valleys07 wrote:Absolutely we were close to death. VERY close.
I did say the SANFL has been dying a slow death for years.
If the national reserves comp gets off the ground and the SANFL goes back to an 8 team comp, as has been mentioned, the challenge for SANFL execs will be to appeal to the next generation.
FWIW- I would hate to see one of the oldest sporting comps in Australia die, and hope that it can strengthen itself moving forward.
That's been the challenge for twenty years, and it is a challenge.
If anything though, having AFL reserves sides in the SANFL made this challenge harder, because it meant that young kids were more likely to follow the AFL sides rather than the eight traditional clubs. At least removing the reserves sides would give the traditional clubs a point of difference.
You only have to look at the decline in crowds since the reserves sides entered the comp to know that the reserves sides didn't help the cause at all.