Media Why Expansion is Narrowing Our Minds

[okeydoke7]

Expansion - Just a pretty word?
Opinion - Okeydoke7​

Recently, there has been some talk about the possibility of expansion in this league. Basically, there seems to be growing support for the inclusion of a new team, if the opportunity was to present itself.

The positives of expansion are easy to see. A new club generates interest, activity, and possibly welcomes some new posters into the SFA fraternity. It gives the competition more teams and hence a grater chance to expand in trims of activity. These are all positives, but only in the first season of the clubs existence.

Expansion, in my opinion, is a short term fix to increase activity. The initial induction of a team generates plenty of talk and excitement. And some new posters can be attracted by this keen new club. But granting a license to a new team at this stage would be a recipe for long term disaster.

The current format of teams is working perfectly. Activity is stable but by no means is it through the roof. Each club has a list of players, half of which would be lucky to post once a month. The quieter clubs have a core group of 3-4 posters with another 3 or so bit part posters.

A new team may attract some new posters, but what about next season? This club will be looking to sign players from the new players thread like the other teams. Down the track, it is just one more club to hoard the new posters.

Spreading the talent in this league too thin would be a disaster. As much as posters have a league presence, the contribution to the team is very much a part of the SFA. If we have too many teams for posters, the club atmosphere disappears from the league.

Until we are at a point where we have way too many active posters in each club (too many big fishes in small ponds), we need to steer clear of expansion. It is a pretty word that causes immediate excitement, but creates long term pain.

Debate/opinions/generic turncoat or Okeyjoke comments below.

 

[PVF]

I would have to agree, not enough activity to add another team. Wonders have about 10(guessing) posters that are pretty active that i'm aware of, so not alot. Not sure about the other teams but yeah not a good idea.

 

[Eth]

The Wonders are one of the stronger posting teams going around. They've got a great core.

I'm all for expansion if we can get sides like the Gumbies, Roys and Furies up to the levels of clubs like the Hawks and Bombers. Until then I don't see it worth it. I mean, there are only four Trolls left...

 

[Jonts]

Yer against it, wait until every team has at least 10-15 5+ times a week posters before expanding make the comp strong, long way off but still more advertising could never hurt

 

[Wise Guy Sam]

4?

TPM, DJ, WGS and?

Good thread and very solid points, I agree with what you say Dokes

I will say though that Okey and PFV have arrived over the offseason and it has been very quiet. During the season there was 3 times the amount of posters and threads, it's understandable that the off season is quiet though.

It won't take long before a new team is needed just so the active posters get to play in the prime positions.

 

[DemonJim]

You also have to take in account the actual sim as well. Generally you have 8 or so positions that are somewhat sort after, due to the favoritism given to those characters. Now if you were expecting 15+ or so players to stay around purely for the chat... they could just stay within their own boards.
Fact is that the ideal amount of active poster per team probably lies about 8 with 3 or 4 posters that come in and add to it every while and then. Otherwise the retention rate would be lower than it currently is.

So for the moment I agree that expansion is not needed at the moment... but when/if a number of posters stick around... there will need to be a place to put/keep them.

 

[Ljp86]

Expansion isn't occuring anytime soon. Not sure what brought this up, it's a pretty irrelevent topic at this stage.

 

[PVF]

I will say though that Okey and PFV have arrived over the offseason and it has been very quiet. During the season there was 3 times the amount of posters and threads, it's understandable that the off season is quiet though.

It won't take long before a new team is needed just so the active posters get to play in the prime positions.

Oh ok i just figured there would be more posting to get hyped up for the new season. Not saying the place isn't active cause it is and the SoO series has been good from what i can see.

But this is just through the eyes of a guy who actually hasn't been here for a whole season

 

[HawkPatrol]

Definitely no need for expansion. The competition is in a good place, every club seems to have a solid base of 4-5 posters at the very least.

No need to mess with a good thing. I really don't see a new team coming in any time soon.

 

[IllBeTheJudge]

Expansion isn't occuring anytime soon. Not sure what brought this up, it's a pretty irrelevent topic at this stage.

For some reason my eyes kept veering left

I'm sure you said something I'd agree with though

 

[okeydoke7]

Expansion isn't occuring anytime soon. Not sure what brought this up, it's a pretty irrelevent topic at this stage.

For your benefit, these are from the thread Boncer set up for suggestions:

I'm sure there are some in this league that would like the opportunity to set up their own team even if they're devoted to one of the existing teams for now.

Something to think about at least.

I am all for expansion thought, just takes a lot of dedication to get a new club off the ground.

I like expansion to. Nobody's come forward yet. The only bloke who was interested recently became captain of an undisclosed club that failed to defend their premiership last season.

I took the idea of expansion to the committee and got knocked back.

So... since you didn't take the courtesy of reading topical threads on the board before you criticise my thread's relevance...That is what I was responding to. The person who is running the SFA, plus several high profile posters threw their support behind expansion within the last couple of days. That's what brought it up, and that's why it was relevant.

 

[BILC]

The Wonders are one of the stronger posting teams going around. They've got a great core.

I'm all for expansion if we can get sides like the Gumbies, Roys and Furies up to the levels of clubs like the Hawks and Bombers. Until then I don't see it worth it. I mean, there are only four Trolls left...

The Furies are very active.

 

[Mobbs]

SFA Rd 01 - 136 posters lodging 987 posts @ 7.3 per poster (per team: 17/123)
SFA Rd 13 - 103 posters lodging 1352 posts @ 13.1 per poster (per team: 13/169)
SFA Rd 17 - 96 posters lodging 1033 posts @ 10.8 per poster (per team: 12/129)

SoO Rd 01 - 86 posters lodging 513 posts @ 5.9 per poster (per team: 14/86)
SoO Rd 03 - 68 posters lodging 362 posts @ 5.3 per poster (per team: 11/60)
SoO Rd 05 - 70 posters lodging 524 posts @ 7.5 per poster (per team: 12/87)

- Samples are from the first round, the last round and a random intermediate round of both competitions.
- All figures are derived from blanket counts of posters/posts per game thread. No adjustment made for participation from unaligned players or simmer posts. Such participation serves to inflate lower figures more heavily than higher ones. Hence the sample is generous to the fields with the lower returns (6-team SoO Series).
- State Of Origin does not attract all of the Sweet FA player base, but should showcase the performance of the more active and responsive players. Exception does apply to teams that struggled to fill sides.

Findings:
When compacting 8 teams into 6, activity dropped.

Opinion:
I believe we already have hit maximum participation ratio versus player numbers and keeping eight teams while we wait for phantom solidification of activity is not justified.

 

[Eth]

The Furies are very active.

You've got some good posters. It's just hard to judge your activity when your team thread's on the Richmond board...

 

[Equus]

You've got some good posters. It's just hard to judge your activity when your team thread's on the Richmond board...

If it's hard to judge then don't judge.

Fair to say that we are quite active these days.

 

[Eth]

If it's hard to judge then don't judge.

Fair to say that we are quite active these days.

I mean recently. Activity at least when the Dees played you guys was below average. I will give you that since then there's Fumbles who keeps improving plus CB17 and Eagleoz.

If you'd landed BBB...

 

[HawkPatrol]

Look at the recent posts in the Furies team thread through.

Much respect there. Keep em comin.

 

[Freakie]

I tend to agree with Mobbs, due to the nature of the sim 6-10 posters are going to stay active as if your named FB every week and get 3 touches is not appealing to stick around. I can see value in another team.

Some teams make it appear there is more inactivity than there really is. The Furies are prime example with most of their activity on the Richmond board. Also the Roys with our Fitzroy policy have struggled due to no new Fitzroy supporters (thanks AFL) and most of us being older and having bigger real life pressures (we've taken on some new blood into the cult and they too will soon worship Fitzroy), lets face it you kids are still wet behind the ears.

 

[Mobbs]

Furies were well represented in match threads, I see no issue there.

 

[Equus]

Furies were well represented in match threads, I see no issue there.

We're also well endowed as well.

 

[BILC]

I mean recently. Activity at least when the Dees played you guys was below average. I will give you that since then there's Fumbles who keeps improving plus CB17 and Eagleoz.

If you'd landed BBB...

You forgot Filthy Sanchez!

I haven't spotted BBB in about a month, overrated.

 

[beez]

I haven't spotted BBB in about a month, overrated.

*cue BBB post in 5,4,3,2...*

 

[boncer34]

What Mobbs said.

Those saying we should wait till 15-16 committed posters from each team may as well have said they have no interest in expansion.

 

[Ljp86]

For your benefit, these are from the thread Boncer set up for suggestions:










So... since you didn't take the courtesy of reading topical threads on the board before you criticise my thread's relevance...That is what I was responding to. The person who is running the SFA, plus several high profile posters threw their support behind expansion within the last couple of days. That's what brought it up, and that's why it was relevant.

Yawn. A few people saying they want expansion means nothing.

Rather than creating another wanky thread because a few posters want another team perhaps you should look at the facts and current activity to determine whether expansion is feasible or not. As it stands, activity towards the end of last season was adequate without being spectacular and decreased from midway through the previous season. There are some teams who are very active and a high majority of their side post each week. On the other hand, other sides have a smaller group of posters who are fairly dedicated but are outnumbered by other teams.

To suggest expansion at a time where other teams need posters is stupid and you're failing to look at the bigger picture which is long-term growth and stability for the SFA. Everyone seems to fall in love with the idea of having more teams to play against but fail to look properly at the league's current activity and the other factors associated with setting up another team. This would include luring current members away from their club which dilutes the posting pool of the SFA further even if there might be new recruits. Some of the new recruits may stay but the majority lose interest fairly quickly and then the same problem occurs.

This topic seems to come up every season without fail. I then see dumb ideas suggested by people to kill off the lower posting teams simply because they can and then make all of those players free agents and then create a new team with the remaining players plus some new ones. Somehow 8 - 1 +1 = expansion.

This would be a relevent topic if all the clubs were strong posting wise as the opportunity for expansion would be a lot greater. Until then it is and will remain irrelvent.

 

[okeydoke7]

Yawn. A few people saying they want expansion means nothing.

Rather than creating another wanky thread because a few posters want another team perhaps you should look at the facts and current activity to determine whether expansion is feasible or not.

To suggest expansion at a time where other teams need posters is stupid and you're failing to look at the bigger picture which is long-term growth and stability for the SFA. Everyone seems to fall in love with the idea of having more teams to play against but fail to look properly at the league's current activity and the other factors associated with setting up another team. This would include luring current members away from their club which dilutes the posting pool of the SFA further even if there might be new recruits. Some of the new recruits may stay but the majority lose interest fairly quickly and then the same problem occurs.


This would be a relevent topic if all the clubs were strong posting wise as the opportunity for expansion would be a lot greater. Until then it is and will remain irrelvent.

A few people saying they want expansion makes it relevant. Don't hide behind the fact you had absolutely no clue what was being discussed around the board, yet still questioned the relevance of my thread.

The person that runs the SFA and the creator of the sim just stated above you that they were for expansion. Does the word relevance have any meaning to you?

And your post highlights your inadequate attempt to comprehend what was written in this thread. You actually just completely agreed with me and the points I raised. So if your only issue is based on relevance, read the posts from Boncer and Mobbs.