SA Footy

I hear various levels of football being called grass roots football. What do you consider grass roots football and why? Is it the local league is it the local club or is it an excuse to to relate to a local area?

barbs wrote:I hear various levels of football being called grass roots football. What do you consider grass roots football and why? Is it the local league is it the local club or is it an excuse to to relate to a local area?

Depends on what you're criteria are to define grass roots footy.

If you take individual player payments as one factor, given that league clubs regularly lose players to the metropolitan and country league clubs for bigger bucks that what they can earn at the SANFL clubs you can quite easily make a claim for the SANFL for being grass roots footy.

You play a couple of years of reserves footy, you can easily get $200 a game for playing at a metro/county club instead of $75 at a league reserves level. You only have to train twice, as opposed to four times a week. Pre season is much lower in volume and intensity.

Play good league footy and you'll get $500 a game, compared to base payments of $200 a game.

Forgive an old man a bit of a rant, but I live in the country where grass roots footy is when you can't put enough water on the ground to bring the grass back up again after a long dry summer. But seriously, it's about keeping our game flourishing in the schools, the parklands and suburban ovals and in the bush. Remember that for every high profile, high paid player there are a host of volunteers who do all the background work to keep small clubs going and do it for no financial reward at all. And its not just other football clubs we compete against. If you were to walk down the main street of my home town and see the number of kids wearing "LA Lakers" etc singlets and bouncing basketballs you'd see what we're up against. I sometimes think that at the highest levels of the game many people, including administrators, big name players and supporters are starting to lose touch with where it all comes from.

To me grassroots is your closest footy club in your neighbourhood. Mine being either GFC or Marion RAms FC.

TroyGFC wrote:To me grassroots is your closest footy club in your neighbourhood. Mine being either GFC or Marion RAms FC.

The closest "Local District" footy club. Where the local neighbourhood bring their kids to first join a club and play footy. Probably starting in under 9s...?
Mine being Salisbury West......

Grass roots is your local club for me - Salisbury.

My loyalties lie with my local club before the SANFL and AFL clubs I support - Port Adelaide.

On the rare opportunities I get back home during footy season, I go to Salisbury's games.

But if the Maggies or Power play on the Sunday, then it all works out just nicely.

Well the definition of "grassroots" footy and "grassroots" sport in general is very open to interpretation, but the broadest definition of such would encompass all levels of the game beneath AFL level. This wasn't the case 20 years ago, but the establishment of a "national" competition has established that demarcation.

amatuer and country footy i reckon....but sometimes can be used referring the SANFL compared to AFL, as its more accessible and you are closer to the action.

Grassroots footy to me is junior football that is where all football starts so that is where i view grassroots footy to be.

Grass roots to me is Saturday morning school footy. The kids and parents up at 8 o'clock on a cold, wet, winter morning simply for the love of the game. No rewards, no kickbacks, just the joy of playing.

Where a player can go from under 9's or school footy right through to seniors.

I agree with most, I don't regard SANFL as "grass roots footy".
SANFL is LEAGUE FOOTY.
Grass roots for me is Southern League, Amateurs, country, etc.

My definition of grass roots football is any competition where participating clubs foster a junior program. Any club not fostering their own juniors is taking from the game more than it is putting into it.