SA Footy

Hi all,

First time poster - long time reader (from Vic)

I was wondering if anyone can answer a long-held question that I have had - namely, why are SA behind posts RED as opposed to the white 'traditional' ones?

An SA-raised friend of mine recently asked me, but I came up blank! Remember them well from the old SOO games at Footy PArk in the 80s, and I see from photos on this site (and a ground in South Parklands when I was over recently) that SANFL and suburban SA footy still use them...

Any assistance would be appreciated!

Cheers,

The SANFL are tight-asses and couldn't afford the more expensive white paint?

I had always thought it was so the players could better differentiate between the goal posts and the behind posts. One can take a snap under pressure with confidence if one glances up to see two white posts, and not one white and one red. I have no basis for this claim!

SA footy has always had a few differences from the other states. 2 points for a win and one for a draw, listing teams with the forwards on top, percentage defined on 0 to 100. More recently, the 25 metre penalty. These little nuances are - to me at least - part of the charm of SA footy, and I hope that any attempts to standardise the SA game are met with stout resistance.

Surely the Sandgropers must have a few nuances too. I know they've had player numbers on the fronts of their guernseys and/or on the shorts. Any others?

Pseudo wrote:Surely the Sandgropers must have a few nuances too. I know they've had player numbers on the fronts of their guernseys and/or on the shorts. Any others?

I'm positive they were the first ones with the 50m arc and they also had the 25m arc too. I recall seeing a WA v SA game at Subi and they had these.

They also used Burley's which looked like a red balloon with thick white cursive writing.

And I remember they painted goalsquares as well in WA, but I'm assuming this was only for special occasions.

Hard to see because they've painted the arcs yellow, but they're there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds1NI3E-uFs

1986 WA vs VIC SOO. About 1:47 Brereton takes a mark on the 25m line.

The SANFL used to use Kookaburra's. Maybe that might've been a South Adelaide thing only.

As far as the red posts, I'm with you, I reckon it was to differentiate between goals and points. Norwood oval always had white posts as far back as I can remember, back to the Escort Cup days which was early 80's (mid week comp played under lights).

Conrad Gates wrote:why are SA behind posts RED as opposed to the white 'traditional' ones?

Why are Victorian behind posts white as opposed to the traditional red ones?

Good question about the red behind posts which I hope someone can answer. I've often wondered about that too.

As for other nuances peculiar to individual states:-

- The WAFL did introduce 50m and 25m marks in the mid 1980's. The 25 was done away with after only a season or two but the 50 mark remained. It was quite innovative actually.

- South Fremantle in the WAFL had the players surnames on the back of their jumpers around the early 1980's

- Since 1997 (when the league was called Westar Rules in an ill-fated move) they introduced yellow balls for all games, day or night and that has remained to this day.

I think a few grounds in recent years have had their behind posts painted white, but two that come to mind straight away are Richmond and Noarlunga that do still have them painted red.

spell_check wrote:I think a few grounds in recent years have had their behind posts painted white, but two that come to mind straight away are Richmond and Noarlunga that do still have them painted red.

unley oval has red behind posts.

Norwood as well

didn't malcolm blight say that he saw the 2 white posts & kicked that 'famous point' for north melbourne when about 3 metres out, i think we should stick to the red posts


perhaps if the afl want to adapt an even more victorian influence perhaps the goal umpires can go back & signal scores with their thumbs again

bayman wrote:didn't malcolm blight say that he saw the 2 white posts & kicked that 'famous point' for north melbourne when about 3 metres out, i think we should stick to the red posts

I did that myself in underage footy, so it made me feel better when Blight did it as well. I usually played on ovals with red posts, but this particular day the point posts were white. I won the ball, looked up and saw two white posts so I just ran in and booted it through. Then I heard someone say "he kicked a point", and I was shocked. It was very easily done when you played in SA as Malcolm did.

Why the posts are red in SA and white in Vic, I have absolutely no idea.

At Woodville and Thebby have 4 white posts at each end, but when the Eagles play at either ground there is red padding on the point posts.

Red @ the Bay...

And Prossie

In SA we also used Ross Faulkner Balls (and IIRC South and Glenelg used Burleys for a while too). What ever became of Ross Faulkner footies?

Squawk wrote:In SA we also used Ross Faulkner Balls (and IIRC South and Glenelg used Burleys for a while too). What ever became of Ross Faulkner footies?

Possibly bought out by either Sherrin/Spalding or some other football manufacturer.

I once owned Lyrebird footy and was the official ball of the VFL or VFA in the 1930's. some time latter Sherrin Purchased the brand and obviously produced a cheaper ball for kids to kick around.

Used to own a Lyrebird ball as a kid too, mainly because they were cheaper than Sherrins and were still of a good quality.

In Victoria, we used to call Burleys "beach balls" because they always seemed to be round and with all the white printing on them looked like they were red and white when they spun end over end in the air.

I remember having a footy as a kid with MATCH II printed on it. Was that a Ross Faulkner footy, or what?

I'm pretty sure it was.

In Melbourne, the scale went:

1. TW Sherrin
2. Ross Faulkner MATCH II
3. Lyrebird
4. Club colour balls that you could only get by buying them direct from the club (they came either with our without autographs).
5. All-Pro (cheapie red leather balls from K-Mart)
6. The red rubber "Loumet" balls from K-Mart (I'd end up getting 2-3 of these each season)
7. The hard Brown ones at the service station

Squawk wrote:In SA we also used Ross Faulkner Balls (and IIRC South and Glenelg used Burleys for a while too). What ever became of Ross Faulkner footies?

Glenelg still use the Burleys....