Thomas477 my new best friendOriginally Posted by Thomas477
Thomas477 my new best friend
Charlestown City Blues have access to 2 fields with access for 12 months with facilities for 7 teams, Dudley seniors have 1 field for 3 teams with access for 12 months, Kahibah have access to 2 1/2 fields with facilities with access for 6 months for about 70 teams (4 newfm, 2 ZFL teams 15 all age/35s, 8 12/18 teams, 40 odd junior teams), Dudley juniors have equivilant of 2 1/2 fields for about 25 teams, Charlestown Juniors have 1 field for about 25 teams. Valentine have 3 1/2 grounds for 90 odd teams.
Its quite obvious Kahibah needs more fields with facilities and their not the only ones, all these ratios might not be completley accurate but they would be pretty close. It may not be a case of investing millions to help individual clubs it may be a case that we starting taking over established grounds with facilities that are under utilised such as Rugby League and Union grounds. Which may push clubs a little out of their area but something needs to be done if football participation numbers keep increasing for all clubs not just the big ones.
On the other hand if the council wants to put money into football clubs to provide better facilities and grounds then i'm all for it no matter what club gains benefit from it. They have done a lot of work at Warners Bay in the off season and i'm not sure what their new facility is going to be like or when it is going to be completed but i'm sure they deserve it and it will be good for football and any other sport that plays out of their.
We need to be not so narrow minded and jealous, if a club like Magic or Edgeworth worked hard and produced a magnificent facility whether they were given handouts or not, its good for football.
Go back to playing out of Adamstown #5 hahaThomas477 my new best friend
Not that I don't disagree with what you have to say somewhat, 3-4 years ago Kahibah had Major works done to its surface of 2 fields.
What they have at the moment is leaps and bounds better than what other clubs can offer. If this development is to go ahead I would not begrudge Kahibah one bit. However I will be seeking answer from the council as to why this project is to go ahead before other much needed projects.
The thing is, I know of several smaller clubs that are not increasing, quiet the opposite, they are decreasing at a steady rate each season. Where the players are going, more so in the juniors than the seniors, is to the bigger clubs.
Now thats all well and fine, I have no gripes with players going to the better facilities, etc.
But, when these small clubs start folding, and I suspect it will happen to some of the smaller junior clubs, the facilities won't be taken by the big clubs, they will be lost to other sports. The AFL is desperate for playing fields. They are the ones likely to benefit from the change from a lot of small to mid sized clubs to a few mega sized clubs.
Premy,
Some of the criteria for spending on facilities, etc comes down to the amount of usage (there are other criteria, but I won't dissect those now). If there are multiple sports and a lot of people heading to the old Hotspurs grounds, then Council can justify the upgrade. It also depends how council is funding it. If it comes from s94 contributions as many upgrades do, it has to be spent in the area in which it was originally levied.
for sure
Its hard for clubs to retain kids and thus volunteers when "opportunities" seem bigger down the road.
Also, Didnt Merewether sell their ground to Olympic late 80's? They sold their chance
How do you sell a council ground?
Which will be to the detriment of the bigger clubs and the sport when Aussie Rules starts getting bigger in the area and kids start flocking to the game. But I doubt anyone at these big clubs happy to take as many kids as possible can see or care about the long term results. Wonder what the associations think.
Every chance I get I let the association know our experiences.
To be honest, I don't know what can be done. I certainly don't have any solutions. It becomes a bit of a snow ball effect though, the bigger the club gets the more cash they have which translates into better facilities and often paid coaching directors. This in turn attracts more kids and on it goes.
I can see why parents go take their kids to these clubs. But I don't think it is in the long term best interest of the game locally.
It's happening everywhere, sport, supermarkets, companies, schools............
It's they way of the times and we as consumers must want it as it continues to happen and the big are getting bigger
Governments want to save money and consolidation is quickest way to do that
What can be done is by restricting the number of teams a club can have based on facilities, ground usage and the association can attempt to work with and help out those clubs that are struggling.
Jeeze
I have a quick arvo knap and wake up in communist Russia
Pffft...there's nothing communist about Russia anymore, or China for that mater.
seems to be on this forum though
One could say the fact that Northern and member associations have regulations at all would mean we are in Communist Russia.
In Soviet Russia, ball plays you.
Results from trial matches at Blacksmiths today against Cessnock...
U/17's Belswans 2 - Cessnock 2
U/19's Belswans 1 - Jaffas 2
U/23's Belswans 2 - Cessnock 4
1st's Belswans 4 - Cessnock 1
What happened to Cessnock 19's ??
My tips for Round 1
Kahibah 1 to beat Cooks Hill 0
West Wallsend 2 to beat South Cardiff 0
Wallsend 5 to beat Toronto Awaba 0
Lake Macquarie City 4 to beat Belmont Swansea 0
Singleton 3 to beat Cessnock 1
My tips, no scores
Draw
Southy
Wallsend
Lakes
Draw
I'm going with:
Cooks Hill 1-3 Kahibah FC
West Wallsend 2-1 South Cardiff
Cessnock City 0-3 Singleton
Toronto-Awaba 0-4 Wallsend
Lakes 3-1 Belswans
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