C31 Total SANFL - finished

[CK]

It is with a very heavy heart and great disappointment that I advise that the SANFL and your club - a decision reached by all parties - at a meeting yesterday, has advised they will not sponsor "Total SANFL" in 2007.

A submission was tabled to all clubs and the SANFL, but it was rejected. Key areas indicated for this were "production levels" and an inability to provide meaningful viewing figures. On the latter point, the cost involved in sourcing these figures was prohibitive - particularly for myself, who had already endured significant personal cost to keep the show running last year. On the former point, this was acknowledged but again, given the lack of sponsorship, it becomes a chicken and egg theory. This point was a little curious, given a number of those involved stated they had not seen the show. As we had said in the submission - we need financial assistance for this to improve, and assistance from the main beneficiaries on the project. To make it clear to all concerned - the clubs were asked for $3,000 apiece and the SANFL $5,000; a cost I do not feel is prohibitive.

While some would suggest that corporate sponsorship is the way to look, I do not feel personally that it should be the responsibility of outside sponsors to fund a project that completely benefits the SANFL and your club. I see few reasons for asking external parties to, essentially, fund a project that will then provide free publicity for the SANFL and clubs. I tried to drum up support through a prominent Adelaide radio station, who, after twice stating they would have me on air about the project, declined to do so, instead preferring to offer support to another football show on the channel.

After having worked on submissions, many failed attempts since 2004 (The SANFL and clubs funded the "SA Footy Show" in 2003 on C31/Ace; when the same broadcast reach and production values were present, I might add - however, the difference there was "name" presenters, Chris McDermott, David Wildy and Russell Ebert; so there is somewhat incongruence in some of what has been advised to me), working on a voluntary basis entirely for so long to promote the league (As many of us - including Wedgie on safooty.net, CA on footysa.com and many, many others do), I purely and simply no longer have the energy, fight or passion to continue on this. There comes a time when enough is enough, and the time has come for me. The passion and belief I hold in the SANFL is huge, but it is plain this is not appreciated in many ways by those that make the decisions.

Many, many thanks for all of the support, phone calls, emails and many other things from so many of you in the SANFL community for this show. It remains perenially disappointing for me that the league and clubs do not share your passion and belief in the show. I have tried for a long time to get this up and running and am simply tired of it all. Tired of the fight. Tired of the countless voluntary hours. Tired of the late nights and early mornings on it. Myself and the panellists, camera crew etc have busted their guts enough of it. After 4 years of trying - maybe this is the desired outcome for some people. At least I can look in the mirror and say "I tried" for it.

Thanks
Chris Kendall

[mighty_tiger_79]

another great decision by the SANFL and our clubs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pseudo]

At least I can look in the mirror and say "I tried" for it.

Thanks
Chris Kendall

There are plenty of folks at West Lakes who would be well advised to look into a mirror.

Sincere thanks to you Chris.

[mighty_tiger_79]

im not too sure about the cost of running the show, but given most clubs and the SANFL do run on a profit, surely the cost could be divvied up among the 9 clubs and the SANFL and then if sponsors are found it is cheaper again!!!!!!

i guess it was just too hard.

[westside]

another great decision by the SANFL and our clubs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How far did you dip in to your pockets...

[mighty_tiger_79]

another great decision by the SANFL and our clubs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How far did you dip in to your pockets...

i didnt, but i would have thought it was a good way to get some publicity/coverage about the SANFL given that it is being swallowed up by the AFL in most media markets.

I did enjoy the grand final show at HQ!!!!!!!!!!

[redandblack]

CK, was the decision an SANFL one, or was it because not all clubs would support it.

If it was an SANFL decision, it would be just a further confirmation that they're not interested in their own competition, but only their AFL interests.

If it was the Clubs, I could understand 1 or 2 clubs not having the money.

Sad decision and we're all grateful to you for those hours of effort.

[mighty_tiger_79]

i think the decision was made by both the SANFL and the clubs.

be interesting to know if there were any clubs that actually supported the idea.

[smac]

Disappointing news Chris. Thanks for all of your efforts and thanks to all who worked in the background somewhere to make it happen.

Hopefully it is only 'resting' and not 'dead'.

[Wedgie]

Bugger, that's sad news to come home to, well done on all your efforts Chris, we all appreciate it, you put on a quality product that all SANFL fans truly enjoyed.
Maybe you'll have more time to catch up for a beer now, hope to catch up with you soon.

[spell_check]

I like to thank the SANFL for their support in this.

[zipzap]

Aw come on, that money is a pittance, even for a struggling club. In terms of 'bang for your buck', investing in CK and the team would be a helluva smarter option than another set of Tim Shaw ads FFS.

SANFL and all teams have rocks in their heads to be so shortsighted.

Congrats and thanks Chris, hope you will continue to be involved in the SANFL related media in the years to come.

[Wedgie]

Bloody disgrace that some at the SANFL or any club had not even made the effort to look at the show, certainly shows where the SANFLs priorities are, making bright lights at Footy Pk, making sure Hot Dogs are warm for AFL fans and keeping the corporate gravy trains rolling.

[Sojourner]

Absolutley F*cking Pathetic, and the sad part is, exactly the response that I expected from the leadership of the SANFL.

When a company is under attack from a takeover bid, one of the best ways to fight it is to expand. Soccer in Australia is on the march as are several other sports, the SANFL would have done well to have some publicity on the media because 5AA have shown they are not interested and the SANFL has a snowflakes chance in hell of coverage on the commercial networks news as to news on AFL clubs.

The blunt reality is that the main media focus on the SANFL is going to be community radio 5RPH,and limited on the day coverage on Channel 2 and Life FM

The SANFL could have done alot better than that. Their reluctance to support the Total SANFL show is a good reason why we need a leadership change and a team that will promote SANFL footy and not constantly make the SANFL second fiddle to the Crows and Power, - yet that wont be happening any time soon.

[rd]

I've only just found out about this decision and I'm absolutely gutted at the minute. Gutted for Chris who virtually sold his life for the past few years to support the SANFL comp - just to get nothing in return. Gutted for the team of panelists and believers who gave their all, believing that the SANFL deserves far far better coverage of its competition than what it currently receives. As a former Coast FM & C31 announcer, I also realise that the SANFL wants "names" to promote & host the various media shows - hello SANFL - it's not going to happen and all you are doing is p.ssing the devotees and true volunteers right off! The SANFL now has only 2 rolls of the dice left to avoid becoming completely forgotten and ignored by footy fans. It has to hope The Advertiser will still provide some sort of coverage, but that service is dwindling each year as the pressures to devote more footy space to the AFL increases year by year. The SANFL must do something pre-season - a mish mash of trial matches in March provides no attraction or interest or enthusiasm for the early rounds of the season. The SANFL should have remembered that all the footy fans who will never be able to afford Foxtel (and there are thousands) to watch AFL probably would have tuned into C31 this year (once the C31 signal got boosted) and Total Sanfl would have been a huge winner in its Sunday noon slot, prior to a Sunday arvo free to air AFL telecast. Once again, I'm gutted for Chris at the moment.

[Dutchy]

Only positive out of this is sometimes you need to lose something to realise how important it was...hopefully be back better than ever in 12 months...

I really think its time the SANFL started up their own SANFL - AFL department to look solely after the AFL Licences and AAMI...then leave the SANFL to solely deal with the SANFL competition and the tiers under that....thoughts?

[Adelaide Hawk]

Maybe the Crows would like to sponsor the show and actually give something back to SA football for a change.

[Thiele]

Chris thanks for putting a great local footy program. It was a pleasure to meet you after grand final show.Thanks again Chris

[the tractor]

So sorry to hear this crap news.
Spider, you should be proud of what you have acheived.
Keep your chin up mate, you never know what might pop up for you.

[MagicKiwi]

Commiserations to you Chris but thanks to you for all your hard work and to your fellow panellists and crew. Be proud of what you have achieved, don't lament what you haven't, what you can't change or what you have no control over.

Will look forward to catching up with you more for a beer at the footy.

Time for a woman to infiltrate the SANFL.