The year the SANFL found its place

[Dogwatcher]

WHILE many will look back on the 2008 SANFL season and think of Central District's defeat of Glenelg in the grand final, many who have an affinity with the competition may look at it in another way.
Is it the year that the SANFL competition, its clubs and supporters recognised the SANFL's place in the overall scheme of the football world?
After the code changing entry of Adelaide and then Port Adelaide into the AFL in the 1990s and the evolution of that competition into the successful corporate giant it is today, it was always going to take some time for the local league to find its place again.
Fans left the SANFL in droves through that period heading to what was regarded by many as a superior product, a league where the best of the best battled in gladiatorial fashion every weekend across the nation.
As part of that development, the AFL has tinkered with its product continually in order to attract as many fans as possible through the gates as it strived to claim the title of premier football code in Australia.
With the obvious changes caused to the grassroots landscape due to the AFL expansion, many people unfairly compared the state leagues, deriding them as past their use by date.
They became regarded as a dumping ground for talentless hacks, playing a slower and clumsier brand of football.
That unfair assumption proved a handicap for people promoting the game in those leagues, seeing crowds reduced.
But by 2008 all of that has changed, in South Australia at least.
Crowds this year increased, highlighted by that massive day at the Bay when Glenelg took on Sturt (an expected preview of this season's grand final), and media attention grew.
It wasn't just the traditional media that provided this boost either. Online websites, such as SAFooty and club run forums, provided a place for fans of the SANFL to congregate and show their support of the competition, while the continued publication of the SA Football Media Guide has also provided a boost.
Like them or not, Central District pair Chris and James Gowans have in their own way become the face of SANFL football, being (not surprisingly) always available to provide a quote for the media to promote the SANFL and their club.
A viable competition needs big personalities, heroes and villains to survive and these guys provide all three of those factors.
As a result of these combined factors, fans have returned in droves, with young children keen to look at the football that their fathers and grandfathers grew up with.
The family feeling at games that includes access to the huddles during breaks, having a kick on the oval and the ability to stand on the terraces rather than sterile plastic seating have also been part of the revival.
It all spells good news for the SANFL (and ultimately the AFL which needs grassroots footy to survive if it is to prosper) with a new audience set to keep the flame alive.
Association football in Britain and other parts of Europe has shown that there is room for players and spectators to enjoy their sport at levels below the premier grades and now the SANFL and the South Australian public have embraced this fact.
No longer should it worry about those who would view its place in the football world negatively.

[Big Phil]

Well said DW...

Is that an article you have written for your local paper ???

[Dogwatcher]

Nope, just wrote it for here.

[Dutchy]

Great work DW

interesting comment from KG on the radio just then "I enoyed Sunday's game more than any AFL game this year" maybe we might see him at a Westies game in his retirement?

[Dog_ger]

Is there someway to condense your tribute, Dogwatcher...

Us oldies struggle to read long posts in small writing...! My friend

Overewellming....

[Psyber]

Is there someway to condense your tribute, Dogwatcher...
Us oldies struggle to read long posts in small writing...! My friend
Overewellming....

Speak for yourself young fella...
Does your browser let you enlarge the page to taste?
Opera lets you select from a range of 20% to 900% of standard size, with one mouse click from a drop down list.

[wycbloods]

Great work DW

interesting comment from KG on the radio just then "I enoyed Sunday's game more than any AFL game this year" maybe we might see him at a Westies game in his retirement?

I doubt it .

[spell_check]

Now, there are a couple of things that is needed to connect with the older and younger generation:
-25 minute quarters with time on added only after goals and behinds (and when the field umpire directs)
-Make the player kicking off kick after the flag is waved
-Have that Mini League competition at half time - you can still have the kick to kick at this time, too
-Get the "On this round" article back into the Budget, instead of a 5 minute scan and copy job that we have seen this year
-More SANFL identities and celebrity tipsters in the Advertiser, with cumulative ladder (If it can't be done in the Advertiser, put it in the Budget!)
And also, the high scoring we saw in 2006.

That would cost a pittance to the SANFL to do all of that.

[JK]

Nice darts mate

[Pseudo]

I don't disagree with your sentiments DW, but I would suggest that the SANFL found its feet some years ago. Possibly as early as 2000.

[Aerie]

Good write up dogwatcher. Agree with what you have to say. I reckon this has been a turning point year for the SANFL. The masses are now saying the type of things we knew all along. The SANFL is becoming a more attractive alternative to the AFL.

The SANFL must be congratulated as well. The programming is generally good while keeping the fairness of the draw (you play everyone 5 times in two years).

Hopefully we see a general upward trend for the SANFL and it doesn't turn out this year was just because Glenelg and Sturt filled the top two spots.

[JK]

Good write up dogwatcher. Agree with what you have to say. I reckon this has been a turning point year for the SANFL. The masses are now saying the type of things we knew all along. The SANFL is becoming a more attractive alternative to the AFL.

The SANFL must be congratulated as well. The programming is generally good while keeping the fairness of the draw (you play everyone 5 times in two years).

Hopefully we see a general upward trend for the SANFL and it doesn't turn out this year was just because Glenelg and Sturt filled the top two spots.

You'd think that much can be attributed to a year where the 2 local AFL sides did very little (I know the Crows made the finals, but I think most knew they had %0 legitimate chance), especially given the majority of both teams initial supporters came from the old "big 4".

Just hope that now punters have returned to the local comp., they remain with it.

[Apachebulldog]

Spot on Dogwatch great post, hopefully next year more fans will return to grass roots footy.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Squawk]

http://safooty.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18395

[MagareyLegend]

interesting comment from KG on the radio just then "I enoyed Sunday's game more than any AFL game this year" maybe we might see him at a Westies game in his retirement?

Yes, as coach