Southern Football League

[Afterthesiren]

Come on guys, be sensible. If the proposed model goes ahead (which I doubt anyway). Promotion would not be automatic. If a C grade team won the flag there would be no change. If a Marion or OSBL won the flag they would have to be flogging their opposition all year to be granted promotion. Let's hope certain clubs make the right decision. A club like Mitchell Park made a tough call in the late 90's and they have battled away in the lower AdFL Divs. But they've won a couple of flags and also worked through some tough years but they still exist and have carried on their proud history. History doesn't necessarily judge what level you play at.

May have been a bit tongue in cheek DTH. Do you automatically lose a sense of humour when you move to Ammos?

its all those trips north of Grand Junction Road

Without getting out the old UBD, wouldn't the distances to the furtherest Hills club be less than an Houghton (Div 6) and Tea Tree Gully (Div 7)?

Definitely, if you were to drive from Flagstaff Hill Oval to Blackwood - 10 minutes. Flaggy to Mt Lofty - 15 min. Flaggy to Hahndorf - 30 min.
The longer drive Flaggy to Lobethal approx. 40-45 min. Most clubs would be within 15 - 35 min.
I know what I would be doing if I was an official of either Flagstaff Hill or Happy Valley.
Time to get off that sinking ship called the SFL.

[fathersonsfl]

Come on guys, be sensible. If the proposed model goes ahead (which I doubt anyway). Promotion would not be automatic. If a C grade team won the flag there would be no change. If a Marion or OSBL won the flag they would have to be flogging their opposition all year to be granted promotion. Let's hope certain clubs make the right decision. A club like Mitchell Park made a tough call in the late 90's and they have battled away in the lower AdFL Divs. But they've won a couple of flags and also worked through some tough years but they still exist and have carried on their proud history. History doesn't necessarily judge what level you play at.

May have been a bit tongue in cheek DTH. Do you automatically lose a sense of humour when you move to Ammos?

its all those trips north of Grand Junction Road

Without getting out the old UBD, wouldn't the distances to the furtherest Hills club be less than an Houghton (Div 6) and Tea Tree Gully (Div 7)?

Depends where you live.

[Mister Footy]

Maroon coats at the SFL have finally come up with a plan and I reckon it stinks. Playing a C grade/Div 2 on a Saturday is never going to work. Most C graders work then that's why they play Sundays.

Time to p*ss off Marion and Lonsdale and get another strong club like Blackwood to join the league and it will be back to the glory days

[Afterthesiren]

Maroon coats at the SFL have finally come up with a plan and I reckon it stinks. Playing a C grade/Div 2 on a Saturday is never going to work. Most C graders work then that's why they play Sundays.

Time to p*ss off Marion and Lonsdale and get another strong club like Blackwood to join the league and it will be back to the glory days

Just a question, not trying to be nasty but why would any club leave their current league and nominate to play in the SFL?
I'd be more concerned with which clubs will be leaving and what will be left of the SFL.

[RFC 2010]

Maroon coats at the SFL have finally come up with a plan and I reckon it stinks. Playing a C grade/Div 2 on a Saturday is never going to work. Most C graders work then that's why they play Sundays.

Time to p*ss off Marion and Lonsdale and get another strong club like Blackwood to join the league and it will be back to the glory days

Just a question, not trying to be nasty but why would any club leave their current league and nominate to play in the SFL?
I'd be more concerned with which clubs will be leaving and what will be left of the SFL.

Our competition used to be a great one but it turned to crap when the two divisions merged. I assume the SFL was trying to force a couple of the weaker clubs to amalgamate/fold/leave by merging the divisions, leaving us with a strong 12-13 team comp. You can't blame them for trying but it was clear after a few years that it had not worked and would not work. That is when something should have been done. We're now left with a shell of a comp which will only get weaker and, in reality, will be gone within five years. Too little too late ...

[Afterthesiren]

Maroon coats at the SFL have finally come up with a plan and I reckon it stinks. Playing a C grade/Div 2 on a Saturday is never going to work. Most C graders work then that's why they play Sundays.

Time to p*ss off Marion and Lonsdale and get another strong club like Blackwood to join the league and it will be back to the glory days

Just a question, not trying to be nasty but why would any club leave their current league and nominate to play in the SFL?
I'd be more concerned with which clubs will be leaving and what will be left of the SFL.

Our competition used to be a great one but it turned to crap when the two divisions merged. I assume the SFL was trying to force a couple of the weaker clubs to amalgamate/fold/leave by merging the divisions, leaving us with a strong 12-13 team comp. You can't blame them for trying but it was clear after a few years that it had not worked and would not work. That is when something should have been done. We're now left with a shell of a comp which will only get weaker and, in reality, will be gone within five years. Too little too late ...

I guess the question is which clubs will be proactive and find a healthy thriving league to grow in and which clubs will endure the pain and stick around the SFL when it takes its last breath.

[mots02]

Maroon coats at the SFL have finally come up with a plan and I reckon it stinks. Playing a C grade/Div 2 on a Saturday is never going to work. Most C graders work then that's why they play Sundays.

Time to p*ss off Marion and Lonsdale and get another strong club like Blackwood to join the league and it will be back to the glory days

Just a question, not trying to be nasty but why would any club leave their current league and nominate to play in the SFL?
I'd be more concerned with which clubs will be leaving and what will be left of the SFL.

Our competition used to be a great one but it turned to crap when the two divisions merged. I assume the SFL was trying to force a couple of the weaker clubs to amalgamate/fold/leave by merging the divisions, leaving us with a strong 12-13 team comp. You can't blame them for trying but it was clear after a few years that it had not worked and would not work. That is when something should have been done. We're now left with a shell of a comp which will only get weaker and, in reality, will be gone within five years. Too little too late ...

I was involved in a review group for the SFL many years ago (2007 / 8 ish from memory)... we came up with a series of recommendations - the most significant was to revert back to 2 divisions.

On the measures we had at the time, Christies and Porties would have ended up in Div 2 in the first year - a couple of prominent Maroon coats at the time were never going to allow that to happen so the whole project was shelved.

[cracka]

If the rumour of Marion leaving turns out to be correct, wont that leave a 10 team comp with most clubs having the full complement of juniors. I know OSB/Lonsdale & HV are struggling to be competitive at the moment but if those 2 clubs turn that around, SFL would be a fantastic 10 team comp.

[Raise the Bar]

Blackwood to leave a competition where any side can beat any other side in the competition on any given day....yeah right.
More like Flagstaff to come to the Hills where they are tested every week not 1 in 4.

[Look Good In Leather]

If the rumour of Marion leaving turns out to be correct, wont that leave a 10 team comp with most clubs having the full complement of juniors. I know OSB/Lonsdale & HV are struggling to be competitive at the moment but if those 2 clubs turn that around, SFL would be a fantastic 10 team comp.

Happy Valley have won their last two games, and they were not games against Lonsdale or Marion

[Look Good In Leather]

Blackwood to leave a competition where any side can beat any other side in the competition on any given day....yeah right.
More like Flagstaff to come to the Hills where they are tested every week not 1 in 4.

Lobethal have not won a game this year against anyone, Blackwood beat them by over 100 points on both occasions.

[cracka]

If the rumour of Marion leaving turns out to be correct, wont that leave a 10 team comp with most clubs having the full complement of juniors. I know OSB/Lonsdale & HV are struggling to be competitive at the moment but if those 2 clubs turn that around, SFL would be a fantastic 10 team comp.

Happy Valley have won their last two games, and they were not games against Lonsdale or Marion

Well there you go. I was only going on what's been written on here. What are the chances of OSB/L getting up to standard.

[Animus]

No chance, they haven't got any better over the last 25 years cracka


Round 15: wet & windy

Sharks vs Saints - Sharks at home in an upset
Vikings vs Falcons - Flaggies to take the local derby in a close game
Emus vs Divers - Porties just
Shoes vs Lions - Lonsdale thinking more about going to the 'Amatures' than playing footy this week (Trinity OS v Lonsdale is only a 75km trip one-way)
Wineflies vs Rams - first goal wins
BYE vs Cobras

[Down the Hill]

Interesting all the talk about travel yet most Country players who actually live in the town they play for have to travel anywhere from 60km to 250km round trip to play every second week not to mention the massive amount of suburban warriors who travel every week to play country footy. I reckon all but 4 or 5 of the Peake A grade team are living locally and I should know because 8 of them have played for Brighton. If a club thinks that travel to any part of metro Adelaide is a major factor in making a decision as to what is best for the immediate future of their club then they may as well shut up shop now.

[Esteban Vihaio]

The problem if Marion and OSB left, there would still be cellar dwellers. The recent history in the SFL doesn't bode well for cellar dwellers. They tend to get stuck down at the bottom and find it hard to recruit juniors or seniors, thus exacerbating the issue. Take the situation in the mini's where Reynella have five under 10 teams. OSB have one, Smackham have none.

[Broken Down Hack]

Maroon coats at the SFL have finally come up with a plan and I reckon it stinks. Playing a C grade/Div 2 on a Saturday is never going to work. Most C graders work then that's why they play Sundays.

Time to p*ss off Marion and Lonsdale and get another strong club like Blackwood to join the league and it will be back to the glory days

why would Blackwood join they got voted out in 1993 by the club delegates with 3 senior and 3 junior sides, then the new band off club delegates voted Mitchell Park in in 1994 with 2 senior and 1 junior .....go figure ....

[Broken Down Hack]

Interesting all the talk about travel yet most Country players who actually live in the town they play for have to travel anywhere from 60km to 250km round trip to play every second week not to mention the massive amount of suburban warriors who travel every week to play country footy. I reckon all but 4 or 5 of the Peake A grade team are living locally and I should know because 8 of them have played for Brighton. If a club thinks that travel to any part of metro Adelaide is a major factor in making a decision as to what is best for the immediate future of their club then they may as well shut up shop now.

Well Said .... Travel is nothing ..... 9 times a year .... big deal get over it ...

[WHEELS&DEALS]

Unfortunately I think the change is to late. I loved being part of the SFL but the best thing for our club was to move to the Adelaide footy league. I can't see any other clubs joining the SFL, more of a chance of other clubs leaving. What happens to the SFL if Marion and OSB go to Adelaide footy league, Hackham stay in C grade or go to Div7, then 1 or 2 other clubs go to hills or GSFL. You could end up with a 7 team comp which would collapse the leauge. Not the brightest future.
Could be time for the SFL and Adelaide footy league to have a bit of a chat and see if they can work together before it's to late.

[shoe boy]

The local derby Flaggies and Valley brought back the biff .

[LaughingKookaburra]

Unfortunately I think the change is to late. I loved being part of the SFL but the best thing for our club was to move to the Adelaide footy league. I can't see any other clubs joining the SFL, more of a chance of other clubs leaving. What happens to the SFL if Marion and OSB go to Adelaide footy league, Hackham stay in C grade or go to Div7, then 1 or 2 other clubs go to hills or GSFL. You could end up with a 7 team comp which would collapse the leauge. Not the brightest future.
Could be time for the SFL and Adelaide footy league to have a bit of a chat and see if they can work together before it's to late.

It's disappointing to see the SFL like this. I have heard nothing but positive feedback about Brighton and Morphettville Park to the SAAFL from both the clubs and their opponents. No one is going to leave the SAAFL to go there especially after Towns went there and then come back. Towns haven't been the same, they left as a massive SAAFL club in div 2 with very strong Juniors. Soon as they went down there they were lucky to make the 8 most years. If they had the same set up in the SFL that they had in the SAAFL they would have been a powerhouse top 4-5 SFL team year in/ year out. But they left and whilst very well run are now a middle of the road division 4 club (Going far better than my club).

The issue is that even bringing up the new proposal to discuss now (which is embarrassing) to such a proud competition is a sign that they have had fresh warnings from affiliated clubs that they are threatening to leave and leave them as a league in real trouble.

The question for me is.... Why make the change now? They had probably 13 years of continual feedback and results after giving the initial proposal 2 years to settle and see if it was working. If the change is being made now to the current proposal then just shut the doors. That proposal does not give the clubs in div 2 a realistic chance to survive. An 8 team div 1 and 6 team div 2 had far more chance of working last year and a 9 and 6 or 8 and 7 model had a bigger chance of working. With the new proposal all you're doing is giving clubs say a Division 6 at best to Division 8 experience and once promoted giving them a Division 2-3 experience in one dose..... They will get annihilated.

The only chance from an outsider for the league to survive is a change of management. I know the people who run the league try hard and are good people. To even bring out a proposal such as that the league is in serious shit even for the short term.