Adelaide Footy League club Greenacres withdraws from season, Houghton Districts promoted
An Adelaide Footy League club has pulled the pin on the season while another team has been promoted and fixtures for all seven divisions have been released.
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An Adelaide Footy League club has pulled the pin on the season but will return in 2021 while another team has been handed a promotion.
Greenacres Football Club informed the league it would withdraw its men’s sides from the competition for 2020 due to financial concerns and promotion being taken off the table.
The Dragons are the first club to formally pull out of the Adelaide Footy League this year.
Greenacres president Duncan Tilley said the cost of putting teams on the park and no promotion on offer were the main factors in the decision.
The league decided to freeze promotion and relegation this year with clubs likely to play a nine-game home and away season.
“A big part of it was the fact that there was no promotion up for offer,” Tilley said.
“Being a division seven side we’ve worked out it will cost us a minimum $1000 to play, as it normally does, but at the moment we don’t know if we’ll have a way of raising money.
“We’ve still got the players keen and wanting to be involved, but they can understand the maths side of things.
“But it was a myriad of things, with all that’s going on at the moment.
“Next year we’ll be back to play for 18 weeks and hopefully finals.”
League chief executive John Kernahan told The Messenger Greenacres – and any other club which withdraws this season – would be welcomed back into the competition in 2021.
Tilley said the Dragons’ women’s team was still committed to playing this year.
The Dragons’ departure from division seven left it with seven teams, leading the league to invite one club to go up to the nine-club sixth tier so both divisions had even numbers.
Brahma Lodge and O’Sullivan Beach Lonsdale, which were relegated from division six last year, were given the opportunity first and rejected it.
The invitation was then extended to and accepted by Houghton Districts.
Raiders coach Matt Jones said the club jumped at the chance to move up a division and believed his side could compete higher up.
The league will assess whether Houghton remains in division six or drops back down to the seventh tier at the end of the season.
“We’ve obviously built a side to play in division seven but we’ve recruited well and I think we’ll surprise people,” Jones said.
“We like a challenge and I’ve always liked a challenge so it was pretty easy decision in the end
“This way we’re in div six and can give it a crack and if we perform well we might stay there. So for us it was a no-brainer really.”
LEAGUE RELEASES DRAFT FIXTURES
A half-season fixture for all Adelaide Footy League men’s divisions has been released as the competition waits to get the green light for its planned July 4 start date.
Matches for all seven A-grade divisions plus B and C-grade competitions were unveiled this week with all teams scheduled to play trial games on June 27.
However the matches are subject to change and still rest on key restrictions being lifted such as crowd numbers and food and beverage trade.
The SANFL is set to meet with the Adelaide Footy League and all country competitions on Tuesday, June 9 for crucial talks.
Matches for contact sport are permitted by the State Government to resume from June 25.
A pair of blockbusters will kick off the division one campaign, with Prince Alfred Old Collegians hosting Goodwood and reigning premiers Payneham Norwood Union taking on Rostrevor Old Collegians.
The clash between the Old Reds and Saints at Park 9 will be the first time boom recruit Jack Trengove takes to the field in the league.
In division two, Sacred Heart Old Collegians will take on Salisbury North, which looks strong on paper, in a rematch of last year’s semi-final.
Hostilities will also be renewed in division three when Edwardstown and CBC Old Collegians meet for a rematch of the 2019 division four grand final.
ROUND ONE GAMES TO WATCH
Division one
■ Prince Alfred OC v Goodwood Saints at Park 9
■ Payneham Norwood Union v Rostrevor OC at Payneham Oval
Division two
Sacred Heart OC v Salisbury North at Sacred Heart College
Division three
Edwardstown v CBC OC at Edwardstown Oval
Division four
SMOSH West Lakes v Kilburn at West Lakes Shore Oval