Could dropping the Port AFL licence be the answer to all of SA’s footy problems ?
Of course, the knee-jerk retort from Power supporters would be a short sighted ….NO !
But keep an open mind for a moment. The majority of us care for more than just our own club.
We quite rightly want to see our local SANFL product thrive and grow. What we have now has
been forced upon us. It is stagnant, stunted and without hope.
The Vics only want 2 teams here because it ‘puts us in our place’ and while we squabble
amongst ourselves over ‘what might have been’, they continue to have total control over SA
football, players & money. The expanded VFL doesn’t give a damn about us, except as their
feeder state, so why do we continue to ‘praise Caesar’?
(I’d rather bury the inbred, egotistical, bastard, who is having a fiddle with himself in Sydney
& on the Gold Coast, while Adelaide burns !)
Imagine the possibilities with just 1 AFL team in Adelaide.
1) God forbid that I do anything to help the Magpies, but core Port people would eventually go
back to Alberton in droves helping them get off the bottom of the premiership table. Many of
the ‘hangers on’ who followed their local players to PP would go back to their local clubs and / or
follow the Crows.
2) With only one AFL game played here per fortnight, every 2nd week would see bumper crowds
returning to watch SANFL, meaning bigger revenue going directly into local coffers, instead of the
non-dependable trickle down revenue. The huge costs of running PP, successfully or not, would
be saved. Valuable sponsorship $’s, players, coaching / ancillary staff and supporters, going back
where they belong & where they are so badly needed, the local clubs.
3) For those who like the ‘pretend AFL’, the team for all South Australians would potentially
become a vastly more successful ‘super’ club. They could afford to spend a lot more money in
the SANFL, helping the local clubs keep players here in SA for when they need them. Our local
standards would rise through player quality, which would be commensurate with even more
crowds & even more revenue, far outstripping what we’re getting from PP.
4) The bigger, better & stronger we can make the SANFL, the more chance there is for future
bargaining power for a TRUE national competition, where ALL our SANFL teams (including Port),
have a right to participate on the national stage. The way it should have been.
It’s just a thought.
Of course, anything that makes SA a stronger football state would upset the pretend AFL.
So that’s a good enough reason for me !
