Reserves plan illogical
LAWRENCE BEN: The Crowd and Power should not be given the privilege to include reserves teams in the SANFL. Such a result would compromise the integrity and the standard of the league. For example, rather than playing to win matches and ultimately premierships, the Port Adelaide Magpies, one of the oldest football clubs in Australia, would be forced to primarily focus on player development. They would become uncompetitive and irrelevant, and this would not be a good outcome for the SANFL.
Furthermore, based on current trends it appears likely that there will eventually be a national reserves competition for the AFL. If this does become the case, it would appear illogical to allow AFL reserves teams to temporarily join the SANFL, ruin its integrity and then destabilise the league by disaffiliating upon the inevitable commencement of a national reserves competition.
MURRAY BOLTON: What a fantastic article written from the football purist’s perspective.
The ridiculous situation caused by the AFL not having its own reserves competition means that the SA AFL clubs have to try and slot their reserves somewhere for a regular game. The fact that this isn’t being addressed by the AFL just shows how little interest or sensitivity it has towards anything other than the AFL competition and not the sport in general.
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The true SANFL supporter hasn’t turned his back on his SANFL club nor the competition, which is steeped in tradition, passed down from generation to generation. There are no franchise-type teams in the SANFL like the Adelaide Crows or West Coast Eagles. Each SANFL club has a defined geographical demographic. The SANFL wasn’t set up over 100 years ago to accommodate a franchise club’s reserves team to get match practice. It was set up for suburban clubs to strive for premierships.
The place for the Crows and Power reserves team is in the VFL, which is now the home for the Victorian-based AFL clubs’ reserves players. There the Crows and Power can play games against like-minded clubs and against players in a similar situation.
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