SA Footy

Howdy guys, doing an essay for year 12 and need a bit of help.

Question: "Has the introduction of the Australian wide AFL football competition had a negative affect on local leagues?"

Covering the SANFL and WAFL in comparison.

Now, i think there answer is pretty easy lol. But i need issue to bring up about it. I've between the years of 1980 - 2000.

What i've covered..

Crowd Numbers
Skill Level
Media
Our consideration compared to the AFL.

Any help with more viewpoints would be great, I also need ways the AFL has helped.. i've done Auskick as one.

Another area to look at is funding from the national body (AFL) and how it is used to (attempt to) influence the state leagues.

Although Crowd Numbers has gone down due to the AFL, the Skill level, esp. the SANFL has increased over that period.

tied up with skill level is player retention.....

You could do a comparison of payers being recruited 1980-1990, v 1991 - 2006 ....

try and factor it in per year to account for the differences in year spans between the two epochs...

for example in the period 1980 to 1990 10 Glenelg players were recruited to the VFL an average of 0.9 per year, however since 1991 30 players have been recruited at an average of 1.8 per year. This has lead to a decrease in the skill level at the club becasue more players are going to a higher level competition compare d to the pre AFl days...........(I've pulled those figures out of my head mind you the numbers aren't far wrong palyers is far wrong since 1991, (the current 15 the 6 Original Crows, Viska, Berbs, L Ottens, M Raidis, B Moore, Krueger, A McKay, Sundvist, Daffy)...1980 to 1990, (Weston, Hodgeman, Duth, McGu, Kernahan S&D, Symo, West, Henwood, Murphy...)

What about the lack of committment to State of Origin games?
Merchandise sales and fundraisers for clubs have also been really affected - there aren't many places you can buy SANFL gear these days and fundraisers are always competing with not just AFL clubs but also other national teams like the 36ers and Adelaide United.

One positive for the local league has been admission prices - adults still at $8 and kids get in for free. Another positive is the product remains the same - footy is still the way it always was at SANFL but the AFL has really modified its rules to make it a less physical game. For example, the melee/wrestling rule. Thank god that hasn't been introduced at the local level!

Another section could be public perception. Ask kids of today who they follow and it's invariably Crows or Power. 15 or so years ago that would have been unheard of. Also the perception of once-passionate SANFL advocates (I'm thinking of people like my dad, KG, Cornsey) who now regard it in a far inferior light.

Good luck!

You've mentioned crowd numbers but not membership numbers SBR. The impact most felt by clubs would be their member base.

MagicKiwi wrote:You've mentioned crowd numbers but not membership numbers SBR. The impact most felt by clubs would be their member base.

Actually, I believe the trend for everyday supportors to become members of their club has only really come about in the last 10 years or so (this started in the AFL). I don't have any figures on me, but I presume that most clubs membership numbers would be higher now than in the 1980s.

I'd be interested to see some figures if anybody had them...

I disagree to an extent Ecky especially at the Bay when you consider season ticket holders only used to be able to get a seat in the two granstands...they used to be full virtually every home game so I'm tipping Glenelg had at least double the members we have now pre 1990.

I'll acknowledge that I basing this on guesswork and observation to an extent but I still feel confident we had lots more members than we do now.....

I know a cousin of mine who played actually brought his Mum a season ticket (membership) for 1980 so she could be guaranteed a grandstand seat each year

sanfl = they still play hard attacking footy


afl = they play a mixture of chess,basketball,keepings off,soccer & basically its ballet` footy (teams try to save games rather than try to win games) ask spelly he'd have the figures but roughly the sanfl average 30 goals a game & the afl is about half that

the afl only started because the then vfl clubs were broke & they needed extra sides in the comp & charged them $4,000,000 each to join

Christ how much more of his essay are we going to do.....

1980 Tassie Medalist wrote:I disagree to an extent Ecky especially at the Bay when you consider season ticket holders only used to be able to get a seat in the two granstands...they used to be full virtually every home game so I'm tipping Glenelg had at least double the members we have now pre 1990.

I'll acknowledge that I basing this on guesswork and observation to an extent but I still feel confident we had lots more members than we do now.....

I know a cousin of mine who played actually brought his Mum a season ticket (membership) for 1980 so she could be guaranteed a grandstand seat each year

Were season ticket holders full voting members of the club though?

I can't answer that ecky

Before the Cows came in, Norwood had in the vicinity of 6000-7000 members from memory. This year they had about 2,350. A drop of 50% plus.

Clubs had great cheer squads who supported the legendary Duffle Coats. These days you are lucky to see two floggers and three flags for some club cheersquads.Streamers peppered the grounds along with torn-up telephone books. Banners were present all the time. Cheergirls had twenty members, now they have 6-8 when they do turn out.

All games used to be on a Saturday afternoon. Now they are programmed around the schedules of the Cows and the Pahhhr. Friday and Sat nite SANFL has been good but the local programme is a lot more disrupted as a result.

Also, we have 9 teams now, not 10. The AwFL selections each week also upset team balance for the local comp week in and week out.

By now, your essay should have at least reached a B+!! Let us know how you get along!

There still would be phone book confetti and streamers if people were allowed to use them.

I used to bring a school bag with a cut up phone book in it for a while until late 1998 when I was told not to do it or I'd be evicted. The ground was Adelaide Oval. Funny though, the Sturt Cheer Squad was still able to do it, I guess it's easier telling a 13 year old off rather than about 15 or so men.

Essay great.

mal wrote:Essay great.

ps: be the first to say you need a hand

The more money at stake, the more contraversial the means of getting it.

Thanks a heap you guys, i done it's affect on the SANFL during the 1980 and 2000 period so some of the things provided i couldn't use.. but now i've got more than enough topics.

It has to be 1,500 - 2000 so im alright.. sitting on 1,250 right now.

Thanks again guys, oh and does anyone know any good books for this.. as i need one book reference.

The Pride of the Bay, by Peter Cornwell and John Wood, do yourself a favour SBR, read it, after that you might consider turning and following a real footy club....