THE one thing the coronavirus has done is given everyone time to take stock of their own situation.
For some, the pandemic has affected them more than others, but for everyone it has been a time of reflection. Isolation does that and whether you’ve enjoyed it or not, I think we are going to see plenty of changes, not just in the way we live our lives, but across the broader spectrum moving forward.
Businesses might be run differently with more people working from home and sport will certainly be impacted.
We have already seen it in tennis, cricket and football. Player and administrator incomes have been slashed and while you don’t wish financial hardship on anyone through the loss of income, it was probably the correction we needed.
Salaries over the past decade have gone out of control, pushed through the roof by over-inflated media rights and an expectation from players of their worth.
Without the players we have no game, they put on the show and need to be rewarded accordingly, but some of the figures that you hear individuals are being paid is outrageous and, unfortunately, the expectation has filtered down through to community sport.
Country and metropolitan footy league player payments have spiraled out of control in recent years, pushed up by over-inflated egos and an increased demand by clubs to recruit outside talent.
In Sunraysia, clubs collectively spend more than $1 million on players, a staggering amount of money. Even more confronting when you consider the revenue generated to run clubs is raised through the work of volunteers.
Community footy and netball clubs don’t have the luxury of receiving a top-up from league administrators to help run their clubs like the elite level does. It’s just lots of barbecues, club fundraisers and plenty of hard work.
The people involved don’t do it because they have too, they do it because they want to, it’s part of of their DNA, something passed down through the generations. It’s why in the country we always need to be looking at innovative and alternative ways of doing things, particularly in an isolated place like Sunraysia.
Over the past few months we’ve been hearing more and more from locals sports administrators about their frustration about the lack of support from their governing bodies.
Footy has been very vocal with SFNL president Paul Matheson again raising the benefits of a aligning the competition with South Australia instead of AFL Victoria.
And it was interesting to hear Sunraysia Cricket Association president Andrew Farlie talk this week about exploring the option of affiliating with South Australia instead of Victoria, believing it would provide more opportunities and a better pathway for junior players.
It does make sense geographically for sporting bodies in Sunraysia to be aligned with SA, but our biggest hurdle is the historical rivalry built up over the generations.
If we can overcome this, then I think we should look seriously at the benefits South Australia has to offer.
