What if AFL

[Watto71]

If only

 

[Rising Power]

But Norwood Reds aren't the reeeeeal Norwood lololol

 

[dirty2]

A new AFL should of been created with only the best of the best getting in... No teams like norf and stk.. and unfortunately Fitzroy

 

[Relativity]

The VFL didn't expand nationally to "cement that number 1 position". They expanded because they were near bankrupt and needed the extra revenue the "interloperstate" clubs would bring. That was the only driving force to expand nationally.

 

[Coobk001]

If only

Never thought about the expansion from the POV of all the non Vic states coming together as the VFL tried to takeover, seeing the possible future and trying to circumvent the Vic expansion.

If you look back and SA, WA, QLD, NSW, Tas came together to form a comp, it would've absolutely challenged the VFL. The key concern would've been, if any state that broke away and joined the VFL, the whole thing would've fallen over.

Port and Norwood from SA is a no brainer, probably 60% of the league's entire supporter base and over 60 of the premierships. Leaves 8 SANFL clubs, but a big hole in the metro zone wise in the north east. TTG/Modbury might've filled that long term.

WAs 2 teams are trickier. Fremantle and Perth make sense as geographic locations but obviously they have existing team divisions. In terms of success East Freo and West Perth standout, but maybe they would've actually gone with a couple mergers or just fresh teams, leaving the WAFL in tact?

NSW, TAS & QLD are easy, a rep team from each of those would clearly be the go.

That's a solid 7 team national comp. Maybe for completeness 1 other team is considered. NT shouldn't ever be considered, Canberra maybe but unlikely, so guess it would depend upon Victorian overtures. If they started to sway, just the recruitment of 1 Vic team would change the whole ball game.

The small clubs first, like the video said, from Vic wouldn't work. They need to be strong clubs that could survive the backlash from general Victoria. Geelong might've been a good target to start, but you'd have to get Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon, Richmond on board to start with to ensure the AFL took over completely. Get them, that's a starting base of 5 Vic clubs, then include as time passes. Sth Melb, Fitzroy, StK, North, Footscray wouldn't come into contention. Likely only Hawthorn & Melbourne. So might even be new geographically decided franchises.


A competition of:

Port Adelaide
Norwood
Fremantle
Perth
Brisbane
Tasmania
Sydney
Geelong
Collingwood
Richmond
Essendon
Carlton

Would've been Perfect!

With future expansion in Vic, NSW and Qld to come.

 

[Thailander]

Would have definitely been a more representative comp, however one may argue that due to the population of Victoria it is somwhat representable of the game and where the game is strongest.

But Norwood Reds aren't the reeeeeal Norwood lololol

Norwood are now the Adelaide Crows

 

[Thailander]

A new AFL should of been created with only the best of the best getting in... No teams like norf and stk.. and unfortunately Fitzroy

Agreed. The best clubs in the current league should form a premier league. The rest get put into a 2nd division and the best teams from the state leagues get promoted into that.

Imagine seeing North Adelaide play North Melbourne in a proper national second division.

 

[dirty2]

Agreed. The best clubs in the current league should form a premier league. The rest get put into a 2nd division and the best teams from the state leagues get promoted into that.

Imagine seeing North Adelaide play North Melbourne in a proper national second division.

Your assuming Richmond would make it in the premier league

*Yes they would only playing...

 

[Watto71]

Collingwood join a league that Port started and then asking us permission to wear black and white lol and no crows maybe in another parallel universe this dreams is real

 

[RangaInTeal]

I wish Norwood, Port and Glenelg were the SA teams playing in the big league each week. South Australia would be a wildly different place!

 

[Thailander]

Your assuming Richmond would make it in the premier league

*Yes they would only playing...

Richmond will always play in the highest division of Australian rules football in the land.

 

[Thailander]

I wish Norwood, Port and Glenelg were the SA teams playing in the big league each week. South Australia would be a wildly different place!

I support a third SA team to join the comp, that team being South Adelaide. I also support South Adelaide to completely leave the SANFL, buy GlenelgFC and make them their reserves team in the SANFL.

If Glenelg can come up with a good offer I would even propose a merger. Glenelg-South Adelaide Football Club (GSA) nicknamed "The Panthers", but with a claremont-esque style jumper to represent the heritage of both clubs. As a Tiger supporting Panther this would be a dream come true.

Yes we're not so successful when it comes to premierships, but we cover quite a large area. If you put it all together we could almost cover 500,000 people.

We have a unique mascot which has never been used by a team in the WAFL or VFL, so we'd be a uniquely South Australian team, and geographically South Adelaide is slightly seperated from the rest of the city.

We'd put KI and Mt Gambier in our our NGA and represent the growing population there.

I wouldn't support Norwood joining the AFL because they already have the Crows to aspire to and their fans don't want them to join. Let the Norwoods remain 2nd tier.

The only other club which could challenge this would be North Adelaide imo.

 

[Coobk001]

There'll never be a 3rd SA team.

Even If we started from scratch with what we know now we'd still only go 2 teams.

Maybe 3 in WA.

Victoria 8 teams is about right.

Then you have the debatable ones....
1/2 QLD
1 TAS
1/2 NSW

Dream from here would be North move to Tassie, Bulldogs move to WA.

Can't do anything now about Norwood, but a shame SA's footy history has all been basically dissolved for a pointless feeder competition, except for our club.

 

[Thailander]

There'll never be a 3rd SA team.

Even If we started from scratch with what we know now we'd still only go 2 teams.

Maybe 3 in WA.

Victoria 8 teams is about right.

Then you have the debatable ones....
1/2 QLD
1 TAS
1/2 NSW

Dream from here would be North move to Tassie, Bulldogs move to WA.

Can't do anything now about Norwood, but a shame SA's footy history has all been basically dissolved for a pointless feeder competition, except for our club.

Never say never mein freund.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

This would be just as bad as the AFL I think.

For me it always should have been premier league style with established clubs. The best go up and the worst go down. That way the top level is always perfectly representative of where the quality is. If its 8 VFL sides, 2 WAFL sides, and 2 SNAFL sides then that's just how it is, but either way its fair.

It wouldn't have made money as easily of course due to the smaller fanbases which is why it never happened.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

There'll never be a 3rd SA team.

Even If we started from scratch with what we know now we'd still only go 2 teams.

Maybe 3 in WA.

Victoria 8 teams is about right.

Then you have the debatable ones....
1/2 QLD
1 TAS
1/2 NSW

Dream from here would be North move to Tassie, Bulldogs move to WA.

Can't do anything now about Norwood, but a shame SA's footy history has all been basically dissolved for a pointless feeder competition, except for our club.

I think there will be a Mt Barker eventually.

There's massive growth up there.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Winganeen]

Bit rough on Freo forcing a merge.

Would be keen to maintain East Fremantle as standalone at least.

 

[Thailander]

I think there will be a Mt Barker eventually.

There's massive growth up there.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Mt Barker will be part of SAFC's zone. Rise up mighty Panther Army.

 

[NoddyHolder]

Rise up mighty Panther Army.

Toot-Toot

 

[Thailander]

South Adelaide to make an AFL bid by 2030.

Let’s make Mike Rann’s dream come true.

 

[tribey]

Rise up mighty Panther Army.

I grew up and went to school in South’s heartland.

More schoolmates went on to play for South Adelaide (4) at league level than I had friends who actually identified as South fans (3).

 

[Thailander]

I grew up and went to school in South’s heartland.

More schoolmates went on to play for South Adelaide (4) at league level than I had friends who actually identified as South fans (3).

Given its location and area for growth, as well as the resources, I'm genuenly surprised that South is not as popular as it should be.

The Panther brand is spread out across different codes and clubs throughout Southern Suburbs and I reckon the club should really capitalise on that and try to build a stronger identity.

 

[GremioPower]

If only

1987 is already away too late.

But, yes, if WAFL, SANFL, and TFL had joined forces — MAYBE! — they COULD have rivaled the VFL.

If so, the national league would have looked quite different than what it is.

 

[GremioPower]

24 teams, 2 divisions with 12 each, promotion and relegation — it could make sense.

I have posted about it before. The distribution may vary, but the clubs could be:

Tas, 1 (+1)
ACT, 1 (+1)
NT, 1 (+1)
NSW, 2
Qld, 3 (+1)
WA, 3 (+1)
SA, 3 (+1)
Vic, 10

Spoiler: Organization

D1: Top-8 qualify for Finals; Bottom-2 are relegated; while 9th and 10th play in the D2 Finals (QF).

D2: Top-6 play Finals; Bottom-6 are eliminated.

There would be 4 spots in D1 up for grabs.

Both divisions would have a Final-8. Same system as now.

Draft would follow this order: D2 Bot-6; D1 Bot-2; D2 Finals; D1 Finals.

—

There would be plenty of chances for clubs to be promoted. Relegation would always be a risk.

So, there would always be hope for the bad clubs to turn around; and the good teams would always have to be concerned about slipping.

Highly entertaining, and also fairer than now.

There would be 10 clubs from Vic and 14 from the rest of the country. All states and territories would be represented.

It would look more like a national competition.

 

[Thailander]

24 teams, 2 divisions with 12 each, promotion and relegation — it could make sense.

I have posted about it before. The distribution may vary, but the clubs could be:

Tas, 1 (+1)
ACT, 1 (+1)
NT, 1 (+1)
NSW, 2
Qld, 3 (+1)
WA, 3 (+1)
SA, 3 (+1)
Vic, 10

I like this idea but without proreg.