mikeh wrote: Swans played West Perth on the Anzac day Thursday after playing Peel on the Sunday and won comfortably, so don't know what Basset is on about. His team has got a bye after the Foxtel game so if he wants to put a second string team in, more power to the Sharks. He may be trying to set up a siege mentality amongst his players in the SANFL, similar to what John Todd did with Swans in 1982 when he sent a reserves team over to play Richmond and they won the WAFL flag this year. Dont think Foxtel will be impressed with his antics though as they are putting up a fair bit of money for this competition
Swan Districts sent a reserves team over to play Richmond in the 1982 Escort Cup as a protest against the late rescheduling of the match. According to Wikepedia:
The WAFL's Swan Districts Football Club generated controversy when it sent a team of reserves and colts players to contest its quarter-final against Richmond in protest at the rescheduling of the match. The match had already been pushed back from 1 June to 8 June to accommodate an interstate match between South Australia and Victoria on Monday 17 May. Then, after South Melbourne and St Kilda both qualified for the quarter-finals, it happened that those teams would be playing two televised matches against each other inside three days: a league match on Sunday 20 June in Sydney, then the Escort Cup match on Tuesday 22 June. This was unfavourable for the teams; and in a time when few football matches were broadcast live, it was also unfavourable for the television sponsors. As such, the AFC moved the Swans-St Kilda match to 8 June and the Swan Districts-Richmond match to 22 June.[19]
Swan Districts was unhappy with the way the reschedule occurred. The club was not consulted prior to the AFC announcing the reschedule, and it affected arrangements that the club had already made for a social club function on the night of 8 June. Additionally, the 8 June timing was located between league matches against the WAFL's bottom two teams; but, the 22 June timing was located between league matches against the second- and third-placed teams – and, being placed first at the time, Swan Districts was worried about the effect of a mid-week match in Melbourne upon its WAFL premiership aspirations.[19] More generally, Swan Districts coach John Todd was already a vocal critic of the dominance of Victorian influence in the administration of the game at a national level, and he was unhappy at seeing his club treated in a way in which he did not believe a Victorian club would have been treated.[20]
When the reschedule was first announced on 19 May, Swan Districts considered forfeiting the match.[19] On 1 June, the club announced that it had decided that it would send a full-strength team to the match.[21] But, two days before the match, it reneged on this promise, and sent an inexperienced team of reserves and colts players, only two of which had played seniors the previous weekend, and which had a total of 69 senior games' experience across its 21 members.[22] Unsurprisingly, the inexperienced team was completely uncompetitive against Richmond – which was at that time on top of the VFL ladder – and lost the match by 186 points.
The following month, the AFC banned Swan Districts from competing in the Escort Championships until 1985 as punishment for the controversy.[23]"
However I have read in several sources where the SANFL says Norwood has known since September its opening Foxtel Cup game would be on a Tuesday and it would be followed by a scheduled bye.
So I don't think what Norwood are proposing to do can really compared to what Swans did in 1982, as they have nothing to protest.
