2022 Adelaide Footy League - Division 5

[Yank Man]

Div 2 Hills is better than Div 5 AdFL from what I saw last year

And we will never know until they play each other in an equal comp.

To be fair I’ve seen a few Hills Div 2 games and they were Div 6 at best. SFL teams in Towns, Morphy Park are battling away in Div 3/4 and Marion in Div 6 would be a top 3 Hills Div 2 contender. But again it all depends on who has recruited well.

[Off The Wall]

Div 2 Hills is better than Div 5 AdFL from what I saw last year

And we will never know until they play each other in an equal comp.

To be fair I’ve seen a few Hills Div 2 games and they were Div 6 at best. SFL teams in Towns, Morphy Park are battling away in Div 3/4 and Marion in Div 6 would be a top 3 Hills Div 2 contender. But again it all depends on who has recruited well.

Marion would struggle to make finals

[Jimmy_041]

Watched Elizabeth v Kilburn on the weekend which Kilburn won by 15 goals was rather impressed with Kilburns speed ball movement and attack on the ball under new coach Matty Whelan on the other hand Elizabeth looked slow and under done with no distinctive game plan i know its only a trial and dont know how many were missing from both sides but what i took away from the game is Kilburn will be very competitive while Elizabeth have a lot of work to do to avoid a premiership hangover

All the time in the world for Matty Whelan
Thoroughly professional when he played and a ripper bloke
Hope he goes well

[one day I will]

Watched Elizabeth v Kilburn on the weekend which Kilburn won by 15 goals was rather impressed with Kilburns speed ball movement and attack on the ball under new coach Matty Whelan on the other hand Elizabeth looked slow and under done with no distinctive game plan i know its only a trial and dont know how many were missing from both sides but what i took away from the game is Kilburn will be very competitive while Elizabeth have a lot of work to do to avoid a premiership hangover

I agree, credit to kilburn they looked pretty fit and had some big bodies around the footy. I’d say our younger guys may of been pushed off the ball too easy at times giving kilburn first use going forward.
Also give credit to our young guys that stood up and played A grade that would not normally get the opportunity during the year they played the best they could on sat. Missing 10 guys from your premiership side due to covid, injuries and work makes a hell of a difference.
Cheers kilburn FC , Good luck for the year ahead. See ya soon!!!!

[Brodlach]

Could someone who subscribes to the Adveriser please post the article on Salisbury

[Jimmy_041]

Salisbury Football Club scrapes together for season 2022, warns of long-term devastation for northern suburb sport

The future of local footy is in jeopardy as the pandemic forces players to prioritise work according to a club which only narrowly avoided a 2022 recess.

Daniel Renfrey
March 9, 2022 - 4:20PM
The Messenger

An Adelaide Footy League club has warned many clubs around the state may suffer long-term after it had to scrape a senior side together for season 2022.

Just days after Smithfield withdrew for the second straight year, the Salisbury Football Club has barely managed to build an A Grade team for its division five campaign.

The club only has six players from last year’s squad and has drawn on its lower teams for numbers.

Football director Grant De Bais said an already testing climate to maintain a club had become more challenging during the Covid-19 pandemic.


Salisbury won the division 5 B Grade flag in 2019 and had established a strong club through the ranks. Now, they're struggling to fill a team. Picture: Salisbury Football Club

“It’s already tough for us to compete with others, with more money being involved at a local level, and it has become a bigger challenge to run things during the Covid period,” De Bais said.

“A lot of our players and volunteers work 40-hour weeks and need to prioritise work over footy, and the work that has to go into footy with added protocols to be enforced and maintained is a lot.”

Amid its pre-season struggles, the club has also had to discontinue its C Grade team and its women’s team.

De Bais said this was a great disappointment for the Magpies.

“It sucks a bit. We’ve been at the forefront for women’s footy for a while now but haven’t been able to field a team due to losing nearly half a side to the SANFL and other commitments.”

Salisbury has been forced to sideline its women's team for 2022 after a lack of numbers on the park over pre-season. Picture: Salisbury Football Club

Along with Smithfield bowing out, Para Hills and Westminster OS have pulled their C Grade sides.

De Bais said there was now long-term concern for many clubs, especially those based in Adelaide’s north.

“Look at the demographic in the North compared to other areas. It’s quite working class and work and even weekend work is way more important for families,” he said.

“A lot of players are contractors or self-employed and they can’t go without working for two weeks if they have Covid – the risk you run is high at the footy where there are hundreds of people.

“There’s definitely concern, with money a bigger factor now and Covid continuing, a lot of smaller clubs will die out and the bigger ones survive.”

Patrick Walker – chief of the Australia Sport Foundation – said with the recent Covid upsurge in SA, local clubs may continue to suffer similar to those in Eastern states.

“There’s been a steep decline in participation nationwide and around 43 per cent of sporting clubs we have info from reported their biggest missing cohort was young adults children, so there is concern about the future of clubs,” he said.

“There’s definitely reluctance from volunteers and players due to Covid and the workload is much bigger now too.

“Nine-thousand community clubs we’ve surveyed nationwide, which equates to 1,000 in SA, feared for their future. Imagine that many communities without sporting clubs, it’s a huge hit.”

[Brodlach]

Thanks Jimmy

It’s not just a Northern suburbs issue though

[Jimmy_041]

Thanks Jimmy

It’s not just a Northern suburbs issue though

I dont think so.
Anecdotally, there seems to be a fair bit of life fatigue going around.

[scottroo]

It’s definitely amplified in the northern suburbs for junior football. Lots of migrant families who have never heard of aussie rules footy. There’s a couple of big junior clubs north of grand junction, unfortunately there’s also a few really struggling

[Yank Man]

It’s definitely amplified in the northern suburbs for junior football. Lots of migrant families who have never heard of aussie rules footy. There’s a couple of big junior clubs north of grand junction, unfortunately there’s also a few really struggling

There’s a few in the south struggling with numbers also scottroo, it’s going to be interesting if clubs get COVID issues as the season goes on. This is probably one season where you need a long list to get through.

[jo172]

It's interesting, because my memory of the second half of 2020 was that numbers went bananas when people were eager to finally get out of the house and do something for the first time after the initial lockdown.

Can see how it would be taking its toll as time goes on. Even little shit like going to training and getting coughed on by the wrong team mate and the consequential disruption in terms of work must be having a huge impact.

[whufc]

Wouldn't think the current petrol price chaos is going to help either...….

When family budgets get tighter the first things to go are luxury spends such as sporting fees/costs, attending sport costs.

All of a sudden becomes an expensive day out when you travel across the other side of the city to play.

[Brodlach]

Wouldn't think the current petrol price chaos is going to help either...….

When family budgets get tighter the first things to go are luxury spends such as sporting fees/costs, attending sport costs.

All of a sudden becomes an expensive day out when you travel across the other side of the city to play.

That shouldn’t be an issue for the Northern teams considering how close 7 of them are

[The Bedge]

Covid is a symptom, it's not the sole problem. Reality is community sport - or rather commitment to - has been on the decline for a long time now.

On one side, people are getting lazier, more entitled expect the world without making effort, but on the other also less work/life balance and need to either do weekend work or invest time with family.

Young people's priorities have continued to shift away from structured sport.

Training a couple nights a week and playing Saturdays just isn't as appealing to people these days.

If anything Covid kept it together bit longer because people were hampered in their ability to travel, holiday, live a "normal" life.. now that it's returning to somewhat normality, people are cashing in.

Also, those with their own business are less worried about 2 weeks off work from covid as opposed to 12 months off with a serious injury.

[hollywood7477]

Covid is a symptom, it's not the sole problem. Reality is community sport - or rather commitment to - has been on the decline for a long time now.

On one side, people are getting lazier, more entitled expect the world without making effort, but on the other also less work/life balance and need to either do weekend work or invest time with family.

Young people's priorities have continued to shift away from structured sport.

Training a couple nights a week and playing Saturdays just isn't as appealing to people these days.

If anything Covid kept it together bit longer because people were hampered in their ability to travel, holiday, live a "normal" life.. now that it's returning to somewhat normality, people are cashing in.

Also, those with their own business are less worried about 2 weeks off work from covid as opposed to 12 months off with a serious injury.

Surely clubs have players only training once a week. Surely Salisbury could say hey don’t train just roll up on Saturday as we need to have a team and this is the only way we can field a side. Get them to train maybe once a fortnight

[The Bedge]

I have faith in Salisbury - they have the best person at the helm coaching.. could turn water into wine. I trust he'll get positive results - perhaps not match points but small wins during the season.

[bubba love]

Long shot I know! Havens v TTG next Saturday are looking for an oval to play A-Cs trials next Saturday the 19th, if anyone knows of anything available please let me know, cheers

[football tragic]

Hearing training numbers in all grades are struggling
Some div 5 clubs struggling to get over 20 to each session
Anyone else hear the same?

[Wee-man]

Eastern park v Trinity apparently called off in last quarter due to fights last night?

[#bleedredandblue]

Eastern park v Trinity apparently called off in last quarter due to fights last night?

Lol there wasn’t any fights

Game called off with 4 minutes to go due to an EP player getting knocked out cold in a marking contest, while we only had 16 players left playing mind you lol we were still keen to play but pointless really

Trinity also has a lad go down 10mins into the last with a suspected broken ankle? Probably their best player to

Bit of heat in the game as they had a bloke running around with a swinging arm, hit 3 different players in a 10 minute period and acted like he didn’t know what he was doing.. then he got one back and it was the end of the world, trinity coach is an absolute wanker I might add also!

All in all, was a good hit out considering EP were missing 11 of their starting 21 due to cricket finals today, but still got up by about 3 goals in the end! Trinity should go well in Div 6