1979 saw the emergence of a rebel group who rolled the incumbent and long term NSWAFL president, Bill Hart, the previous December.
The motivation behind this was the perceived backing from influential elements in the VFL who promised funding for an experienced football administrator to run Sydney football and the NSWAFL, subject to support on a national level, for interstate VFL games to be played in Sydney of a Sunday.
The revitalised Sydney league was initially all spirited, enthusiastic and gung-ho. A new man from Melbourne was appointed as the General Manager, the league’s offices at 64 Regent Street Chippendale were sold off and the administration moved to nearby premises at the Newtown Rules Club in Cleveland Street, Redfern.
Eventually the independent Board was replaced by a board of club directors, a move which would produce cronyism and ‘caucusing’ where the strong got stronger and the other clubs just rolled along. Football in Sydney now primarily promoted Sydney and the NSWAFL was put on the back burner as other sub-state bodies grew in stature and did their own thing.
By 1987 there was yet a further change. Sydney and the NSWAFL were broke and badly in debt. An independent group managing the affairs of the NSWAFL told the Sydney clubs to sink or swim. Either agree to a change in the administration or go out of business. Really, there was no alternative.
What followed was a big transformation to football in Sydney – there had to be – with three divisions again established, most of the sub groups abolished and the NSWAFL was back in charge. The Sydney component became known as the NSW State Football League with a long term view of incorporating clubs from around the state. Thankfully it did not happen but gradually the league moved back into a position of financial stability.
In 1991 the NSW State Football League designation was abolished to revert to the label of the Sydney Football League. The administration was marginally re-arranged, but not much else took place.
Then in 1998 following yet another report on the state of health of football in NSW, a further change saw the introduction of the AFL(NSW-ACT). This produced a few on-field alterations to Sydney footy like 16 aside etc. yes a major move but again, little else came about in the structure and framework of the actual competition.
AFL Sydney had now assumed full control of the Sydney league with full funding from the major AFL body in Melbourne. They also funded football development throughout the state but unlike the Sydney open age football, most of the leagues in NSW were left to finance their own activities.
The major change came in 2009 when under the then Sydney Football Operations Manager, Garry Burkinshaw, divisionalisatiion took place. This was the biggest adjustment to Sydney football since 1948 when Balmain, Western Suburbs (both for the second time) and Sydney University were introduced to the competition or perhaps was it 1926.
Last Modified on 06/09/2014 09:03
