People from the heartlands of the two rugby codes in New South Wales and Queensland wouldn’t necessarily be aware of this, but Melbourne isn’t Australian football’s only heartland.
The land of the Croweater is, indeed, a football powerhouse, although one would forgive the people from the north-eastern states for thinking otherwise, due to the dismal form the two South Australian-based AFL clubs are showing at present.
The general public from other states would also be forgiven if they thought that football in South Australia was at one of its all-time lows, but don’t be so sure.
Yes, the Power are sitting at one win and six losses while the Crows aren’t doing much better, suffering a 96-point thrashing at the hands of Melbourne on Sunday afternoon.
Attendances are also a serious talking point, with the aging AAMI Stadium steering many fans away.
Since 2005, attendances have dropped from 42,341 to 36,601 for Crows games and 32,911 to 24,866 for Port Adelaide matches.
While Adelaide supporters are mostly content with the venue, Port Adelaide fans believe the stadium is too “Crow-centric”, as the Crows’ headquarters, training base, social venue and merchandise store are all situated at West Lakes and they cite this as their reason for aversion from Football Park.
The good news, however, is that on May 2, South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) members almost unanimously voted in favour of a 55,000-seat redevelopment of the Adelaide Oval, which will bring AFL football into the city for the first time and re-unite football and cricket in South Australia for the first time in over forty years.
The new Adelaide Oval deal will inject an estimated $3.5 million extra into each club and will eradicate the current AAMI Stadium deal which sees the Crows and Power sit 16th and 17th respectively in the percentage of match-day revenue.
Another good point is the quality of the SANFL competition.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the South Australian National Football League was near to, or at par with, the level of quality showed by the Victorian Football League.
Today, the competition is rated by many, as the second-best Australian football competition after the AFL and I must concur with those people.
Several weeks ago, I was walking along the beautiful Norwood Parade and as I walked past the Coopers Stadium, I couldn’t believe the amount of people outside the ground waiting to get in.
For the record, it was the round three match between Norwood and Glenelg.
The match attendance was 8011.
It shows the SANFL’s popularity within Adelaide, as average attendances sit at just under 5,700 per match.
I’m the first to admit that the current situation of South Australian football, is in no way a financially safe organisation as both AFL clubs struggle on field, and Port Adelaide’s financial situation is at a critical point.
But hopefully by 2014, we’ll be staring at a beautiful ground for all South Australians, with the mighty Piping Shrike sitting atop a flag-pole on the members stand, overlooking the St Peters Cathedral, with a Farmers Union Iced Coffee in one hand and a subtle nod of approval to a fellow Croweater as if to say, “We did a very good job.”
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