Interesting observations from Ron Fuller coutesy of his blog on SAFC website.
I have been asking the same question concerning the future direction of our competition for a while. I feel the SANFL has lost sight of our competition and only has a focus for the AFL teams and have for a while. I know some clubs have the same opinion , I think it's time for the clubs to get together and ensure everything is being done to better our competition and not let it wither away.
Respect for past
Wednesday 2nd May - By Ronny's Blog
It was very pleasing to hear Peter Moody talk of the great history that South Australian has in regard to the countries horse racing past and why it was one of the reasons he brought Black Caviar to our city to compete for her 20th consecutive win.
As a young man I can remember horses like Manihi and Tobin Bronze competing in the countries big races, as well as Rain Lover winning two Melbourne Cups.
Bart Cummings and Colin Hayes were also two of the biggest trainers in the country and they were based in this state.
Moody quite rightly said he hoped having his horse race here would give the industry in this state a much needed boost.
The state does have a great history in horse racing but it also has a great history in Australian football.
When the AFL was formed all the Melbourne clubs retained their history and as such people like John Nichols, Ted Whitten Bob Skilton and many, many more great players maintained their status.
In South Australia though, all of our past champions were put into a smaller bag as only SANFL players.
Even when Port Adelaide went into the AFL as a club there was no recognition of Bob Quinn or Fos Williams or John Cahill or Russell Ebert as past premiership players or 100 game players in regard to their VFL compatriots.
There are many people who wouldn’t mind if the SANFL just went away in fact, but I wonder how much thinking has gone into how the SANFL will be run in future years.
I have not heard of any strategic plan as to how the next 10 or 20 years will look for SANFL clubs or their supporters.
I have read the SA Football Commissions plan but it doesn’t discuss the SANFL competition.
It talks of the Adelaide Oval precinct and the AFL clubs, which is very exciting as well a terrific for the sport, but it merely scratches the surface on what we can expect local football to look like.
If you don’t think it won’t disappear, you only have to look at how the horse racing industry has virtually disintegrated in South Australia to understand that if too many people are ambivalent about our planning, the future may be bleak.
Ron Fuller.
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