Eagles to lose Thebarton in boundary review.

In todays paper today there is a piece about the SANFL boundary review, what caught my eye was that the Eagles are having Thebarton taken away from them as their boundary is adjusted.

I felt it was worth mentioning as there is another club moved on, by the SANFL, out of its traditional heartland, as my own was over a number of years.

All the footballing history in that area rightfully belongs to Woodville-West Torrens. It seems somewhat unfair that with a stroke of a pen it can be ended just like that. As Adelaide continues to grow in urban sprawl, which SANFL club will be the next to lose the area around its traditional home ground? North Adelaide and Sturt are both teetering close to the boundary, sadly I can see the same happening here also in the next few years. Surely the boundaries could be drawn in such a way to enable all SANFL clubs to keep their traditional areas that they have always had and be expanded in to the growing areas, even if there had to be gaps to make it so?

What a load of bollocks.
Does anyone in there have any understanding of geography?
They are dismantling the fabric of our tradition step by step.

I fear for what footy will resemble in 5 years.

The eagles and thebarton go hand on hand.

A silly and moronic idea !!!

Thebby Oval is far closer to Richmond than Woodville.

West have always been in the bottom half of numbers.

The Boundaries are drawn by an independent Commission, not the SANFL and it's not an easy job to equalise numbers and give every club what they want. One of the major problems is that the major growth areas are generally in the outer suburbs and it's impossible to share those equally without changing traditional areas.

Following on from that, Ben, if WWT kept the Thebarton area, what would you give West to compensate them? Henley Beach? North Glenelg? It has to be something as West were at the bottom of the numbers and there is only allowed to be a certain margin between top and bottom in population terms.

Whatever it would be, it would be in a 'traditional area' for another club.

Henley Beach was a traditional West zone once upon a time, wasn't it?

As a Henley Beach South lad, I say give it back!!

Maybe F/B I would do what the SANFL originally did when they gave West Torrens the Modbury area to expand into - in todays modern times, maybe I would allocate WWT somewhere like the new estates at Craigmore or Blakes Crossing? Why does it have to be that the suburbs must be connected? It didnt matter to the SANFL when they handed West Torrens the Modbury area.

My point is that to take away Thebarton from WWT is to take away their longstanding heritage in the area.

As for gaps between areas its worth noting that WWT and West Adelaide are both land locked clubs, hence the potential solution being a second area rather than an expansion of the first area.

What we need on here is a metro map to show it all.

http://www.sanfl.com.au/the_sanfl/sanfl_club_boundaries/

Without looking indepth at the official demographic background of the area, I would have thought that Thebarton held a higher proportion of Over 40's than many other areas, which would make it currently less attractive as a recruiting zone. This could change in 5-10 years, when many of the children of over 40's are eligible to be drafted etc.

central was raped by the sanfl and port years ago when the best part of salisbury was given to the pies. this has been going on for years and it comes back to who is running the league. big changes need to happen to make this comp. viable and retaining the clowns who run it now isn't the best way forward.

Eagles metro zone had highest growth of 10-19 years olds of any club so needed to loose part of their zone.

In the end West heads north to River Torrens all the way from Holbrooks Road in teh West to and King William Street in the East picking up Torrensville / Thebarton area from Eagles & half the CBD from Sturt.

In the end the initial Boundaries Commission proposal to move Henley Beach South from Eagles to Glenelg was reversed and the initial Eagles suggestion of handing back Blair Athol / northern part of Prospect back to North Adelaide (it was their zone initially) accepted.


Looks like a lot of the more radical changes did not progress with South getting area around Meadows / Echunga not the RMFL.

Chambo Off To Work We Go wrote:What we need on here is a metro map to show it all.

I wonder how long it will take the league to update the existing one. And a map of the country zones would be nice too. I don't know if the SANFL has ever published one, but I've never been able to find it. Such things should always be made readily available by the league, so that those who support the game with their time and money know where they are.

After all this current rubbish they would be too shamed to put it on a published map.

I still stand by a proper and full assessment of all this, not a bits and pieces approach.

How the Eagles could lose the area of Thebby Oval, is just crazy.
What does history stand for anymore?