Legends' plea to save ailing clubs Former Sturt greats, from left, Peter Motley and Sandy Nelson with current players Luke Crane and Levi Krause at Unley Oval. TWO of South Australia's most famous football families have made an impassioned plea to fans to save the SANFL's ailing clubs. Sturt legends Sandy Nelson and Peter Motley - as well as his nine-time Port Adelaide premiership-winning father Geof - said there would be no tomorrow for several clubs unless supporters answered their call to join as members. The Advertiser yesterday revealed that Sturt almost shut its doors over summer amid a cash-flow crisis and crippling debt. It was also revealed that at least six of the nine SANFL clubs posted a loss in 2012. It has sparked calls from some of the game's greats, including Peter Motley who played 92 games for Sturt and 19 for Carlton before his career was cut short by a car accident in 1987, for fans to rally around their local team. "Supporters have been fully aware of the Sturt Football Club's current plight for quite some time, so this is a call-to-arms for people to join me in the crusade," said Motley, who was named in Sturt's team of the century. Sturt needs everyone to step forward to help them out of this unbelievable mess. Geof, a Magarey Medallist and Port Adelaide legend, echoed his son's plea but said it was a league-wide crisis that needed addressing. "Sturt is not the only club with issues, there's Westies and the Port Adelaide Magpies," he said. As a supporter you've got to do two things - join up as a member and go to games, you've got to do both. We can't afford to lose grass roots footy, it's only been going for 140 years or something, we can't lose it now. Fellow SA Football Hall of Famer and seven-time Sturt premiership player Sandy Nelson hopes supporters and football heavyweights realise how dire the situation has become. Sturt has a big supporter base. I see it through the work we do with merchandise - we're sending things all over the world to ex-pats in the UK and America who are still connected to the football club," Nelson said. There would be a lot of devastated people if the club wasn't around anymore. To look back at the state of the game in the 1970s and '80s, it was pretty good wasn't it? So to see it in the state it's in at the moment is pretty sad. Nelson said while it was crucial for supporters to become members and rally around players on game-day, it was time the SANFL considered providing more assistance. "It's currently sitting right with the SANFL and the SA Football Commission," Nelson said. Of course some clubs need to help themselves but they also need mother to help out as well.