Congratulations To The Fools Who Run The Game In Nsw

[tara]

GREAT JOB YET AGAIN.

One ground closure has forced the cancellation of all reserve grade games in 1st division this weekend.

Rather than have the foresight to schedule SWS v Parra ressies at 10am at Gipps and UTS v Sharks Ressies at either Roger Sherrin of Weldon at 10 am the decided to cancel the round

Take your heads out of your arses fella's and use your brain. No wonder most consider the people in charge to be fools and the NSW AFL the laughing stock of the AFL community

[BeeEmmAre]

Hear hear!!!

Second Division is off as well.
It's going to be the third week in a row without a game for the Jets (general bye, forfeit, washout).

No wonder Aussie Rules is the laughing stock of sport in Sydney.

[Rafters]

I wouldn't be blaming the NSWAFL administration. It is not just AFL that don't get a game this weekend - alot of the other codes games have been cancelled as well. I think we should be focussing the angst towards the councils for either:

* closing grounds prematurely; or
* not preparing grounds well enough pre-season for them to stand up to the rigours of winter & winter sports (ie are the surfaces so uneven that puddles form with the slightest bit of rain?)

Really disappointing because I didn't think it rained that heavy earlier this week & yesterday was bone dry after some morning fog.

I wonder if there is edict amongst councils that they will close all grounds when there is a bit of rain about purely so that the grass gets a chance to grow after such a drought period/water restrictions.

I reckon it would be as frustrating to the adminstrators as it would the players/clubs.

I think we can expect alot more matches being cancelled for the rest of this season.

[tara]

Rafters your points are noted but in this case it was only one ground. It wasnt a pretty hard problem to come up with a workable solution.

[Rafters]

Premier League ressies & 18s also called off Tara. I know of alot of soccer called off around Sydney as well.

[Norris Lurker]

I can sort of understand why grounds were closed 2 weeks ago, but it's unbelievable that councils are closing grounds this weekend. There's been a few foggy mornings, but hardly any rain this week (and no, I don't live in the catchment area - it never rains there lol).
I'm sure the councils will fob off the blame on the water restrictions, but in the dry weather earlier in the season I couldn't believe the way some of the surfaces were being neglected, to the point where they became rock-hard and out of shape.

But surely if some grounds are playable, then at least some games could be played. I don't see the point in cancelling a whole round just because one game is out - especially in comps like Second Division where the teams weren't going to play the same number of games anyway. Isn't that why we're using match ratio rather than points to determine ladder position?
So surely we should play whatever games we can - if that means some teams' reserves play and others don't, so be it.

[tara]

My reasoning for this thread was as a direct dig at those in charge and their narrow minded thinking. Not necessarily a slight on their person but at how they are manageing things at present given we should be a growing competition with the Swans recent success. How is it passible with the small number of senior side in the whole Sydney metrolpolitan area we can have a situation such as this? Surely some planning and foresight by those in charge could see a workable backup plan in place. If the code is ever to really grow at grass roots levels here we cant have this situation. We need to be looking at ensuring that all games go ahead.

Also remember I play for a club that cops a flogging week in week at at the moment and some might think a week off is mercy, but at the end of the day we want to get onto the paddock and I in particular remember better times so I can accept the bad ones as well.

[Northern_Swan]

To throw in my 2 cents-

In the BDAFL the Killarney Vale ground was closed and as such the games there were transfered to Warners Bay (their opponent). Hardly an ideal situation you would agree, but the games were still played.

At our game (Gosford V Cardiff at Adcock park) the council were hesitant to allow games to go ahead due to the cricket wicket in the middle ( ), however as a comprimise, they allowed circles to be marked either side of the centre, again, hardly an ideal situation and both teams had to change tactics to suit, but we got three games of footy in and that is the main thing at the end of the day.

The point?
Negotiation and common sense between the BDAFL and the Local Council's ensured that there were no senior matches cancelled, which was a good result for us. Perhaps some common sense should be trialled in Sydney so these situations don't occur there perhaps?

[BeeEmmAre]

Originally posted by Northern_Swan
To throw in my 2 cents-

In the BDAFL the Killarney Vale ground was closed and as such the games there were transfered to Warners Bay (their opponent). Hardly an ideal situation you would agree, but the games were still played.

At our game (Gosford V Cardiff at Adcock park) the council were hesitant to allow games to go ahead due to the cricket wicket in the middle ( ), however as a comprimise, they allowed circles to be marked either side of the centre, again, hardly an ideal situation and both teams had to change tactics to suit, but we got three games of footy in and that is the main thing at the end of the day.

The point?
Negotiation and common sense between the BDAFL and the Local Council's ensured that there were no senior matches cancelled, which was a good result for us. Perhaps some common sense should be trialled in Sydney so these situations don't occur there perhaps?

Congratulations for at least getting footy on - although the council can't get full marks.
Cricket pitches (and I am as passionate a cricketer as the next bloke) are not required until September at the earliest - three months away, and all they need is a rolling to bring them back to flat.
In short, BDAFL A+, Newcastle council B, SAFL F, Sydney councils Z (Campbelltown, Pennant Hills and Drummoyne excluded).

[Coastal Boy]

I do applaud the SFL for ensuring all First grade games are on. It is much better than playing half a round and catch up games later. I dont see any negatives to this at all and good on the powers that be for getting something right. Tough luck for the 2s though who miss out completely but would we really care if the Swans 2s was cancelled. Just bring on the seniors most people would say.

I reckon someone would be put out regardless of what the admin decided was best.

[Coastal Boy]

Originally posted by Woodsy
The post was not about SFL Coastal Boy but the incompetence of the admistration of SFA. I therefore fail to see any relevance in your post.

Tara is correct, a little foresight could have seen the round completed but they took the easy option and cancelled the round as the could be bothered doing a little extra work and to be honest do not care less about the SFA anyway. We shouldn't be surprised.

Yes the councils are also at fault but this is a clear case where a little extra work by the NSWAFL clowns could have helped our case enormously.

But the fact is that a similar event occurred in the SFL on the weekend and a fortnight ago. I see the relevance in that. If it is good enough for the Premier League it should be good enough for First division.

[tara]

Originally posted by Coastal Boy
But the fact is that a similar event occurred in the SFL on the weekend and a fortnight ago. I see the relevance in that. If it is good enough for the Premier League it should be good enough for First division.

Mate I did post becuase it directly involved my club and the league I play in but the fact is it shouldn't have occurred regardless of what league/division was involved. Its even more of a joke that the "Premier" competition has now been involved in this farce twice.

All I have done is highlite the fact that the AFL up here really do very little. Mayble blaming the people who run the show up here is harsh becuase I really dont know the workload that they are under but if they are under resourced then the AFL itself should be ashamed given the BS they sprout about promoting the game in developing regions.

[Rafters]

Sorry but I can't point the finger of blame to the administrators at all. Imagine it is 4.35pm on a Friday afternoon & you get a call from various councils that their grounds are closed (do they even call up?) - here are just some of the considerations that need to be made for a decision:

* what grounds are available (ie sometimes can't just swap the home ground to the other team as the ground may be used for juniors or another code - or simply can the ground be prepared in time for a game the next day ... it is a hassle at times organising a home game - whilst the canteen takings are handy it is a nuisance to organise at the last moment);

* what times are those grounds available: (ie is junior footy being played on the ground at 10am on the day of the seniors? I understand that the Iguanas - the junior Goannas - were playing at Goanna Park earlier on Saturday Tara - do you stop the kids from having a game?);

* how much time is required to notify the relevant stakeholders (eg clubs, players, umpires, supporters)

* can matches be played on the other day of the weekend at another ground (issues such as ground & player availability; notification; etc is important)

Is reserve grade footy really that important anyway in the whole scheme of things? ie did the world change because only senior footy was played - I agree that I only bother to watch the Swans & don't care about their reserves.

Does anyone really remember who won the last 25 reserve grade premierships?

Maybe an effort to have the u/18 comp being played - but I think the kids may enjoy a weekend off footy to relax after an intense trial HSC period.

[Rafters]

Wests reserve grade side would be feeling a bit toey - they had a bye in between the two washout weekends & have to wait another week with the rep game bye as well ... their last game was on June 3 and next match will be on July 8 ... provided it doesn't rain!!

[wheels27]

I would only add that probably in the grand scheme, very few people would really care too much who is winning any Sydney footy comp, any level, other than those directly involved.

Saying that a certain level should take precedence over any other seems a bit of a stretch when all players make basically the same sacrifice to play footy at all, missing work, family and paying a significant amount in both time and money just to be able to get a game of footy each weekend.

Having said that, given a hypothetical that two matches have grounds unavailable, and another location is available, give precedence to the higher league game, but not cancelling games at one ground at the last minute, to be replaced by games deemed more significant. (As happened on the weekend). Our particular situation would have been less disruptive to have cancelled games at Trumper (2 clubs affected) rather than play 2 of 4 games at Gipps (4 clubs affected), as mentioned above match ratio was introduced so the results would not be unfair.

All we would ask is that any available ground or option be explored before just taking the simplest decision. If there were no other options available, that's fine, as long as they were explored.

There were no juniors at Gipps Rd that I saw unless they had packed themselves up and all disappeared by 11 when I arrived there. (Got there early as we had not been able to contact all our players who thought they would be playing at 12)

I think Tara's initial point was that the powers in our game seem too often to be making the decision that requires the least effort (or probably, in fairness, time) on their part, rather than the decision that sees all those in Sydney that want to play AFL each weekend considered.

It becomes frustrating to hear ad nauseum how much money is being put into Sydney footy, yet the actual clubs here seem to be struggling as much or more than ever.