AFL Draft and money in SFL

[shearer]

Firstly, were any sydney based kids from the NSW/ACT rams drafted in last nights AFL draft? If no is this because of a/ the scholarship scheme(kids dont need to be drafted) or b/ noone was good enough?

Ive been following sydney footy since my dad played and seen some changes in my time but one constant that is always talked about is money. My first memory of money in the SFL is going to Grand finals at Trumper Oval and the Sydney Showground as a kid and bookmakers would be in the stands fielding bets on who would win and who would kick the next goal. This was pre Swans when you would get a big crowd for the grand finals.

Wests, Newtown and Easts all had money because of there own licenced clubs, the coach of Easts was paid $9k to coach in the late seventies/early eighties which doesnt sound much but as he said it was a deposit on a home in Paddington. $9k wouuldnt get you a garage in Paddington now.

I started playing in 1989 and we won a 19's comp that year, myself and plenty of others from our side got a call from Sydney Uni offering us scholarships if we went there. Im glad we all stayed as from that group i have mates for life. So what Sydney Uni are doing is no different to what they were doing 20 years ago.

A few years later Sydney Uni were the gun club with Rod Carter in charge and a swag of ex swans won the comp but within a year or two they were out of the SFL because of overspending.

I cant remember if Parramatta won there premierships before or after Sydney Uni but the the buzz was they were spending squillions on teams, after losing that infamous GF to Norths, players went there separate ways and the money dried up and the club was out of the SFL.

I remember playing against the Balmain sides of 97/98 and they were guns with Ash Reade and Hollywood and were well coached by Birdy. The mail was they were spending plenty on players and when that dried up the players were out of there.

Which brings me to now, ECE spend plenty but from what i see they have tremendous structure and management to be able to sustain it for a long period.

Clubs all have to supply business plans to the league and the league is well aware of who has got what to spend.Is it the leagues responsibility when they hear or see what clubs are spending on players to reel them in so they dont fall over and maintain the long term viability of those clubs?

With a huge amount of money being pumped into GWS, why not a very small percentage of that investment be given to clubs to improve there infrastructure to ensure they dont go of the way of the Parramattas, Newtons.

I see a lot of what is happening with footy in sydney very similar to the global recession and the sub prime mortgage debacle. Teams falling over each other to throw money at players that dont deserve it who will eventually leave them anyway for the club to obtain some very short term success.

anyway thats my morning rant done

[Rowdy#8]

I see a lot of what is happening with footy in sydney very similar to the global recession and the sub prime mortgage debacle. Teams falling over each other to throw money at players that dont deserve it who will eventually leave them anyway for the club to obtain some very short term success.

Thats just the Gen Y attitude Shearer. Employers all around the country are making the same observations that you are

[Bert]

That sounded like a very long winded way of pumping ECE tyres......

[Rafters]

Parra won 1990 & lost 1991 .. Syd Uni won in 1992. Player fees in those years was $12k pa from my recollection of looking at the books ... most of the players were on match payments of $25/win ... the big cost was Ron Thomas' fee was effectively covered by Goodyear sponsorship that he brought to the club - so effectively revenue neutral.

Goannas demise mostly revolved around suspensions from 1991 GF & retirements of good players that didn't want to play in thuggish comps ... Ronnie then "bought" a number of players to Wests whilst the reminder had a dispute with the 1994 committee for sacking their mate Garry Hutchison as coach - so when he was signed by Baulko the nucleus of the team followed him. Goannas were then left with effectively an under 19 side playing senior footy & got smacked in first game of 1995 so the decision by the club was to go down to SFA to preserve the playing group from getting flogged each week.

The club has always been financially sound - primarily due to the great sponsorship support of Hills Transport for over 25 years & never in debt with anyone. All league fees were always paid in full each year. Only issue financially was within the junior club when they discovered this year that a committee member allegedly took substantial amounts of canteen takings over 2 seasons for personal purposes.