South's 2008 fiasco

[westozfalcon]

Getting back to the current crisis...

I thought that signing up Jack for two years was the smartest move the club made in a long time. He was just starting to right the ship.

After getting him on board the club should have have sat back and said to itself "Right over the last umpteen years we wouldn't know the formula to success if it hit us in the face so why don't we just do things this bloke's way, listen to what he has to say and learn how to become a strong footy club"

After a soon-to-be flag drought of 44 years you would have thought that patience was something everyone at South had plenty of but we couldn't even give the great man a couple of seasons at the helm.

[Sojourner]

Perhaps one of the problems at South is the fact that the club has to much in the way of revenue streams comming into it which although is clearly a positive result for the club also serves the negative purpose of insulating it from having to deal with problems. If constantly losing games meant a financial deficit that could result in the closure or amalgamation of the club then I have no doubt that things would be done a lot differently.

Souths current problems start with the sacking of John Reid as coach after he had "lost the support of the players". That has been the same excuse brought out for pretty much every coach sacked since. It has merit though as the Kevin Morris report openly stated the same thing in relation to Robert Pyman and again the club chose the players over the coach. It was hoped that over the summer some of the trouble makers in the playing group would be and had been let go, yet I have a very nasty feeling that this is not the case after what occured with the resignation of Jack Cahill and if that is the case South will not ever make the five until that problem is brought out into the light and concisivley dealt with.

Here are my suggestions to improve the club,

1, Raise the reserves match payment to accuratley reflect the time and commitment put in by the players, is it any wonder that SFL players dont want to play for $50 a game when you can be in the market of $600 a game in the Ammos with a cosiderably less commitment required for training.

2, The club has made their bed in having Clay Sampson as Coach they pretty much have to lie in it now, another change is only going to keep the problem occurring. I do actually think though that someone with the personality of Andrew Jarman might be the better person to deal with the issues and the board interferance though. Still I do think that the intention of having a mentor for Clay Sampson was and is a good idea and the only name that comes to mind is John Schneebichler who needs to be brought into the club to fufil that role.

3, Interstate Recruiting has to be done whilst the current relationship exists with the SFL. Jack Cahill is reported to have raised this concern to the club and it is for good reason. If the best of the SFL dont want to play at South then the club has to suck in its pride and look elsewhere, the club clearly has plenty of money to throw around, so recruiting and moving people from the NTAFL and the WAFL should not be an issue. South have done this before with success in Gordon Gatti, so anything is possible if the board will give it consideration.

4, South Members need to really think carefully about which way they vote this time around. The club does a postal vote so there is no reason not to vote. We clearly have a number of ex players on the board and people need to consider if that is such a good strategy or not. If John Reid retires from the Crows as is rumoured, he would be an ideal candidate to take over one of the most senior roles in the club with his current experience.

[darley16]

Gee i,ve read some rubbish on this site but this topic has reached new lows. Firstly Cahill left SAFC, the club did not want or asked him or presured him to leave, as discussed elsewhere on this site the petulent behavour of Jack as seen elsewhere (eg Power) came to surface again (refer previous topic discussion). Secondly the SAFC for over 80 years had no home ground so while other clubs were making money selling beers/ pie's/functions etc we earnt nothing, silch, bugger all...for years (SACA took all catering at our "home ground" Adelaide Oval)! Hey presto we eventually went broke trying to remain competive in the 80's. The club was saved by folks who cared enough to save it and once saved played finals 1990,91,92. If it collapsed completly and with AFL on the doorstep we would now have a boring, predictable 8 team comp. SAFC doesn't have the southern area to itself, heartland suburbs like Aberfoyle Pk and many others are WAFC zone together with this our zones our primarily that of the southern footy and greater southern footy leagues who don't come under the SANFL and are extremly parochial and independent leagues making our recruiting strained at times. Iám not saying recent form is good enough but the struggle to even survive was only relieved in 2005 when we got the lease arrangement on Noarlunga, hate to say it but more time is needed and Jack's leaving has set us back for this year.