SA Footy

the smokey wrote:

onthemove wrote:Any thoughts on what way the PCC vote will go tonight re age groups and 4th grade?
When will the result be known?

My understanding is the vote is on the 17th.

I believe that the senior vote will pass and the junior vote will depend on the answers on the night which will probably mean that will not pass.
I just hope when the senior vote passes and it should that grade cricket and ATCA get their programs aligned for the first time in a long time

Heard ATCA already have their dates sorted, so would be up to SACA now. Agree has to be aligned or it just does not work!

The Hound wrote:

Tony Clifton wrote:Is that when they will also vote on the changes to 4th Grade & juniors?

The clubs are currently providing there position to SACA on the recommendations and the PCC will discuss/vote any proposed changes at that meeting

I know there's mention of all this happening on Friday this week (17th). Is this also because everyone is waiting on the Hussey report, which I think is due to be handed down soon (I don't know how wide the scope of the review is but would imagine it should also cover Grade/junior cricket)?

Eagles2014 wrote:

the smokey wrote:

onthemove wrote:Any thoughts on what way the PCC vote will go tonight re age groups and 4th grade?
When will the result be known?

My understanding is the vote is on the 17th.

I believe that the senior vote will pass and the junior vote will depend on the answers on the night which will probably mean that will not pass.
I just hope when the senior vote passes and it should that grade cricket and ATCA get their programs aligned for the first time in a long time

Heard ATCA already have their dates sorted, so would be up to SACA now. Agree has to be aligned or it just does not work!

Correct, ATCA dates are already set and have been released to the clubs, and on the ATCA page.
Up to SACA if they want to line up with them or not.

FWIW, I heard SACA would proceed with D-grade in 2020/21, however the whites in the junior grades are in doubt. Who knows if that's reality or not.

Trader wrote:

Eagles2014 wrote:

the smokey wrote:

onthemove wrote:Any thoughts on what way the PCC vote will go tonight re age groups and 4th grade?
When will the result be known?

My understanding is the vote is on the 17th.

I believe that the senior vote will pass and the junior vote will depend on the answers on the night which will probably mean that will not pass.
I just hope when the senior vote passes and it should that grade cricket and ATCA get their programs aligned for the first time in a long time

Heard ATCA already have their dates sorted, so would be up to SACA now. Agree has to be aligned or it just does not work!

Correct, ATCA dates are already set and have been released to the clubs, and on the ATCA page.
Up to SACA if they want to line up with them or not.

FWIW, I heard SACA would proceed with D-grade in 2020/21, however the whites in the junior grades are in doubt. Who knows if that's reality or not.

4th Grade to go ahead, think vote was 7 to 6, interesting! any bets on how many forfeits there will be in that grade.
With a delay to the season and some SANFL clubs starting Under 16 and Under 18 pre-season in November could be hard for clubs to fill aide with youngsters.
17's changed to under 18's and Under 12's gone. My understanding is 14's to 16's to stay as is.
Ocean Pony's 6th team in Women's first grade.
Hussey report recommendations delivered to clubs tomorrow night.

4th Grade to go ahead, think vote was 7 to 6, interesting! any bets on how many forfeits there will be in that grade.
With a delay to the season and some SANFL clubs starting Under 16 and Under 18 pre-season in November could be hard for clubs to fill aide with youngsters.
17's changed to under 18's and Under 12's gone. My understanding is 14's to 16's to stay as is.
Ocean Pony's 6th team in Women's first grade.
Hussey report recommendations delivered to clubs tomorrow night.[/quote]


Once again the PCC and SACA have been given a chance to better cricket in SA and have failed to do so. Clubs that wanted the 4th grade are obviously more interested in the $$ that they will receive rather than bettering the standard of Grade Cricket from top to bottom. This is understandable from purely a financial perspective but surely there needs to be an eye on the future and trying to lift the overall standard of grade cricket.

It Will be interesting to see if this is revisited again ready for 2021/2022 - Also the recommendations in the report are potentially going to be as pointless as the last report they ordered if their arent people that are willing to implement the changes that are needed and required.

the smokey wrote:4th Grade to go ahead, think vote was 7 to 6, interesting! any bets on how many forfeits there will be in that grade.
With a delay to the season and some SANFL clubs starting Under 16 and Under 18 pre-season in November could be hard for clubs to fill aide with youngsters.
17's changed to under 18's and Under 12's gone. My understanding is 14's to 16's to stay as is.
Ocean Pony's 6th team in Women's first grade.
Hussey report recommendations delivered to clubs tomorrow night.

Once again the PCC and SACA have been given a chance to better cricket in SA and have failed to do so. Clubs that wanted the 4th grade are obviously more interested in the $$ that they will receive rather than bettering the standard of Grade Cricket from top to bottom. This is understandable from purely a financial perspective but surely there needs to be an eye on the future and trying to lift the overall standard of grade cricket.

It Will be interesting to see if this is revisited again ready for 2021/2022 - Also the recommendations in the report are potentially going to be as pointless as the last report they ordered if their arent people that are willing to implement the changes that are needed and required.[/quote]

Yet again the Grade clubs let down SA cricket. Typical nanny state mentality that is resistant to any kind of change. If you keep doing the same thing you will get the same result, its madness.
Time for SACA to start a new comp and invite 8 or 10 clubs to be part of it, with funding carrots. The ones who dont get invited get no funding and can go and play in the ATCA

the smokey wrote:4th Grade to go ahead, think vote was 7 to 6, interesting! any bets on how many forfeits there will be in that grade.
With a delay to the season and some SANFL clubs starting Under 16 and Under 18 pre-season in November could be hard for clubs to fill aide with youngsters.
17's changed to under 18's and Under 12's gone. My understanding is 14's to 16's to stay as is.
Ocean Pony's 6th team in Women's first grade.
Hussey report recommendations delivered to clubs tomorrow night.

Sorry - don't mean to sound out of line here but is there anything stopping all 6 clubs who voted against the 4th Grade just not putting a team in (i.e. all forfeiting)? This then may force PCC's hand?

Minimum Chips wrote:

the smokey wrote:4th Grade to go ahead, think vote was 7 to 6, interesting! any bets on how many forfeits there will be in that grade.
With a delay to the season and some SANFL clubs starting Under 16 and Under 18 pre-season in November could be hard for clubs to fill aide with youngsters.
17's changed to under 18's and Under 12's gone. My understanding is 14's to 16's to stay as is.
Ocean Pony's 6th team in Women's first grade.
Hussey report recommendations delivered to clubs tomorrow night.

Sorry - don't mean to sound out of line here but is there anything stopping all 6 clubs who voted against the 4th Grade just not putting a team in (i.e. all forfeiting)? This then may force PCC's hand?

Do Clubs that forfeit games get a fine? Lots of sports they do.

I like the idea used in Queensland where it is optional for Clubs to field a 4th Grade team, so you could have a 7 team comp, everyone plays each other twice, and the other six clubs are not required to field a team if they choose. Everyone is happy that way!

Whether there’s a 4th Grade or not won’t make an iota of difference to the standard of Grade cricket.

It would just be a pain in the ass for the clubs that have to find fill-ins all the time.

As Eagles2014 mentions, should just be optional for each club. It’s no big deal either way except for the clubs trying g to make up numbers.

I can remember playing E grade that was optional I reckon it was about an 8 team comp

Not involved closely in grade scene is that hard to get 44 players each Saturday?

School cricket is a killer 200 lads playing each Saturday afternoon would be helpful if they played midweek

maxi wrote:I can remember playing E grade that was optional I reckon it was about an 8 team comp

Not involved closely in grade scene is that hard to get 44 players each Saturday?

School cricket is a killer 200 lads playing each Saturday afternoon would be helpful if they played midweek

It shouldn't be.

Clubs have a dozen or more Under 16 players moving up into seniors every single season.

Some clubs seem to be able to retain a number of these players, others don't. It doesn't seem to be discussed much why some clubs retain more of their players than others.

Tony Clifton wrote:

maxi wrote:I can remember playing E grade that was optional I reckon it was about an 8 team comp

Not involved closely in grade scene is that hard to get 44 players each Saturday?

School cricket is a killer 200 lads playing each Saturday afternoon would be helpful if they played midweek

It shouldn't be.

Clubs have a dozen or more Under 16 players moving up into seniors every single season.

Some clubs seem to be able to retain a number of these players, others don't. It doesn't seem to be discussed much why some clubs retain more of their players than others.

CA seem to beat their chest about participation numbers but do they recount their participation numbers of particular age groups.

In my experience you see a drop off of a few moving from juniors to seniors then within 3 years those that make the transition into seniors drop off again within 3 years. By the time they are 21 its less than half still playing. They don't go to community clubs either they just stop playing altogether!

You only need a small percentage of them to continue playing to fill your teams each season

Just seems very backwards to me.

BECAUSE we don't retain many (any?) of our Under 16s each season

And BECAUSE we also leak senior players each season

We find it very hard to fill our 4th Grade team.

Solution: Let's get rid of the 4th Grade team.

Problem solved!

Hang on...???

What is the actual issue here? What is the problem that needs solving?

The main issue with numbers and 4th Grade (or whichever Grade is the last one) is when you have a mix of college players, state players and injuries. It’s not easy having the extra 4-5 players (or however many it is) in a squad who are there to make up the numbers when the above players are absent, but then won’t get a game if a full squad is available. Often a number might get told to go play for their turf club if numbers are good in pre-season, only to have a shortage of players if injuries hit.

Aerie wrote:The main issue with numbers and 4th Grade (or whichever Grade is the last one) is when you have a mix of college players, state players and injuries. It’s not easy having the extra 4-5 players (or however many it is) in a squad who are there to make up the numbers when the above players are absent, but then won’t get a game if a full squad is available. Often a number might get told to go play for their turf club if numbers are good in pre-season, only to have a shortage of players if injuries hit.

If this is a problem for the last grade won't the problem just get transferred up a grade if 4th Grade was removed?

Dgrade cricket at Grade level is a farce and has been for a while. I have said this before my son (22) now, in his 1st year at senior level straight out of 16s one his clubs Dgrade bowling trophy, the following year he couldn't get a game because of older blokes in there 40s and 50s were being selected first. Surely grade cricket is about prepping guys coming through with the hope of playing shield cricket?

Arch44 wrote:Dgrade cricket at Grade level is a farce and has been for a while. I have said this before my son (22) now, in his 1st year at senior level straight out of 16s one his clubs Dgrade bowling trophy, the following year he couldn't get a game because of older blokes in there 40s and 50s were being selected first. Surely grade cricket is about prepping guys coming through with the hope of playing shield cricket?

Arch44 - is he still playing with that club?

Arch44 wrote:Dgrade cricket at Grade level is a farce and has been for a while. I have said this before my son (22) now, in his 1st year at senior level straight out of 16s one his clubs Dgrade bowling trophy, the following year he couldn't get a game because of older blokes in there 40s and 50s were being selected first. Surely grade cricket is about prepping guys coming through with the hope of playing shield cricket?

Again though, what do you think the problem with the scenario you described is?

Is it the existence of a 4th Grade?

Or is it a club choosing not to select a young cricketer doing well in preference to 40 and 50 year olds?

Tony Clifton wrote:

Arch44 wrote:Dgrade cricket at Grade level is a farce and has been for a while. I have said this before my son (22) now, in his 1st year at senior level straight out of 16s one his clubs Dgrade bowling trophy, the following year he couldn't get a game because of older blokes in there 40s and 50s were being selected first. Surely grade cricket is about prepping guys coming through with the hope of playing shield cricket?

Again though, what do you think the problem with the scenario you described is?

Is it the existence of a 4th Grade?

Or is it a club choosing not to select a young cricketer doing well in preference to 40 and 50 year olds?

The latter in my opinion......