heater31 wrote:Tony Clifton wrote:Rambled a bit but got the point across eventually.
Describing Uni as "a parasite" was a nice touch!
Typical Politician Chest beating for 10 minutes when 5 would have sufficed.......
Could have used the Parasite description for 2 of those 3 clubs involved in this....
Also implies that the West Beach Development was being done by the Cricket Club which it is not. The Adelaide University Sports Association are doing it.
Woodville got cold feet because they thought the statement that SACA would back a Woodville/West Torrens merger was a blank cheque???
You'd have to be either naive or stupid to not see what is happening, and I'm not discounting that you could be both heater.
Adelaide University are building 4 ovals at West Beach, plus training facilities, to use for a junior University cricket set up (and soccer). Whether that be in SACA or another competition, the fact is the pathways would be through to a SACA club. This clearly steps on the toes of West Torrens.
You also have Bernhardt wanting to get rid of metro junior zones.
You have a SACA board wanting to get rid of West Torrens.
It doesn't make sense to merge West Torrens and Port. Where ever you base it, the closest club for the "away" club would be Woodville. Base it at Port and current WT kids would be closer to Woodville or Glenelg. Base it at Henley and Port kids would be closer to Woodville.
You won't get a strong club from a WT/Port merger. It would certainly be weaker than WT currently is.
Woodville have every right not to merge. They are financial and well set up, albeit with a weak junior set up and lack of depth. Their 1st Grade team is the bench mark for the competition over the last decade.
The cornerstone of any potential West Torrens/Woodville merger would be juniors and women at Henley. Two of the strongest sporting high schools in the state are a 5 minute walk away. It is the perfect location. This, plus financial incentives would have been attractive to some from the Woodville club. Stable off-season income via football and a very well set up corporate program by Woodville would have been attractive to people from West Torrens.
Provided members of both clubs were supportive of this, it would certainly lead to a stronger club than what is present.
This is why it was discussed and put on the table. SACA had indicated much higher funding than what was finally put on the table. Wasting everyone's time.
Relatively, West Torrens is a far stronger club than Prospect, University, Adelaide and East Torrens just to name a few. None of these clubs have been put through the ringer like WT, Port and Woodville have.
This process has pissed off a lot of people. There will be consequences.