangarilla (for example).
i agree the difference in junior numbers between the big and small clubs is a worry, but mandating that excess kids play for another club just wont work.

[Afterthesiren]

Silly comments really, be nice if AFL draftees could play for their childhood supported clubs too. And being a parent I'd rather see my son play 18 rounds instead of 5 or 6. And yes it'd be nice to play with your mates if you were picked. The reality is we are already losing kids to footy because there is no cap, so pull your head out of your ar$e and think about it for a minute. I take it you are both from big town clubs so you could give a $hit if young Tommy has to sit on the sidelines week in week out.

[rock]

Yeah I dont know what people are thinking. Allowing kids to play for the footy club they
want to play for. Madness

That's the whole point Bat Pad, the kids don't get to play at all. Unless you are into recruiting kids as spectators or slave labour around the club. I'd rather my lad gets a game each week than watch from the boundry. Plus it does the young fellas confidence no good finding out each week he's not good enough to play. Yet he may be a late developer and turn out to be great at senior footy level. Plus it's great for their social skills to meet new people/mates outside of their comfort zone. Time to look at the big picture.

[Gervais]

Silly comments really, be nice if AFL draftees could play for their childhood supported clubs too. And being a parent I'd rather see my son play 18 rounds instead of 5 or 6. And yes it'd be nice to play with your mates if you were picked. The reality is we are already losing kids to footy because there is no cap, so pull your head out of your ar$e and think about it for a minute. I take it you are both from big town clubs so you could give a $hit if young Tommy has to sit on the sidelines week in week out.

you’re confusing two different issues here, and being a bit of a drama queen at the same time.

i don’t have a problem if tommy is happy to play for kangarilla instead of his home club (lets say Mt Barker). if his parents are willing and able to get him to kangarilla, sedan, macclesfield, etc, for games and don’t have other sons playing at Mt Barker who they also want to watch, then fine, its a good outcome for all concerned.

but that wasn’t what was being suggested above. there was a sense of entitlement that excess kids MUST be directed to smaller clubs, without any regard if the player wants to, or if his family have any interest or capacity to support him being redirected.

[has been]

Gervais go to metro south or some other junior leagues and they have to nominate 28 kids as a squad as the start of the year. If the kids don't make the list at one club they go to another of they want to play. So if they don't make lofty or blackwood say then then have achoice to Ironbank or elsewhere if they want to play. The problem is that the Town teams in Mt barker, hahndorf, Blackwood etc - dictate the HFL and blind freddy can run those junior programs. We have all seen the carry on from Blackwwod in the past few seasons with a certain persons win at all costs mentality. Bout time these clubs started looking at the future of HFL overall rather than their own selfish attitudes. Think you will find all the Kangy kids are going to a certain central club rather than play country div.

[From The Outer]

Country teams are going to struggle to survive long term without juniors. Clubs needs to understand their responsibilty in ensuring the long term viablity of all clubs. The gold competition so some teams can have 50 juniors while other teams battle to field one team is a joke. It will take some brave administrators to solve this problem because the larger clubs only look after themselves. Capping junior teams to a registration limit of say 28 would be of significant value to the struggling smaller clubs.

[Gervais]

Gervais go to metro south or some other junior leagues and they have to nominate 28 kids as a squad as the start of the year. If the kids don't make the list at one club they go to another of they want to play. So if they don't make lofty or blackwood say then then have achoice to Ironbank or elsewhere if they want to play. The problem is that the Town teams in Mt barker, hahndorf, Blackwood etc - dictate the HFL and blind freddy can run those junior programs. We have all seen the carry on from Blackwwod in the past few seasons with a certain persons win at all costs mentality. Bout time these clubs started looking at the future of HFL overall rather than their own selfish attitudes. Think you will find all the Kangy kids are going to a certain central club rather than play country div.

you do realise our opinions are almost the same don't you?

as you say above, the kids in the metro south 'have a choice' if they want to keep playing. happy to support this.

what i don't agree with is capping a club and mandating that a kid has to play elsewhere if they don't want to. if mt barker has 30 kids on its junior colts books, and the kids and parents are happy to have a roster so that kids play play 12 out of 18 games, why not.

as for blackwood, as i've said before on these forums, they are a metro club and shouldn't even be in the hfl.

[Afterthesiren]

Gervais go to metro south or some other junior leagues and they have to nominate 28 kids as a squad as the start of the year. If the kids don't make the list at one club they go to another of they want to play. So if they don't make lofty or blackwood say then then have achoice to Ironbank or elsewhere if they want to play. The problem is that the Town teams in Mt barker, hahndorf, Blackwood etc - dictate the HFL and blind freddy can run those junior programs. We have all seen the carry on from Blackwwod in the past few seasons with a certain persons win at all costs mentality. Bout time these clubs started looking at the future of HFL overall rather than their own selfish attitudes. Think you will find all the Kangy kids are going to a certain central club rather than play country div.

you do realise our opinions are almost the same don't you?

as you say above, the kids in the metro south 'have a choice' if they want to keep playing. happy to support this.

what i don't agree with is capping a club and mandating that a kid has to play elsewhere if they don't want to. if mt barker has 30 kids on its junior colts books, and the kids and parents are happy to have a roster so that kids play play 12 out of 18 games, why not.

as for blackwood, as i've said before on these forums, they are a metro club and shouldn't even be in the hfl.

Surely capping at 28-30 is reasonable, there's still 8 or 9 kids missing out on a game on a weekly basis. It's the clubs that have over 30 to 40 juniors that need to be giving these kids options elsewhere. I don't think the big clubs are that honest with the parents letting them think little Tommy will get a game soon. Then half a season goes by and it's too late or the young fella has lost interest. How is that great for footy??

[From The Outer]

Well said ATS.

[bailey39]

When i was in under 12s at Mt. Barker we play countless games filling in for country div sides and i have to say it awesome fun. We had Echunga Roos and Barker Lions (Barker/TV) made some great friends out it. most of us ended up playing 2 games a weekend and it was great (not that this would happen now with all the U13s games being on at the same time).
Looking back on it now i wouldnt change it because those boys from Echunga/Torrens Valley became our team mates and it was usually more fun playing for them than the actual Mt. Barker team, but i can understand why others wouldnt want to be shipped off to other clubs

[Bat Pad]

Yeah I dont know what people are thinking. Allowing kids to play for the footy club they
want to play for. Madness

That's the whole point Bat Pad, the kids don't get to play at all. Unless you are into recruiting kids as spectators or slave labour around the club. I'd rather my lad gets a game each week than watch from the boundry. Plus it does the young fellas confidence no good finding out each week he's not good enough to play. Yet he may be a late developer and turn out to be great at senior footy level. Plus it's great for their social skills to meet new people/mates outside of their comfort zone. Time to look at the big picture.

They can choose to play somewhere else if they wish. But if they want to keep trying to play for the club they choose what right does anyone have to tell them they can't?

Take the Hahndorf U15's this year for example. They have enough to for two sides. How would it be right to tell those kids in the Country Division side that even though they live in Hahndorf and want to play for Hahndorf, and Hahndorf have enough kids for two sides, that they can't because other teams are struggling. Oh and buy the way you cant play for Mt Barker either because they have too many numbers too. Hope your parents are prepared for a bit of a drive every week to get you to training.