Adelaide Footy League

History

Division 1

Club-by-club summary

Grand Finals

Clubs

Current

Controversy

Violence and abuse

• After the 2005 Division 4 Grand Final, Salisbury West forfeited promotion, had premiership points deducted for the 2006 season and five players received a total of 38 games suspension following a number of violent incidents during their heavy loss to Payneham Norwood Union.

• Spectators at West Croydon were approached by sex workers during junior games to offer their services.

• 19 May – Police were called after a spectator wielded a knife and another used a broken beer bottle as a weapon in a fight during a match between Ingle Farm and Trinity Old Scholars. Ingle Farm had to hire security guards and ban drinking in certain areas for their remaining home games of the season.
• 10 June – Three players were allegedly involved in an incident where their names were signed in permanent marker on a bar whilst representing the SAAFL in Tasmania as part of the Under-23 representative team.

• 25 May: An alleged brawl involving up to 20 people occurred in the car park during a match involving Smithfield and Ingle Farm.
• 25 May: A Westminster Old Scholars player was allegedly attacked with a glass bottle during a match.
• 1 June: A Central United player was banned for life following a 'disgusting' act where he smeared faeces on the door of the umpires' changeroom following a match against Blackfriars Old Scholars.
• June: One player was sentenced to eight months jail following a "coward punch" against an opponent in a C2 Division match between Adelaide Lutheran and Seaton Ramblers.
• 15 June: Aboriginal Salisbury North coach Eugene Warrior was racially abused by a Henley supporter.
• 20 July: Two Smithfield players reported for striking a player and abusing umpires resulted in the Smithfield club being suspended from the league for the rest of the season.
• 7 September: Police were called after the Division 7 Grand Final between Ingle Farm and Angle Vale was called off with 10 minutes remaining when a wild brawl broke out between spectators.
• 27 September: A Salisbury North player was banned for life as a result of an incident in the Division 1 Grand Final, and two other Salisbury North players were also suspended.
• Central United had 10 Category A reports during the season, resulting in a combined total of 36 games suspension, with one player banned for life.
• Salisbury North had eight suspensions for a total of 35 games.
• Salisbury West punished three players who abused umpires by forcing them to officiate games without pay.

• Smithfield were reinstated to the competition with stipulations around player behaviour. An incident in its Under 18 team involving umpire abuse and intimidation resulted in that team being withdrawn. Its coach was suspended for 18 months, one player was suspended for 8 matches, two other players suspended for four and two games. The club was also fined $2,000, and the A-Grade and B-Grade teams were penalised 8 premiership points each.
• Central United were deducted nine premiership points as a result of a player being suspended for spitting at and striking another player in a game played on 19 July 2014 against Blackfriars Old Scholars.
• Salisbury and Ingle Farm's Under 18 teams were each deducted six premiership points for involvement in a wild melee.
• A North Pines player was suspended for 32 weeks, resulting in a life ban, for attempting to headbutt, threatening and abusing an umpire and racial vilification during a Division 7 Semi-Final against Adelaide University. The match resulted in a forfeit after the North Pines team walked off the field to protest the umpiring and three of its players being reported. The team's coach was suspended for 12 months, every North Pines player was suspended for 4 games and North Pines was fined $2000.

• An Eastern Park player was suspended for ten weeks for recklessly knocking out an umpire's tooth in an on-field collision on 12 April 2015.
• Ingle Farm were forced to forfeit their C4 game against Pulteney on 9 May 2015 as a result of the club having no players available to play after a bench clearing brawl against Rosewater the previous week. One Ingle Farm player was banned for life after being identified as the instigator by the league's investigation committee.
• Salisbury's Under-18 Coach was suspended for the rest of 2015 and all of 2016 for failing to stop a melee that occurred during an Under-18 game against Mitcham on 10 May 2015, and for misleading the tribunal during the investigation. The club was also fined $500, one player suspended for six games, and the team was forced to forfeit its following two games due to lack of players.
• A Rosewater player was suspended for four matches for abusing and threatening an umpire during their 13 June game against Pulteney.
• Salisbury North were deducted eight premiership points for each of their teams and fined $4,000 following an incident in a C-Grade game against Plympton on 18 July. A player was suspended for 10 games for striking and misconduct, and the C-Grade team was suspended for the remainder of the season.
• Four people were arrested, including two allegedly armed with knives, following a brawl between two warring families during a junior game between Rosewater and West Croydon.
• Eastern Park and Salisbury West forfeited their junior games for one week as a result of an incident involving shoving and verbal abuse between parents from both clubs at an under-12 game on 2 August.

• A Rosewater player was suspended for eight games for abusing and threatening an umpire during their 18 June game against CBC Old Collegians.
• A Rosewater player was suspended for 20 years and the club suspended from the competition after he pleaded guilty to striking an umpire in a Division 5 game against Blackfriars Old Scholars on 16 July. Another player was reported for undue rough play in the same game and refused to leave the ground until the umpire asked the Rosewater coach to remove him from the ground. Further controversy occurred the following weekend when a picture showing players doing an obscene hand gesture with a caption reading "f*** u saafl" was posted by a senior player to social media.

• North Pines avoided expulsion from the league after a club official ran onto the field during play and twice punched an opposition player. The official was suspended for seven years, and the club was ordered to employ a full-time security guard at all home games.
• Salisbury North were deducted 6 premiership points after a player was suspended for four matches for abusing and threatening a Division 1 reserves umpire.

• Salisbury West's captain received a 27-game suspension for four incidents, including breaking an opponent's jaw, during a home Qualifying Final against Trinity Old Scholars which resulted in a life ban; this more than doubled the Adelaide Footy League's threshold of 12 weeks. Despite Salisbury West winning the game by nine points, the club was ejected from the finals and suspended from the league for the rest of the year.
• Salisbury North were deregistered from the league after a player received an eight-week suspension for striking, and the league suspended all three of Salisbury North's senior teams for the rest of the 2018 season for breaking an amended affiliation agreement regarding poor on-field behaviour

• A Central United player was suspended for 10 matches and deregistered from the competition after striking a runner from the opposition team in a Division 7 game against Adelaide Lutheran.

• During a Division 3 match between Scotch OC and Pembroke Old Scholars at Norwood Oval, Scotch player Max Marslen was involved in an altercation with a spectator on the boundary line. Marslen was banned for nine weeks and the spectator was given a lifetime ban.

Unbalanced competition

• Consideration was given to reorganising the divisional structure after Kilburn Football Club, in Division 3, was beaten by a combined 736 points in their first two games of the season, whilst forfeiting their B-Grade matches on the same two occasions. Kilburn later forfeited an A-Grade game against Salisbury when a few players misunderstood the start time and a few others could not find their way to the ground.
• Brahma Lodge were relegated from the Division 4 competition after losing a number of players.
• Mitchell Park and Flinders University were both reduced to one team each, with Flinders University taking the place of Mitchell Park's reserves in the Division 6 Reserves competition, due to an exodus of players.
• Blackfriars Old Scholars set a new SAAFL record score when they posted 71.30 in a 429-point win against Angle Vale in Division 6. This resulting in the Angle Vale coach, Peter McMillan, quitting the following Tuesday night at a crisis meeting and being replaced by Reserves coach Rob Warren.
• Wingfield Royals forfeited a match in Division 7 against Smithfield on 24 May following six straight losses by an average of 198 points.
• Both Kilburn and Angle Vale forfeited their A-Grade games on 5 July.
• Salisbury West requested to be relegated from Division 3 to Division 5 after losing more than half their squad when they did not pay them for the second half of the 2014 season.

Governance