Legs Man wrote:Off The Wall wrote:Look Good In Leather wrote:Why should Onkaparinga Valley or Echunga get relegated this year when they do the right thing and field all grades, if there are others that don't?
Why should Torrens Valley or Uraidla get relegated this year when they do the right thing and do try to get junior teams running, only to suffer because of their township size and/or a generation gap of junior players in the area.
Having a quick look at populations for the Div 1 areas / clubs -
1000 or less:TV
Echunga
Uraidla
Ironbank
1500 - 2500:Onkas
Hahndorf
Lobethal
2500 - 5000:Blackwood
Mt Lofty
30,000 plus:Mt Barker
These are summarized from the latest stats available.This gives everyone a good insight into the inequity of counting junior grades in the relegation points.
Understandably the clubs surrounding Mt Barker feed off them to try and get juniors - but wow do they have an advantage over everyone else or what?
There is no way the 4 clubs with less than 1000 people can compete with clubs at the 2500 plus level - and it is impossible when that number blows out to 30+ times that.Yet currently the less than 1000 clubs are evaluated the same with our unfair system as it stands.
And when it comes down to a club vote - you can see who wins.
So then play in div 2 against other same size clubs in a more sustainable league for you club/town!
As you can see from your figures - there are 6 clubs that are "staple" div 1 clubs and will 9.5 times out of 10 fill all grades with no problem. If you made div 1 eight teams, that then allows 2 remaining spots for the likes of Echunga, TV, Uraidla, Nairne, Ironbank, Bridgy for when they have a great few years in the seniors to try it in the "big" league.
Reduce the size of div 2 and make sure all clubs in div 1 or 2 must have at least 2 of the 3 junior grades.
I still don't understand why it's good enough for there to be gaps in the div 2 draw but not in the div 1 draw???
What makes the league think that Mt Barker is such a more important club than Kersbrook/Birdwood??
In regards to the junior numbers dropping off. It's about time the AFL and SANFL clubs got of their @sses and started doing more visits to the grassroots level (clubs and schools). I'm unsure about the other clubs but in the last 10 or so years, I can't remember any AFL team coming to Birdwood for a training and have only seen a couple of SANFL players 4-5 times.
If AFL players want more $$ from us (general public/supporters), then they need to start putting more back and work harder at growing the game against soccer etc.