SA Footy

This reported in the Advertiser:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22123552-21543,00.html

Do the SANFL players really need one??

I think Prenders should worry more about performing on the field instead of trying to make a mark by starting a players' union.

Good luck to them, presuming ity's being done for the right reasons. Player welfare and a fair deal for all, (esp. magoos players??) can't argue with that.


The AFL and the AFLPA seem to have a generally healthy relationship.

Pretty sure with the AFLPA the players have to put in a decent % of $$ to be a member, (like any union), they would have to keep the $$ quite low over here to attract a big % of players, presuming they want as many mambers as they can gather to give it a strong voice.

I hope the quote from Glen Rosser

SANFL football operations manager Glen Rosser said yesterday he had no knowledge of an SANFL Players' Association being proposed. "Therefore. I can't comment," he said.

is genuine, as in that context, to me, it sounds a bit antagonistic, which i HOPE (presume again) wasn't his intent.

http://www.aflpa.com.au/

HeartBeatsTrue wrote:This reported in the Advertiser:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22123552-21543,00.html

Do the SANFL players really need one??

I think Prenders should worry more about performing on the field instead of trying to make a mark by starting a players' union.

There are some interesting points to consider around this whole topic:

Prendergast is employed by Griffen Hilditch Lawyers so he may just be the figure head so to speak as the real push is coming from Greg Griffen?

Greg Griffen was very out spoken recently about the Salary Cap and assoicated issues etc which I understand has got him "off side" with the powers to be at West Lakes.

North has been very vocal in recent years in having the Salary Cap lifted significantly to ensure we can attact and retain the best players at the second tier level to maintain our league as the best outside the AFL and compete against some of the "no salary cap concessions" the VFL and Vic Regional and Country Leagues currently have.

Guess who was just appointed to the Board of the NAFC? Greg Griffen!

So in summary and from a North "supporters" point of view, I would say that this is just another way to get this salary cap / player retention arguement back on the board given the continual reluctance by the SANFL hierachy to allow our league to "evolve" and develop further as it appears they are more interested in keeping good with the AFL, often at the expense of what is best for the SANFL comp.

Rushby Hinds wrote:The AFL and the AFLPA seem to have a generally healthy relationship.

On the surface I think they do mate, but behind the scenes I reakon would be another matter ... I believe the AFL would have made further rule changes (particularly on the Drugs stance), but were fearful of opposition from the AFLPA.

The AFLPA however, does appear to be a good thing when it comes to preventing or dissuading the AFL from being a law unto themselves.

I can't see anything wrong with it. As long as the Players Association have the big picture of the game and clubs in mind as well as their own well-being, it will be a positive thing.

If it gets the salary cap lifted then that's a good thing IMO

at this stage there is nothing wrong with what he is pushing for which is the player welfare and other conditions, this might be the only good thing prendgarst does for the season.

BPBRB wrote:
There are some interesting points to consider around this whole topic:

Prendergast is employed by Griffen Hilditch Lawyers so he may just be the figure head so to speak as the real push is coming from Greg Griffen?

etc...

Possibly the most insightful post ever made. A career in investigative journalism would perhaps suit you!

Prendergast said on the radio tonight that Griffen had suggested the Players Association to him 'a couple of times' and had 'a few chats to me about it' and then 'I went away and thought about it a while and figured it was a good idea'. He then completely failed to explain why 'it was a good idea' and 'why he'd done something about it' by raising exactly zero issues he wanted his Association to bring up with the SANFL because 'we haven't met yet'. Bravely, and after considerable prodding from Cornes, he admitted the 'salary cap might be an issue we consider'.

Then we find out Griffen's just been appointed to North's board.

W exactly TF is going on here?

There are some player-welfare issues that are probably worthy of representation from a PA.

Would be a shame if their potentially legitimate agenda was railroaded by a peanut and a puppet...

topsywaldron wrote:Prendergast said on the radio tonight that Griffen had suggested the Players Association to him 'a couple of times' and had 'a few chats to me about it' and then 'I went away and thought about it a while and figured it was a good idea'. He then completely failed to explain why 'it was a good idea' and 'why he'd done something about it' by raising exactly zero issues he wanted his Association to bring up with the SANFL because 'we haven't met yet'. Bravely, and after considerable prodding from Cornes, he admitted the 'salary cap might be an issue we consider'.

Then we find out Griffen's just been appointed to North's board.

W exactly TF is going on here?

C'mon topsy - it's Greg's (insert the word North as an alternative) push to get the clubs more control of how the SANFL is run and for the benefit of our comp - not just the AFL and the 2 SA teams. He might get the top job one day at the SANFL and he is a North man after all!!! Even your smart enough to work that out!

It's hardly an issue i've thought of as being at the forefront of SANFL footy concerns, and i bet most players would feel the same way. Nothing wrong with the idea in principle but it hardly sounds like a very promising start.
Great if there is a groundswell of agitation for an association but i don't think that is the case. More a case of a lawyer with his own agenda using one of his employees to push the issue.
Good that a person like Griffen becomes motivated enough to join an SANFL club at Board level, he no doubt has a lot to contribute. But he is hardly the messiah judging by his Sunday Mail article, as thought provoking as it was.
The article was full of simplistic assertions about the financial strength of all the SANFL clubs and legalistic hypotheticals about the league contravening certain Acts. As a lifelong footy follower i didn't feel very warmed by the article. He took a very narrow view of the salary cap and basically bugger any concerns about what a vastly increased or abolished cap would do to footy in this state. Surely history tells us that clubs get in trouble when this thinking is adopted without question.
A bit ironic too that the frontman from all of this was strongly pursued in the off season by a few clubs as a prize signature yet, as with a few of his well paid teammates, has led South to second bottom. Good to concentrate on the things that matter before worrying about other people's agendas.

Well we know someone from the Sunday Mail - probably Ben Hook reads this forum as he has qouted my link between the Players Association and NAFC almost word for word in today's Sunday Mail.

How about acknowledging where you got the info from or is it that your as smart as I am and it was coincidence?

BPBRB wrote:Well we know someone from the Sunday Mail - probably Ben Hook reads this forum as he has qouted my link between the Players Association and NAFC almost word for word in today's Sunday Mail.

How about acknowledging where you got the info from or is it that your as smart as I am and it was coincidence?

Reasonably well known that this particular journalist isn't exactly the most hard working going around in terms of research and checking of facts. It could get interesting one day if someone posted a blatantly false piece of information on here and see if it appeared in the Mail - could get very interesting from a legal sense, as the reworking of information on this site is getting more and more frequent in both that column and on his TV show.