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random observer
Debutant
- Jul 12, 2017
- 101
- 121
- AFL Club
- Sydney
I did a bit of research on the SFNL, SESFL and ESCFA, and compared 1993 and 2023:I am pretty sure that become Ashburton-Chadstone in the late 1980s (1986 or 1987?) and played in the ESCFA until it ended in 1992.
I reckon they played for two seasons in the lower grades of the SFL before folding.
The SFL had something like five divisions after the merger and in a period of 2-3 seasons contracted by at least one division after the loss of Ashburton-Chadstone, Box Hill Adelphians, Camberwell Power, Collingwood Districts, Fairfield, Heidelberg Colts, North Blackburn and the Richmond Rosellas amongst others.
SFNL clubs 1993, 2023 | |||||||||||
Origin: | 1993 Div | 2023 Div | Current: | Details: | |||||||
Bentleigh | ESCFA | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
East Brighton | SESFL | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Hampton United | ESCFA | 1 | 4 | 4 | |||||||
Mordialloc | SESFL | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Mt Waverley | SESFL | 1 | — | EFL | Took over Burwood, went into recess, joined EFL as Waverley Blues. | ||||||
Noble Park | SESFL | 1 | — | EFL | |||||||
Oakleigh District | SESFL | 1 | — | EFL | |||||||
Parkdale | SESFL | 1 | — | T/O VAFA | Merged with Mentone Amateurs. | ||||||
South Melbourne District | SESFL | 1 | — | VAFA | |||||||
St Paul's Bentleigh | ESCFA | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Ashwood | SESFL | 2 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
Balwyn | SESFL | 2 | — | EFL | |||||||
Beaumaris | SESFL | 2 | — | VAFA | |||||||
Burwood | ESCFA | 2 | — | T/O SFNL | Taken over by Mt Waverley; later to EFL | ||||||
Caulfield | ESCFA | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Cheltenham | SESFL | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Collingwood District | ESCFA | 2 | — | Dead | |||||||
Highett District | SESFL | 2 | 2 | 2 | Now called Highett. | ||||||
Springvale District | ESCFA | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Tooronga Malvern | SESFL | 2 | 2 | 2 | Now called East Malvern | ||||||
Box Hill Pioneers | ESCFA | 3 | — | EFL | Joined EFL as Whitehorse Pioneers. | ||||||
Canterbury | SESFL | 3 | — | VAFA | Went to EFL initially, but now in VAFA. | ||||||
Chelsea Heights | SWGFL | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
East Camberwell | ESCFA | 3 | — | EFL | Took over Surrey Hills to become Surrey Park; later went to EFL. | ||||||
Fairfield | ESCFA | 3 | — | Dead | |||||||
Lower Plenty | ESCFA | 3 | — | NFNL | |||||||
Murrumbeena | SESFL | 3 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
North Kew | SESFL | 3 | — | T/O VAFA | Taken over by Kew (VAFA). | ||||||
St Kilda City | SESFL | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Ashburton Chadstone | ESCFA | 4 | — | Dead | Survives as juniors-only club. | ||||||
Black Rock | ESCFA | 4 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Carnegie | ESCFA | 4 | — | Dead | |||||||
Cheltenham Assumption | ESCFA | 4 | — | Dead | |||||||
Dandenong West | ESCFA | 4 | 4 | 4 | Now called Dandenong. | ||||||
Heatherton | ESCFA | 4 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
South Yarra | ESCFA | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||
Syndal Tally Ho | ESCFA | 4 | — | VAFA | Went to VAFA, later renamed Chadstone. | ||||||
Box Hill Adelphians | ESCFA | 5 | — | Dead | Rename Camberwell Power, died anyway. | ||||||
Box Hill North | ESCFA | 5 | — | VAFA | |||||||
East Bentleigh | ESCFA | 5 | — | T/O SFNL | Taken over by St Paul's Bentleigh. | ||||||
Eley Park | ESCFA | 5 | — | VAFA | |||||||
Lyndale | ESCFA | 5 | 4 | 4 | |||||||
Moorabbin West | ESCFA | 5 | 4 | 4 | Now called Moorabbin. | ||||||
Mt Waverley Catholic | ESCFA | 5 | — | Dead | Supposedly in recess, but practically dead. | ||||||
North Blackburn | ESCFA | 5 | — | Dead | |||||||
Table 1: Where are they now? - by origin | |||||||||||
League in 2023: | Total: | SESFL | ESCFA | SWGFL | |||||||
Still in SFNL | 20 | 8 | 11 | 1 | |||||||
Taken over by another SFNL side | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||||
Moved to VAFA | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |||||||
Taken over / merged, now in VAFA | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Moved to EFL | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | |||||||
Moved to NFNL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||
Dead | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |||||||
45 | 17 | 27 | 1 | ||||||||
Table 2: Where are they now? - by 1993 division. | |||||||||||
1993 | 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | |||||
Div: | SFNL | T/O SFNL | VAFA | T/O VAFA | EFL | NFNL | Dead | Total: | |||
1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |||
2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |||
3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |||
4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | |||
5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | |||
Total: | 20 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 8 | ||||
Table 3: Where did they come from? | |||||||||||
Table 3.1: Numbers of clubs. | Table 3.2: By percentage. | ||||||||||
1993 | 1993 | ||||||||||
Div: | SESFL: | ESCFA: | SWGFL: | Div: | SESFL: | ESCFA: | SWGFL: | Total: | |||
1 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 70 | 30 | 0 | 100 | |||
2 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 60 | 40 | 0 | 100 | |||
3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 44 | 44 | 11 | 100 | |||
4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 100 | |||
5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 100 | |||
Total: | 17 | 27 | 1 | ||||||||
Table 4: Upward or downward movement. | |||||||||||
1993 | 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | |||||||
Div: | Div 1: | Div 2: | Div 3: | Div 4: | Up | Same | Down | ||||
1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | 3 | 2 | ||||
2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ||||
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||
4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | – | ||||
5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | – | ||||
Total: | 9 | 8 | 3 | ||||||||
1. The South East Suburban FL (SESFL) actually renamed itself the SFL in 1992, and the old Eastern Suburbs Churches (ESCFA) sides joined it in 1993 (along with a side from the South West Gippsland FL). For this exercise, it is easier to think of the two leagues as ESCFA and SESFL up to 1992, and use the name SFL / SFNL for the merged entity from 1993 onwards.
2. When the SFL started in 1993, the five divisions were called Premier-1-2-3-4. They were renumbered 1-2-3-4-5 in (I think) 1995. I have just numbered them 1-2-3-4-5 from the get go, as it does your head in otherwise.
3. Origins: Caulfield didn't exist in the ESCFA, being created by a merger for the 1993 season. The two sides that merged were both ex-ESCFA, so I have classed Caulfield as an ESCFA side.
4. Current location: some clubs moved twice (Canterbury went to the EFL, then to the VAFA), while one went and came back (Bentleigh to/from VAFA). Others went into recess before moving (Mt Waverley - Burwood), while another allegedly phoenixed itself after being refused permission to move. To make it easier, I just took it as where they were in 1993 and 2023.
4. Ends: these can be a bit controversial. Burwood and East Bentleigh supposedly 'merged' with other SFL sides (Mt Waverley and St Paul's Bentleigh, respectively), but there is not much doubt they were taken over, making only a tiny change to the names and jumpers of the sides they were merged with.
5. Mergers with VAFA sides are a bit more complex. There is not much doubt North Kew was taken over by Kew VAFA (the only sign of their existence is that Kew occasionally wear North Kew jumpers as a clash jumper), but Parkdale and Mentone Vultures seems more even. Again, to make it easier, I just treated it as a takeover.
6. East Camberwell is harder again. They merged with EFL side Surrey Hills to become Surrey Park, in a deal in which Surrey Park seems to have been the winner - but they stayed in East Camberwell's league. It was only some years later Surrey Park went to EFL. I have treated this as a move to the EFL.
7. Even death of a footy side is harder to diagnose than you might think. Fairfield (I think) went to NFL (?), but folded fairly soon after, so I have described them as dead. Others (Ashburton-Chadstone) survive as junior clubs, but as no longer around as senior clubs.
8. I haven't tried to include sides that joined the SFNL after 1993. My head will explode.
Thoughts:
1. I was surprised by how big the ESCFA was - 27 teams survived to go to the SFNL in 1993. Looking into it, it doesn't seem to have been dying (by club numbers, anyway): Eley Park joined in 1992. Many / most of the sides that joined the ESCFA in the latter years (e.g. Springvale District, Collingwood District) did not appear to have religious affiliations.
2. I was also surprised by how weak the ESCFA was. ESCFA sides made up only 30% of SFNL Div 1 and 40% of SFNL Div 2 - but 100% of SFNL Divs 4 & 5. This may be why clubs kept joining the ESCFA - they had a better chance of being successful in a weaker comp.
3. Having an ESCFA background seems to be a liability. Of the 8 SFNL sides I have classed as dead, all 8 came from the ESCFA. Many surviving ESCFA sides have also had extended periods of weakness (Box Hill North, Chadstone, Eley Park all had times in the VAFA Thirds as they couldn't field reserves sides).
4. Unsurprisingly, six of the eight dead sides came from Divs 4 & 5, with only one from Div 3 (Fairfield) and one from Div 2 (Collingwood District).
5. For sides still in the SFNL in 2023, most seem to be playing at the same division (8) or a higher one (9) than they were in 1993 (17/20), with only 3 going downwards. Upward mobility is only partly explained by Div 5 disappearing (only two Div 5 sides remain in the SFNL).
6. Moving to the VAFA seems to be equally popular for clubs from all divisions (1 or 2 clubs from each division - two each from Divs 1, 3 and 5, one each from Div 2 and 4), and from both components (of the 6 clubs that moved to the VAFA, 3 came from the SESFL and 3 from the ESCFA - though the two that merged with VAFA sides were both ex-SESFL).
7. Going to the EFL seems to be an option mainly for sides in the top 3 divisions. Probably says a bit about the strength of the EFL.
There's probably more you can make of it, but I've over-thought it enough.
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