I haven't played for a number of years but all reports suggest that the Devils have moved on from the recent controversy surrounding the club and are setting themselves for a big year in the Country Divison.

With Bruce Dawes as A-Grade Coach and Shane Mohor assistant, Scott Huff as B-Brade Coachwith Adam Penny as his assistant, they've got some good people in important roles. Sounds like the player list is coming together nicely also.

Keen to see how how the Devils shape up against the better sides in the Country Div. Word on the street is that the players are pretty pumped with the challenge ahead of them.

By no means am i suggesting that Mt Lofty will win the premiership, but hypothetically speaking, if they did, would they be automatically promoted?...I haven't kept up to date with the changes to the HFL constitution etc etc.

Although I totally agree with you LGIL in the way the by laws are written that the finals games are included in the points system, unfortunately for Echunga the interpretation of the by laws deems that the season ends at Rd 18. So unless Echunga are willing to take it to court (where they would probably win as the by laws are poorly written in a legal sense, but how much will that cost them in legal fees) I think they are shit outta luck and are the team in the gun to go down.
If Echunga does take this to court to challenge the by laws I think shit might hit the fan for the HFL as it could bring into question many of the other rules stated in the by laws.

When interpreting a by-law that is open to interpretation, two major things will be considered.

The first test is what everyone’s understanding/interpretation of the by-law was at the start of the season. In the case of by-law 18.2.3, I think you’ll find that all 20 HFL club Presidents will confirm that they understood that the relegation points system was to the end of the minor round. In fact, Echunga themselves can’t argue against this based on their own actions (playing expensive recruits in B grade in an attempt to win extra points) and in words (Kym Pocock in the Sunday Mail article refers to the by-law being for the minor round only).

The second test is how the by-law has been interpreted in the past. That is, is there a precedent as to how the by-law has been mplemented previously? Again, the HFL will confirm that in calculating the relegation points table in previous years, it has been done using minor round games only, even when clubs had teams competing in finals.

Go ahead, spend big on lawyers to challenge it, but it will be a costly exercise that will ultimately amount to nothing.

As I said in a previous post, Echunga’s only option is to convince 11 of the 20 clubs to vote for a by-law change for season 2015 allowing an 11 team central division.

The HFL board only administer the league, the clubs actually govern it.

Again the HFL has no power to change the rules, its the clubs that do that.

We are not a laughing stock, if anyone or any club feels this then F*** off to another league. The constitution would be similar to other leagues, its the by-laws (which the clubs vote in) that are different & are again governed by the CLUBS. Get that through your heads, the CLUBS govern the league & can change the by-laws. The HFL has no vote on this.

There was meant to be a big board spill & vote of no confidence at last year but no one had the balls to VOLUNTEER their time & cop the crap for the CLUBS getting it wrong.

Legsman, you better put your hand up at the AGM & volunteer to get on the board as they AGAIN will be looking for helpers, then you may have your eyes opened as to how things are actually done in the HFL.