WHEELS&DEALS wrote:Unfortunately I think the change is to late. I loved being part of the SFL but the best thing for our club was to move to the Adelaide footy league. I can't see any other clubs joining the SFL, more of a chance of other clubs leaving. What happens to the SFL if Marion and OSB go to Adelaide footy league, Hackham stay in C grade or go to Div7, then 1 or 2 other clubs go to hills or GSFL. You could end up with a 7 team comp which would collapse the leauge. Not the brightest future.
Could be time for the SFL and Adelaide footy league to have a bit of a chat and see if they can work together before it's to late.
It's disappointing to see the SFL like this. I have heard nothing but positive feedback about Brighton and Morphettville Park to the SAAFL from both the clubs and their opponents. No one is going to leave the SAAFL to go there especially after Towns went there and then come back. Towns haven't been the same, they left as a massive SAAFL club in div 2 with very strong Juniors. Soon as they went down there they were lucky to make the 8 most years. If they had the same set up in the SFL that they had in the SAAFL they would have been a powerhouse top 4-5 SFL team year in/ year out. But they left and whilst very well run are now a middle of the road division 4 club (Going far better than my club).
The issue is that even bringing up the new proposal to discuss now (which is embarrassing) to such a proud competition is a sign that they have had fresh warnings from affiliated clubs that they are threatening to leave and leave them as a league in real trouble.
The question for me is.... Why make the change now? They had probably 13 years of continual feedback and results after giving the initial proposal 2 years to settle and see if it was working. If the change is being made now to the current proposal then just shut the doors. That proposal does not give the clubs in div 2 a realistic chance to survive. An 8 team div 1 and 6 team div 2 had far more chance of working last year and a 9 and 6 or 8 and 7 model had a bigger chance of working. With the new proposal all you're doing is giving clubs say a Division 6 at best to Division 8 experience and once promoted giving them a Division 2-3 experience in one dose..... They will get annihilated.
The only chance from an outsider for the league to survive is a change of management. I know the people who run the league try hard and are good people. To even bring out a proposal such as that the league is in serious shit even for the short term.