SA Footy

It has been argued on other threads that certain SANFL Premierships were "worth more" than others. People were using this to slant things in their teams favour- Tassie Map declaring the 30's were full of champagne football (the crescendo being 1934), to Centrals fans declaring todays footy players are stronger/smarter/more skillfull. I would argue that North won the last "true" SANFL GF, before the expanded VFL had become the AFL, but I don't agree with the "weighted" philosophy. To win the Premiership, you have to be the best team for the year/on the day. Therefore, every Premiership has it's own merits- you were better than the rest of the competition, & that's what it's all about.
*Please note- yes not always the best/most consistent team end up Premiers. This argument "shelves" the idea that an upset happened, that's why I've tried to word it "carefully".

The premier beats the best the competition has to offer every year. It's no greater challenge to win in a higher standard league if your own side is also playing at that higher standard. Same goes in reverse.

It could be argued that things have changed since the introduction of AFL..? You can't argue that we are the second best competition now days..? Before the introduction of AFL you could. We competed with the VFL. I think premierships are important and valuable but I tend to think that some era's would deserve more respect than others.
Good topic to discuss Punk..!

Dog_ger wrote:It could be argued that things have changed since the introduction of AFL..? You can't argue that we are the second best competition now days..? Before the introduction of AFL you could. We competed with the VFL. I think premierships are important and valuable but I tend to think that some era's would deserve more respect than others.
Good topic to discuss Punk..!

I voted "yes" they are equal- you can't do much more than win, can you? Obviously there are some sides that would quite possibly "pants" another side from a different era, but that still doesn't diminish the fact that the Premiers were good enough to be just that- the Premiers.

Well in my opinion this league is still equal, as it would have been in the earlier days, we may have had a bit higher standard of footy back then (can be argued), but either way, it's still just as hard now to win the premiership as it ever was.

I don't think we can compare era's of football, as they all are memorable in their own ways, sometime's teams dominate, as Centrals have lately but that doesn't mean they aren't doing it easy, because of the entry to the AFL by the Crows and Power.

I voted yes too. But when you stop and think about it a little, there is a grey area there about eras..? You can only beat the opposition of the time....!

It may be succesfully argued that the SANFL is not as strong as it used to be prior to 1991. However, as I feel it is important the SANFL continues as a strong viable competition then it also follows that I regard each premiership equally as important as any that went before.

I think it could be harder to win a premiership now days with the AFL teams taking all the good players from the SANFL. How hard would it be if the AFL keeps taking all your good youth..! How many would they have to take before you are crippled as a club..? Not many...

Have we not had this arguement in other guises in the past? Every premiership has an equal value - regardless of what era or circumstances they are won in. The record books say so! Show me SANFL Footy records that are broken up pre- crows and post crows. The clubs are as equally strong in terms of circumstances for this era as they were pre-1991. This arguement is only dragged up because Centrals have been so dominant of late. Is it not up to the other clubs to lift themselves to their level rather than people say because they won flags post crows/power that they don't hold the value of other eras. To suggest that is demeaning not only Centrals but also the comp.

The standard of the competition has varyied from year to year. From the 1960's-1990 the number of players going to VFL gradually increased and everybody knew the comp probably gradually got weaker. Nobody ever said any premiership meant more or less than any other in this period. In 1991 the competition was dramatically weakened which was when some people started to say the flags didnt mean as much.

Our competition has gone through many eras and changes and will hopefully live to go through many more. I say all premierships mean the same. Sadly since 1991 not as many spectators go to the games, the standard has dropped and hence the media attention is minimal. Regardless of standard of football and crowds it has and always will be a level playing field.

Those close to a club will still cherish a premiership now as much as they did 20 years ago. There just arn't as many to share it with and playing in an SANFL premiership is not as a high an achievement for a player as it used to be.

Bottom line is the clubs have all gone through everything together and the premierships are no more or less valuable from era to era they have just been contested in different landscapes.

NO Punky Michaelangelo Rucci Rooster NO. Master of the misquote and ****!!!

I wasn't arguing that any era was the best I was merely arguing that when our club was unified and committed to following the coaches plan and all players were prepared to put in for the greatest guernsey in Australian Football well that has been the basis for all our premiership wins.

"every man on the Glenelg side had put in and pulled his weight" Jack Owens after the 1934 win

"I didn't wan't to let the coach down" Peter Carey after the '73 win

And Punky if you had any further doubts about when we play hard tough uncompromising football we win flags ask Michael Poynton on his experiences in the 1986 GF!!!

That is why I am not upset to see Butcher go, if he doesn't feel he has a future at Glenelg, so be it, I only want 100% dedicated footballers wearing the black and gold. As your current GM told me once, from his days at St Kilda, "Crises creates opportunity" and right now there is an opportunity for one of our young blokes to wear the greatest guernsey in the history of the SANFL!!!!

Carn the Tiges, are the GF tickets on sale yet? As JL said to Gilchrist when they came together at 5/126 against the Pakis in Hobart 1999 chasing 368, "You just never know mate you just never know........"

BC or not, I've enjoyed every Port premiership.

FWIW, my favourite Port memories have been after 1991.

Excellent question
U just cant win this argument either way, so im not gonna get into it
Its like comparing Bradman to current players etc
U just cant do it, all u can say is Centrals were the best team of 2005 and Port were the best side of 19whatever.

Dog_ger wrote:It could be argued that things have changed since the introduction of AFL..? You can't argue that we are the second best competition now days..? Before the introduction of AFL you could. We competed with the VFL. I think premierships are important and valuable but I tend to think that some era's would deserve more respect than others.
Good topic to discuss Punk..!

I agree here, but add that all premierships are respected and equal in their own right, that being 'the best in the comp that year'....

Some eras probably do deserve more respect than others but that does not take anything away from the teams that win in the lesser eras, they can only beat the opposition they are given. I don't reckon anyone who has recieved a premiership medal has thought I wish this was 20 years ago, premierships are why we all play, support, sponsor and discuss the game no matter what era they are won in.
Excellent discussion point but wouldn't we all care more about 2006 than any in the past ?

The ones your team wins are worth more than the ones that other teams win. This arguement is highly subjective.

BubblesOfBlue wrote:I don't reckon anyone who has recieved a premiership medal has thought I wish this was 20 years ago,

No doubt because premiership medals weren't given out 20 years ago - so if they'd won the flag back then, they wouldn't have a medal to show for it! 1987 was the first year, IIRC.

This is a highly emotional topic and one that I think about quite often.
There's no doubting the relative standard is nowhere as good as it used to be, and I was suprised to recently watch a semi final from 97 when Centrals beat North to find the standard a higher than that of today.
I was chatting to Dogmatic about this issue today and I honestly don't think that the Centrals side of 200-2005 is that much superior to the Centrals side of 95/96, its just that the competition isn't as good. That's not downlplaying Central's achievements, that's congratulating them on maintaining their standard while other clubs dropped around them.
The footy that North played in 2003 was easily the worst footy I'd ever seen in my entire time of watching SANFL, I doubt they would have been reserves sides of the 80s.
Some argue that would I find North's next premiership (if they win one before I die) as exhilerating as those of 87 and 91, the answer is yes but that does not mean that nothing has changed, on the contrary, in 87 and 91 there was probably 10,000 Wedgies celebrating North's premiership where at the next one there will probably be only 1,000 Wedgies celebrating.
In the old days when you won premierships there were streamers, posters, everything was in club colours everywhere in South Australia on SANFL GF week, that same excitement unfortunately will never be replicated, unfortunately the community of today is more into entertainment with all the different things available.
The one thing every premiershp of ever year has in common is that the side that won the premiership has beaten its competition, that's all you can ever do and that'll never change.

Thanks Pseudo was not aware of that!!!

Every footballer from any era plays the game to hopefully win a premiership. Those who are lucky enough to have done that have beaten there opposition on grand final day - That can never be taken away from any one no matter if they were the best team all year ( how many times has that happened ) or from an any era.

Go you Blues