Adelaide Footy League Division 7 - 2018

[Bombers4EVA]

I reckon our A grade and B grade coaches are gonna have major headaches come next Thursday night selection. Gonna be some disappointed lads. Between 12 and 16 blokes probably gonna sit out round 1.

[marbles]

Couldnt flinders uni & mitchell parks be adel Lutheran's d-grade

how is this the case when...

# MP have lost 9 players in clearances and none of them to Adelaide Lutheran

AND

# FP have lost 8 players in clearances and only 1 of them to adelaide luthies

1 PLAYER TAKEN BY LUTHERANS from both clubs.... wtaf

also all this drama about Mitchell Park, theyve cleared 9 players & gained 2 with 4 pending..... another wtaf! how are they in strife.

[The Ash Man]

Morell, that's a really good post and I hope to respond to it in more detail at a later stage.

There are some issues in your post that may be just Mitchell Park issues, some issues that would apply broadly to clubs in Mitchell Parks "sphere" (I realise that's condescending but I can't think of a particularly better way of putting it at quarter past 5) and some issues that apply more broadly to all Clubs across the state.

What particularly hit me is:

The Front Bar at Mitchell Park certainly provided all of that, but even then, there was still a Club first attitude, they’d wash the dishes, help the canteen staff, fill water bottles, sell raffle tickets, help out with admin – whatever it was, they would always do whatever they could to help out the Football Club. As they knew that The Club provided them with so muc more. And that is precisely the right word. *Club*. To use an Americanism - a fraternity.

This appears to me to be an endemic issue across all sporting clubs. I have no idea whether it's a symptom of a time poor society, a greater array of recreational options open to young men than in previous generations or generational apathy but there is an across the board (with exceptions) unwillingness for people to contribute more than the bare minimum in being a member of the Club despite the many benefits, both personal and collective that it brings.

It is an attitude shift that by its nature is going to cause seismic shifts in community sport, particularly when the current generation of volunteers dies out (generally baby-boomers and up).

I think this is what has made the local footy club struggle to survive in places. Gone are the days where the footy club was the only place your family went to on a Saturday, where the missus would come down and catch up with the other ladies, the golden oldies would sit at the bar on a Thursday night during training and be there for the A grade game on Saturday. Add to that people no longer live near the footy club, at least not in Walkerville, and this doesn't help keep the volunteer numbers up and a club running as smoothly as it use to.

Its great to see there are passionate people still around who want their club to succeed on and off the field

I remember back in the day, Friday night after work everyone went to the club for happy hour on the way home. It was a great atmosphere and without the distractions of Keno, TAB, Pokies there were actually good conversations.

I think there a few factors that have really killed this off.
Everyone is time poor these days, the days of the early Friday knock off are well and truly over.
Beer prices aren't what they used to be and people prefer to take the cheaper option and drink at home, knowing that Saturday they will be at the club.
Another factor (controversial, but true IMO) is the drink driving laws and the higher chance of getting caught these days. Gone are the days where some might have another sneaky one knowing they will be borderline.

[Pag]

Couldnt flinders uni & mitchell parks be adel Lutheran's d-grade

how is this the case when...

# MP have lost 9 players in clearances and none of them to Adelaide Lutheran

AND

# FP have lost 8 players in clearances and only 1 of them to adelaide luthies

1 PLAYER TAKEN BY LUTHERANS from both clubs.... wtaf

also all this drama about Mitchell Park, theyve cleared 9 players & gained 2 with 4 pending..... another wtaf! how are they in strife.

Clearance numbers don't tell the whole story, blokes who stop playing by choice or those who are no longer able to play (morell as an example) won't show up on the clearance page. Neither do volunteers.

I share morell's sentiments with this. People may have a crack at me when I say Salisbury do not pay players. A few of us senior blokes even started putting some money out of own pockets into a kitty each week to try to attract some guys, but the money we had was never going to be enough to entice anybody. We have fluctuated between Div 3-4 for the past 15 years based off a 'golden generation' of juniors from the late 90s-early 00s who have stuck with the club for nothing (lots have ventured elsewhere for a year or two then come back), but unfortunately that time will soon come to an end and we can only hope the next generation supports the place the way the previous one has (not just with playing, but with volunteering, supporting the bar + kitchen, attending functions regularly etc), otherwise we may end up facing the same fate as Mitchell Park are currently staring at. I can't imagine where we would be right now if our juniors hadn't been as strong as they were for past 20-25 years. And this is from Div 4, not Div 7.

I could never imagine being in town at a nightclub instead of my footy club bar at 8pm on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, those people (morell seems to be in the same boat) are slowly starting to die away. Footy clubs will follow unfortunately.

[beef]

Couldnt flinders uni & mitchell parks be adel Lutheran's d-grade

how is this the case when...

# MP have lost 9 players in clearances and none of them to Adelaide Lutheran

AND

# FP have lost 8 players in clearances and only 1 of them to adelaide luthies

1 PLAYER TAKEN BY LUTHERANS from both clubs.... wtaf

also all this drama about Mitchell Park, theyve cleared 9 players & gained 2 with 4 pending..... another wtaf! how are they in strife.

Clearance numbers don't tell the whole story, blokes who stop playing by choice or those who are no longer able to play (morell as an example) won't show up on the clearance page. Neither do volunteers.

I share morell's sentiments with this. People may have a crack at me when I say Salisbury do not pay players. A few of us senior blokes even started putting some money out of own pockets into a kitty each week to try to attract some guys, but the money we had was never going to be enough to entice anybody. We have fluctuated between Div 3-4 for the past 15 years based off a 'golden generation' of juniors from the late 90s-early 00s who have stuck with the club for nothing (lots have ventured elsewhere for a year or two then come back), but unfortunately that time will soon come to an end and we can only hope the next generation supports the place the way the previous one has (not just with playing, but with volunteering, supporting the bar + kitchen, attending functions regularly etc), otherwise we may end up facing the same fate as Mitchell Park are currently staring at. I can't imagine where we would be right now if our juniors hadn't been as strong as they were for past 20-25 years. And this is from Div 4, not Div 7.

I could never imagine being in town at a nightclub instead of my footy club bar at 8pm on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, those people (morell seems to be in the same boat) are slowly starting to die away. Footy clubs will follow unfortunately.

Pag you must be concerned about Salisbury's junior numbers this year. Where other clubs seem to have 2 or 3 teams every grade salisbury seem to be struggling to fill sides in every grade.

[marbles]

Couldnt flinders uni & mitchell parks be adel Lutheran's d-grade

how is this the case when...

# MP have lost 9 players in clearances and none of them to Adelaide Lutheran

AND

# FP have lost 8 players in clearances and only 1 of them to adelaide luthies

1 PLAYER TAKEN BY LUTHERANS from both clubs.... wtaf

also all this drama about Mitchell Park, theyve cleared 9 players & gained 2 with 4 pending..... another wtaf! how are they in strife.

Clearance numbers don't tell the whole story, blokes who stop playing by choice or those who are no longer able to play (morell as an example) won't show up on the clearance page. Neither do volunteers.

are they lost/retired or just guys who cant be bothered doing preseason, and they dont have a dude who is willing to ring them up and tell them to get out to training

[Executive Member]

Couldnt flinders uni & mitchell parks be adel Lutheran's d-grade

how is this the case when...

# MP have lost 9 players in clearances and none of them to Adelaide Lutheran

AND

# FP have lost 8 players in clearances and only 1 of them to adelaide luthies

1 PLAYER TAKEN BY LUTHERANS from both clubs.... wtaf

also all this drama about Mitchell Park, theyve cleared 9 players & gained 2 with 4 pending..... another wtaf! how are they in strife.

Clearance numbers don't tell the whole story, blokes who stop playing by choice or those who are no longer able to play (morell as an example) won't show up on the clearance page. Neither do volunteers.

I share morell's sentiments with this. People may have a crack at me when I say Salisbury do not pay players. A few of us senior blokes even started putting some money out of own pockets into a kitty each week to try to attract some guys, but the money we had was never going to be enough to entice anybody. We have fluctuated between Div 3-4 for the past 15 years based off a 'golden generation' of juniors from the late 90s-early 00s who have stuck with the club for nothing (lots have ventured elsewhere for a year or two then come back), but unfortunately that time will soon come to an end and we can only hope the next generation supports the place the way the previous one has (not just with playing, but with volunteering, supporting the bar + kitchen, attending functions regularly etc), otherwise we may end up facing the same fate as Mitchell Park are currently staring at. I can't imagine where we would be right now if our juniors hadn't been as strong as they were for past 20-25 years. And this is from Div 4, not Div 7.

I could never imagine being in town at a nightclub instead of my footy club bar at 8pm on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, those people (morell seems to be in the same boat) are slowly starting to die away. Footy clubs will follow unfortunately.

It is a real tough one and I think looking back at the past shows what some will need to do to continue to survive

Look at PNU and Goodwood as examples of merging Clubs can actually make the new entity that much stronger

There are some golden opportunities for Clubs to come together and become so much stronger

[scottroo]

Pag we have had discussions before about different areas attracting larger sponsorships etc,

How can neighboring clubs of yours afford to spend huge amounts on players? Do they have rich people propping the club up? Or is their income the same but you just like to spend it in different areas?

[The Bedge]

It is an attitude shift that by its nature is going to cause seismic shifts in community sport, particularly when the current generation of volunteers dies out (generally baby-boomers and up).

This is what worries me the most about the future. Already we see very few are willing to put their hands up and help out around the place, what will the next generation bring?

People just seem to care less.

Every sport is the same - hell even cricket, I send out messages for help at Bunnings BBQ's during the season or even now season is over ask for members to come down and lend a hand cleaning the rooms ready to hand over to Lacrosse for the winter season, and I get either one of two responses - nothing at all, just flat out ignore, or they say no.

Pisses me off more when something is posted in the FB group and you can see who has "seen" the post, and yet no one person chooses to acknowledge it.

This generation of people are ******* lazy, narcissistic and self-centred, they expect everything handed on a platter, they expect to be treated above and beyond and they give very little back in return.

Once upon a time you used to have to earn your stripes, earn your respect and placing.. now they expect it to be a given.

[jo172]

. Examples of this can be found all over the place – the best players in Sporting Pulse? Caused huge issues amongst our playing group. Complaints about not making it or being 4th instead of 2nd, absolutely ridiculous stuff, I tried to explain, but it was important to them. Payments? Heck, even average footballers deserve it as they are putting their body on the line, so the club ought to look after them. Forget earning it through awards. They were entitled to it for merely rocking up. Doing a chore for the club? No chance, they do enough of that at home, football is a place to escape nagging, god damnit! But easily the biggest indicator is what happens when it looks like we might not win much. It is unbelievable how quickly people pike out. The modern amateur footballer is a jellyfish, if it’s not going to be “fun” and by fun, of course we mean winning, then they want no part of it. Countless players have said exactly that. They haven’t left, per se, they just don’t want to play because it will be too hard.

Further to my post above that I thought what Morell described was a series of problems some unique to MP, some common to "lower grade Clubs" and some broadly across the range of suburban football I just thought I'd add my thoughts.

I posted above somewhere that the "community" bit of suburban football in terms of people, particularly the younger generation, willing to engage in selfless behavior for the collective benefit of the Club. On further reflection I'm wondering if the rise of personal fitness has much to do with it. The relationship between the Club and many (not all) younger footballers is feeling increasingly transaction even when those younger players aren't paid. There's this underlying notion that the Football Club is like a gym and the subscriptions are equivalent to a gym fee which in return the Football Club provides the exercise.

As such, the things additional to the actual playing football are falling by the wayside (drinks on Thursday/Saturday Nights, supporting your other grades, social functions). It's an endemic problem. From our personal experience we've addressed it to a bit but it requires dedicated, strong leadership which we're fortunate enough to have particularly from the Senior Coach. Take away the strength of his leadership in that regard we would have significant problems.

I am curious to Morrell's post about players getting shitty at best players on Sporting Pulse. I've never heard one complaint about that in my time. Very occasionally you have someone upset that their playing in what they perceive to be in the wrong grade but even this would have happened only a handful of times in the last decade. This strikes me as more a particular problem to Mitchell Park (and please don't take it as me sinking the boot in).

That problem, and some of the surrounding ones really strike me as a failure of the culture that has developed within the Football Club. I'm not saying that there is anyone in particular to blame for this, or indeed that it was necessarily avoidable, but a culture in a team or club that prioritizes essentially the ego of the individual over the success of the collective is always doomed to end up in tears. I have no particularly helpful observations as to how to right that ship but it's a good warning to everyone else because I suspect it's a far easier culture to keep out than it is to get out once it seeps in.

The "reward" for putting the body on the line comment also interests me as by far our biggest bleed of players in their early twenties comes from tradies who are respectable A Grade/B Grade footballers who don't think the benefit of the fun of football is proportionate to the risk to their income stream. This is understandable, unavoidable and I imagine its been happening forever. However, there are times this attitude is accompanied by an assumption the Footy Club is running BHP and that we have a magic money brush that can cure all ills. I'm confident that our financial position is pretty good in the grand scheme of community football, but like all clubs we scrape by. If there's money left over in the bank we'll allocate it to capital works (or more likely continue putting it into the ever sinking Sports Association). There seems to be a substantial portion of people who can't delineate between us and the Crows in terms of the assistance, particularly logistical, medical and financial that can be provided to members and players.

How to get the genie back in the bottle of what is described above is going to be a broad challenge across suburban football (and is only going to get harder) over the next twenty years.

[The Bedge]

guys who cant be bothered doing preseason, and they dont have a dude who is willing to ring them up and tell them to get out to training :)

This bit here makes me SOOOOO wild!!!!

Why the **** should coaches or similar spend week after week chasing players and begging them to get out on the track?! The number of messages and calls i'd make a week is ridiculous!!

How about players get the **** over themselves and get off their arse themselves instead of waiting for someone to chase them like they're something special!

[jo172]

how is this the case when...

# MP have lost 9 players in clearances and none of them to Adelaide Lutheran

AND

# FP have lost 8 players in clearances and only 1 of them to adelaide luthies

1 PLAYER TAKEN BY LUTHERANS from both clubs.... wtaf

also all this drama about Mitchell Park, theyve cleared 9 players & gained 2 with 4 pending..... another wtaf! how are they in strife.

Clearance numbers don't tell the whole story, blokes who stop playing by choice or those who are no longer able to play (morell as an example) won't show up on the clearance page. Neither do volunteers.

I share morell's sentiments with this. People may have a crack at me when I say Salisbury do not pay players. A few of us senior blokes even started putting some money out of own pockets into a kitty each week to try to attract some guys, but the money we had was never going to be enough to entice anybody. We have fluctuated between Div 3-4 for the past 15 years based off a 'golden generation' of juniors from the late 90s-early 00s who have stuck with the club for nothing (lots have ventured elsewhere for a year or two then come back), but unfortunately that time will soon come to an end and we can only hope the next generation supports the place the way the previous one has (not just with playing, but with volunteering, supporting the bar + kitchen, attending functions regularly etc), otherwise we may end up facing the same fate as Mitchell Park are currently staring at. I can't imagine where we would be right now if our juniors hadn't been as strong as they were for past 20-25 years. And this is from Div 4, not Div 7.

I could never imagine being in town at a nightclub instead of my footy club bar at 8pm on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, those people (morell seems to be in the same boat) are slowly starting to die away. Footy clubs will follow unfortunately.

It is a real tough one and I think looking back at the past shows what some will need to do to continue to survive

Look at PNU and Goodwood as examples of merging Clubs can actually make the new entity that much stronger

There are some golden opportunities for Clubs to come together and become so much stronger

You have to tend to assume, particularly in the northern and southern suburbs where economic opportunities may be more sparse and football clubs seem more densely populated we're going to see a lot of amalgamations in the mid-term future.

[The Bedge]

I am curious to Morrell's post about players getting shitty at best players on Sporting Pulse.

At Ingle Farm, players don't seem to get upset at who is named in the best, however a lot of players in the lower grades seem to only ever come back to the club for preso if they see their name up in lights on Sporting Pulse - ideally I wish we could hide the best players or at least delay putting them in until later Saturday night/Sunday, but unfortunately requirements mean they have to go in straight away.

[jo172]

I am curious to Morrell's post about players getting shitty at best players on Sporting Pulse.

At Ingle Farm, players don't seem to get upset at who is named in the best, however a lot of players in the lower grades seem to only ever come back to the club for preso if they see their name up in lights on Sporting Pulse - ideally I wish we could hide the best players or at least delay putting them in until later Saturday night/Sunday, but unfortunately requirements mean they have to go in straight away.

This blows my mind.

I'm responsible for entering them a half dozen times a year and usually by that time I'm so gassed I put myself first (obviously) and then the first five players I can spot across the bar in that order (don't fine me JK).

No one should be taking anything in Sports Pulse remotely seriously.

[marbles]

guys who cant be bothered doing preseason, and they dont have a dude who is willing to ring them up and tell them to get out to training :)

This bit here makes me SOOOOO wild!!!!

Why the **** should coaches or similar spend week after week chasing players and begging them to get out on the track?! The number of messages and calls i'd make a week is ridiculous!!

How about players get the **** over themselves and get off their arse themselves instead of waiting for someone to chase them like they're something special!

maybe the previous year the kid had a disappointing year and is still a bit down about it.

[marbles]

I am curious to Morrell's post about players getting shitty at best players on Sporting Pulse.

At Ingle Farm, players don't seem to get upset at who is named in the best, however a lot of players in the lower grades seem to only ever come back to the club for preso if they see their name up in lights on Sporting Pulse - ideally I wish we could hide the best players or at least delay putting them in until later Saturday night/Sunday, but unfortunately requirements mean they have to go in straight away.

This blows my mind.

I'm responsible for entering them a half dozen times a year and usually by that time I'm so gassed I put myself first (obviously) and then the first five players I can spot across the bar in that order (don't fine me JK).

No one should be taking anything in Sports Pulse remotely seriously.

if it was requested enough the designers could easily configure sporting pulse to not reveal the names until say 8pm that night.

every football club in the nation would be suffering due to this issue.

[The Bedge]

guys who cant be bothered doing preseason, and they dont have a dude who is willing to ring them up and tell them to get out to training :)

This bit here makes me SOOOOO wild!!!!

Why the **** should coaches or similar spend week after week chasing players and begging them to get out on the track?! The number of messages and calls i'd make a week is ridiculous!!

How about players get the **** over themselves and get off their arse themselves instead of waiting for someone to chase them like they're something special!

maybe the previous year the kid had a disappointing year and is still a bit down about it.

Now you're surely trying to wind me up?

[marbles]

guys who cant be bothered doing preseason, and they dont have a dude who is willing to ring them up and tell them to get out to training :)

This bit here makes me SOOOOO wild!!!!

Why the **** should coaches or similar spend week after week chasing players and begging them to get out on the track?! The number of messages and calls i'd make a week is ridiculous!!

How about players get the **** over themselves and get off their arse themselves instead of waiting for someone to chase them like they're something special!

maybe the previous year the kid had a disappointing year and is still a bit down about it.

Now you're surely trying to wind me up?

every person doesnt think as you do and football is their everything, nor are they 40 years old full of wisdom and common sense

they are young ignorant and naive and sometimes need a bit of a push to show theyre wanted, and the to realise their self critism over the summer wasnt as bad as they believe and the coach still loves them and wants them back.

not every person is a leader, many are a simply followers #sheep

[Pag]

how is this the case when...

# MP have lost 9 players in clearances and none of them to Adelaide Lutheran

AND

# FP have lost 8 players in clearances and only 1 of them to adelaide luthies

1 PLAYER TAKEN BY LUTHERANS from both clubs.... wtaf

also all this drama about Mitchell Park, theyve cleared 9 players & gained 2 with 4 pending..... another wtaf! how are they in strife.

Clearance numbers don't tell the whole story, blokes who stop playing by choice or those who are no longer able to play (morell as an example) won't show up on the clearance page. Neither do volunteers.

I share morell's sentiments with this. People may have a crack at me when I say Salisbury do not pay players. A few of us senior blokes even started putting some money out of own pockets into a kitty each week to try to attract some guys, but the money we had was never going to be enough to entice anybody. We have fluctuated between Div 3-4 for the past 15 years based off a 'golden generation' of juniors from the late 90s-early 00s who have stuck with the club for nothing (lots have ventured elsewhere for a year or two then come back), but unfortunately that time will soon come to an end and we can only hope the next generation supports the place the way the previous one has (not just with playing, but with volunteering, supporting the bar + kitchen, attending functions regularly etc), otherwise we may end up facing the same fate as Mitchell Park are currently staring at. I can't imagine where we would be right now if our juniors hadn't been as strong as they were for past 20-25 years. And this is from Div 4, not Div 7.

I could never imagine being in town at a nightclub instead of my footy club bar at 8pm on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, those people (morell seems to be in the same boat) are slowly starting to die away. Footy clubs will follow unfortunately.

Pag you must be concerned about Salisbury's junior numbers this year. Where other clubs seem to have 2 or 3 teams every grade salisbury seem to be struggling to fill sides in every grade.

I'm not completely over junior numbers for each grade mate but I know the U16s are looking at two sides, something we've never had before.

[Brodlach]

Young,ignorant and selfish more like it.

I’m sure some people think the fairies come in and run football clubs after dark

Scottroo, his family and a few other families are the glue that keeps CLG together