Three games at Thebarton

[Wedgie]

Having said all of that I think merging is a different issues in country leages mainly because of numbers.

That was the whole reason for it - crowd numbers translating into $ numbers. If it hadn't been done, I'm sure one would have disappeared altogether. And I reckon it would have been the one running their TAB at a loss and turning over only $40,000 a year in bingo and money tickets - not the one turning over $200,000.

Don't get me wrong, I'm in no doubt that Torrens was the club that was stuffed, they did what they had to to stay alive, having said that their supporters should have done more when the writing was on the wall.

I don't know the full financial details but I'm assuming Woodville were only in it to improve their on field performance, if they were trying to improve numbers at games that certainly didn't happen.

IMHO you have one lot supporters who were too lazy to get off their arse and fix their club and another lot of supporters who were willing to do anything to get some sort of success instead of having their club work hard for it like other clubs, I don't have respect for either.

It's no suprise both supporters jumped on the Crows bandwagon so quickly.

[Jimmy]

I'd rather follow a side that comes bottom every year than have a merger and follow a new side.

LOL, I and many did and now it feels great to have merger rumours put to rest.

[Punk Rooster]

All I can say is that I'm glad that the North/Sturt merger never went ahead. Hard to say, but I couldn't see myself following the merged unit, especially at first. I would not under any circumstances support another SANFL club. I would probably have ended up following the merged side, but it would not be the same.
It's also hard to say what the SANFL's options might've been, with regard to introducing new sides in the 60's. Admitting Central Districts, was in hindsight, correct, but admitting Woodville wasn't. If they had given the 10th spot to Brighton FC, you'd think that something would've had to have given, & that being South or Glenelg (or maybe even Brighton). Unfortuantely, it looks like the SANFL can only cope with a maximum of 9 teams. For the bye to go, a club would have to fold/merge. Imo, the only clubs facing this are Norwood & Sturt. Both "eastern suburbs" clubs. Now I'm not sure of the true position of the clubs fnances, but Norwood lost nearly $500K this year, and at this level, I doubt would be able to sustain smilar losses. Sturt are run on a shoestring budget, and have relied on good recruiting to be competetive, which is fine while they're getting it right, but if they start getting it wrong, the early 90's may return. Unless either of these clubs start to rake in the $'s off the field, I would say they are endangered species.

[topsywaldron]

* Post gone*

Blatant trolling, not on topic, warned by pm.

[Punk Rooster]

* Post gone*

Blatant trolling, not on topic, warned by pm.

Troll/moron,
If you read my post, I acknowledge the fact that North were in a perilous position. Were. Judging by your envy, perhaps your club isn't financially secure, then again, would you know? Btw, what part of my post don't you understand? I think that most reasonable people would accept the points I make are valid ones, and would apply to any club in a similar position.

[topsywaldron]

* Post gone*

Blatant trolling, not on topic, warned by pm.

[topsywaldron]

Absolute rot.

if you can't talk about other clubs supporters perceptions of another SANFL club on this site then where can you?

[Wedgie]

Absolute rot.

if you can't talk about other clubs supporters perceptions of another SANFL club on this site then where can you?

You can make up a topic about it and discuss it in an adult manner.
Your paranoia about North has nothing to do with 3 games being played at Thebarton Oval.
You've had 2 warnings for behaving like a child,trolling, etc read the rules to this forum in the General Discussion forum if you still don't understand.

I will not argue about it on this topic, I have pm'd you twice, feel free to discuss it by pm.

[Dog_ger]

I thought the Central Districts Football club was positioned a little too north..? Should have been positioned around Salisbury Downs..? Hey that just happens to be my area...!
South in my eye's could be a little too south...? Remembering their name is South Adelaide..? Not Way South of Adelaide..?Only time will tell..?

[Jimmy]

For the bye to go, a club would have to fold/merge. Imo, the only clubs facing this are Norwood & Sturt. Both "eastern suburbs" clubs. Now I'm not sure of the true position of the clubs fnances, but Norwood lost nearly $500K this year, and at this level, I doubt would be able to sustain smilar losses. Sturt are run on a shoestring budget, and have relied on good recruiting to be competetive, which is fine while they're getting it right, but if they start getting it wrong, the early 90's may return. Unless either of these clubs start to rake in the $'s off the field, I would say they are endangered species.

True, Sturt were in dire straits at one point and serious things needed to happen....and they have. They still have a long way to go Sturt with their finances, but all the pieces are slowly being put in place. In a few years, money wont be a problem, ala north.

[Cooper]

I really dont understand what peoples problem is with the Eagles..so we merged??? I would rather merge than become a name on a history board! Maybe one way of looking at the merger is the league correcting the apparent mistake of letting Woodville into the league.

I agree with Spelly. I get annoyed with people who won't attend or follow the Eagles because they are "Woodville or West Torrens". The Eagles are not a new club..they share the history of both the Woodville and the West Torrens FC's. That is our heritage. And Wedgie I think it is a bit harsh to say you don't respect us because we merged. If we didn't merge maybe other clubs would've had to??? If it wasn't for Pokies and North being able to purchase it's current Pokie venue they may not have made it this far (By the way I admire the way North have turned things around it is a testament to the fighting spirit of football). West Torrens were dead in the water. There was no tomorrow after the meeting for them. In 20 - 30 years time i hope people move on and don't even consider the merger.

The Eagles are a proud and strong club with a heritage that goes back to the Port Natives and includes the WOODVILLE and WEST TORRENS FOOTBALL CLUBS. It has won a premiership and appeared in a number more (Okay we havn't won as many as we should have nevertheless we have been there). It is a club that is now strong financially and strong on the field. It has a brilliant junior development programme and promotes the game with in the local community and in the local schools.

The club is a testament to the people who founded the SANFL, the West Torrens and Woodville Football clubs and to us the loyal supporter!

Here endeth the sermon!

[David Votoupal]

Interesting when talking about mergers and use of grounds- in the NRL, Wests Tigers have played their games at both Leichhardt (Balmain) and Campbelltown (Wests) although they are using Telstra more and more. Similarly, the Dragons (aka the "socks" merger...) use both Kogarah and WIN Stadium. That's perhaps something they might have considered when Woodville and West Torrens merged.

Similar too how the NSWRL brought in Cronulla and Penrith a few years after the SANFL brought in Centrals and Woodville, for similar reasons.

[spell_check]

In actual fact, the Eagles played in the first two years at West Torrens' home ground - Football Park. Having moved there the previous year - 1990 - from Thebarton, this was around the time that ground rationalisation was the in thing with the SANFL. But then after one game at Woodville in 1992, the move was made to go to Woodville in 1993. Glenelg also went to Football Park for a year, - 1991 - and in this year you had Eagles and Glenelg there, and Sturt and South at Adelaide. Glenelg moved back to Glenelg in 1992 and this was the start of the push to go back to the traditional grounds. Finally for South they had a permanent home in Noarlunga in 1995, Sturt moved back to Unley in 1998, and with last years' game at Thebarton and the three this year , the last "missing link" to the SANFLs' past is complete.

[eaglesfan]

There have been plenty of mistakes made in the past, and the Eagles leaving Thebarton was, in my opinion, definitely one of them. However it is great to see that this is now being partly rectified. I expect the three games at Thebarton to be a big success in 2006, as the West match was in terms of crowd numbers last year.

The Eagles have the potential to draw large crowds at Thebarton, certainly to a greater extent than at Woodville. In future, the more games they play at Thebarton the better, for both the Eagles and the SANFL.

[McAlmanac]

Don't get me wrong, I'm in no doubt that Torrens was the club that was stuffed, they did what they had to to stay alive, having said that their supporters should have done more when the writing was on the wall.

I don't know the full financial details but I'm assuming Woodville were only in it to improve their on field performance, if they were trying to improve numbers at games that certainly didn't happen.

IMHO you have one lot supporters who were too lazy to get off their arse and fix their club and another lot of supporters who were willing to do anything to get some sort of success instead of having their club work hard for it like other clubs, I don't have respect for either.

It's no suprise both supporters jumped on the Crows bandwagon so quickly.

Bill Sanders = Woodville chairman = Crows CEO. He obviously had some insider knowledge - the Crows hadn't been formed when the merger happened. Projected figures were sold as fait accompli to the members.

To say Woodville had not worked hard - considering where the club had come from the dark days of the early 80's to where the club was at the time of the merger, that is rather insulting. The club unearthed some gem recruits during this time, and apres merger has continued to churn out as many AFL footballers as any other club in the SANFL.

As for jumping on the Crows bandwagon - I can't say I did (moving to Melbourne has made me more "Crow"), but I couldn't condemn people for following their "local" club. After all, Woodville and West Torrens supporters are the ones (apart from Port's, who would understandably not be overly enamoured) who live close to the ground.

In truth, removing all parochial interests, there should only be 8 teams in the SANFL.

[cd]

A personal post

Wedgie, respect your point of view but we'll have to agree to disagree. a good beer conversation this season i think.

Fact: West Torrens in debt and could not go on.
Fact: Woodville in debt but not to same degree but could see writing on wall.

You can cut your nose off to spite your face and go home with nothing but memories or accept reality - Cooper and Spelly on the money.

I've now had a team to support that expects to win - a change of culture from pre merger days - 12 finals campaigns in 15 seasons - has made september a much more interesting month than it used to be! I have been bitterly disappointed by GF losses and over the moon with the only time in my life where i did celebrate a premiership.

It is very personal and those who have been through it know just how difficult and heartbreaking it can be but neither the Woodville nor the West Torrens names have been sent to the memory pile as they are still very much part of the SANFL with the WWTFC.
No-one can take away our individual history nor our new club's 15 years/seasons history.

[holden78]

FACT With woodville being brought in to the sanfl in 64 caused Torrens to slide down the ladder

[McAlmanac]

FACT With woodville being brought in to the sanfl in 64 caused Torrens to slide down the ladder

Agreed.

Torrens averaged over 12,500 per game in 1962 - the highest in the League. That figure had been reduced to just over 9,000 two years later when Woodville joined. Woodville and Torrens combined pulled in 20,000 less people in 1989 than Torrens did in 1962.

And McKellar, Blight, Huppatz would have been a handy first ruck for Torrens.

[eaglehaslanded]

Great move by the SANFL to schedule more games at thebby allthough I would have thought the ideal number in my opinion would have been 4. Then you could have had the mighty eags play exactly half their home games at the original home of the Eags of all those years ago. Would have liked to see the return of the western derby v West Adel. Happy with games v North Adel and Port Magpies respectively. Would really like to change the game v Glenelg though this will be a dead weight at the bottom of sea (Who is going to go to this game) 2 men and a dog. Should be replaced with match v Central Dist. Would be good to get them on a venue that is totally foreign to them (allthough we should beat them at woodville anyway) Would have drawn a huge crowd. SANFL wakeup there's an idea to pencil in for 2007 when the Eagles are defending the premiership theyv'e just won in 2006.

[eaglesfan]

I agree - an Eagles-Centrals match at Thebarton would have been a big winner.