Bone’s beef: The SANFL must move forward, punt the AFL reserves and embrace women’s football
Despite fan approval for the AFL reserves team to stay in the SANFL, crowd numbers suggest it is time for a major overhaul of the state league, writes Advertiser footy expert Chris McDermott
Chris McDermott
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- Fans give AFL reserves teams vote of approval
- Where have all the SANFL crowds gone?
- Glenelg struggling to survive, as is SANFL
THE footy fans have spoken.
This week’s Advertiser Footy Fans Survey showed indisputable approval for the AFL reserves teams from the Crows and Port Adelaide to continue playing in the SANFL.
Seventy per cent of respondents want the competition to remain as it is.
Bums on seats tell a completely different story.
I wrote two months ago of the looming problem. It is now here. It is real and it won’t go away.
Doing nothing is not the answer.
The Crows all but guaranteed 3000 fans to games. They are rarely pulling 2000.
They promised new corporates and increased media opportunities but they have also not reached the levels expected.
In many ways the competition is heading south, not north.
Something must be done. Not next week, not next month. Now.
The survey shows quite clearly that people are interested in the SANFL but they are not going to games.
The Footy Fans Survey attracted 9970 responses.
In Round 12 only 9127 people attended the five games. In Round 13 that number was closer to 8500.
The SANFL model with the two AFL reserves teams in it is revised every year.
The Crows have a 15-year agreement to stay in the competition at $420,000 a season.
As an original team, Port pays nothing.
I say, come season’s end, all bets are off.
It is time to reconsider the SANFL model and look for a different way to increase crowds, to increase participation, to increase sponsorship and to guarantee ongoing media support.
All to guarantee its future.
It’s time to embrace the women’s game.
Women have made significant inroads into men’s football in recent years at all levels, from the media, to boards and into coaching.
The women’s game is coming on in leaps and bounds.
It is not sneaking in politely, it is barging the door down almost demanding to be heard.
If you can’t beat them, join them.
The women can not, will not and should not be ignored.
They must be welcomed with open arms in the knowledge they can save the game, not just be part of it.
The SANFL’S answer is clear to see.
Release the two AFL reserves team and allow them to play in the VFL.
Say goodbye to the SANFL reserves competition.
Say hello to the men and women playing on the same day and on the same ground. Back to back and not always women before men.
The 12,000 fans who attended a AFLW game at Norwood Oval last year cannot be wrong.
This is a genuine game with genuine support and genuine interest and a new group of supporters and sponsors desperate to be part of it.
It’s time to get fair dinkum.
Second chances rarely pay off for AFL coaches
History suggests strongly that if you miss out on a premiership at your first try as a coach, you should not get another chance — unless you’re Mick Malthouse or Malcolm Blight, writes Chris McDermott.
When two tribes go to war
It was the game that stopped a state — the first Showdown between the Crows and Power on April 20, 1997. Chris McDermott shares his memories for Part 1 of The Greatest Showdowns series.