SA Footy

We all know it happened, but exactly what did happen in the early 70s? I've never really heard this story told.

The SA Football Story (1983) by Bernard Whimpress covers it. In a nutshell it was all about the redevelopment of Adelaide Oval and who would have control of it.

LL, Mark Beswick, Spelly I defer to your greater knowledge....

1980 Tassie Medalist wrote:The SA Football Story (1983) by Bernard Whimpress covers it. In a nutshell it was all about the redevelopment of Adelaide Oval and who would have control of it.

LL, Mark Beswick, Spelly I defer to your greater knowledge....

THe only knowledge of this I have is that there were a few sites the SANFL were looking at for Football Park. One of them was of course West Lakes, but another was where the Freight Terminal now is at Regency Park.

I seem to recall most issues reference Adelaide Oval were resolved with one of a couple issues unresolved being joint tenancy - I believe SANFL wanted joint while SACA wanted to be sole lease holders and hire out oval to SANFL - sole lease holders would have meant that SACA members would have still get into all games for free.

Another was issues relating to building a decent grandstand on eastern side but of course this interferes with the view of the Adelaide Hills that is so important to watching a game of cricket.

End of day - parties did not agree so SANFL went ahead an built a headquarters for football - while one can argue about the location (west park lands near Port Road was another option) its at West Lakes and has served the SANL well especialy since the advent of AFL footy.

FROM SANFL OFFICIAL SITE.
After a series of differences with the SA Cricket Association, the SANFL decided to move its playing headquarters away from the Adelaide Oval and commissioned the building of Football Park on reclaimed land at West Lakes, On October 31, 1972 the first seeds were sown at Football Park and the first match was contested between North Adelaide and Central District on May 4, 1974 with victory going to the Bulldogs. The lighting issue of the stadium became a political football in 1978 and it was not until 1984 that Football Park finally staged its first match under lights.


Some interesting reading links
http://www.planning.sa.gov.au/dac/agend ... 2/10.1.pdf
http://www.cricketsa.com.au/ContentMemb ... sanfl_link

I always assumed the SANFL got a good deal on the land itself because its prescence there added credibiliity to Delfin's development of the area, and the state government wanted that to happen. Was it so?