2018 Football Operations Report

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Sam Confait – GM Football Operations

33 sections. 301 teams. 13,109 players = Australia’s largest senior community football competition.

Competition

Year two of the VAFA Wilson women’s competition experienced a 38% increase in participation and reached a remarkable 63 teams. All seven senior men’s sections featured 10-team competitions, allowing an equal draw of two home/away encounters across the season. In what was the most competitive U19 Premier competition we have seen in years, despite reluctantly only seven competing teams, the view was to ensure the sustainability of teams in U19 Section 2 with the aim to fixture 10 teams in U19 Premier in 2019. The number of U19 teams entered remained at 51; however, the Thirds competition experienced a significant rise to 46 teams. Club XVIII concluded after 31 years in operation, serving a purpose for primarily social teams to participate in the VAFA. The changing landscape of the Thirds structure resulted in current Club XVIII teams transitioning into Thirds Section 4 and 5.

Fixturing

GSS software allows the VAFA to produce fixtures in a timely manner, ensuring the delivery of a fair competition despite certain constraints. During the pre-season, we adopted a new online form for clubs to complete which assists our administration in managing club fixture preferences and ensuring we can meet as many as the software will allow. The season for all sections commenced on April 7, one week earlier than usual, to relieve pressure and help secure premium finals venues while accommodating the mass of club feedback. The growth in teams places limitations on ground availability and game time slots so, to alleviate this pressure, clubs utilised the 4:45pm twilight time predominately for senior women’s matches with success.

Independent Integrity Division        

In the second year of the Independent Integrity Division (IID), VAFA Amateur Status Declaration forms were introduced for all ex-AFL players participating in the VAFA. The next phase of the IID will request further details on the arrangements involving player and club, and a thorough review of the current Amateur Status Guidelines. The integrity of our competition is paramount and the IID will continue to prevent any matter that may undermine it.

Player Points System

All country and metropolitan competitions in Victoria commenced phase two of AFL Victoria’s Community Club Sustainability Program (CCSP), with the introduction of the Player Payment Policy which, for obvious reasons, did not apply to the VAFA. However, this implementation prompted our association to initiate stricter monitoring of our player points allocations, as per the Player Points System, conducting weekly audits of all senior men’s team sheets. Findings were positive with minor adjustments required in educating clubs. Setting the allocation budgets requires consideration of several factors due to the uniqueness of our competition and whilst lowering our budgets is desired moving forward, we need to be very mindful of the potential impact to clubs located within the vicinity of other metropolitan competitions.

Finals

As our association continues to grow, the timing of the season for each level of competition is vital to ensure we secure finals venues to meet our standard of football and restrict travel for our clubs. Football operations were pleased to secure specific dates at key VFL venues Box Hill City Oval, Coburg City Oval, Bill Lawry Oval, Burbank Oval, Trevor Barker Oval and VAFA school venues Whitefriars College, Parade College and Marcellin College. I wish to extend a thank you to all involved; in particular, David Cannizzo, Daniel Napoli, Dennis McNiece, Jason Reddick, Sebastian Spagnuolo and their respective councils; Whitefriars Football Club, Old Paradians Football Club and Marcellin Old Collegians.

Administration explored various community volunteer options to operate our finals gate entrances with little success; however, we were able to attain quality personnel to provide customer service of a high standard. Looking to 2019, a key aim is to provide our community with eftpos payment facilities at all finals venues and focus on engaging entertainment and providing further food/beverage options.

Representative Football

4 from 4! An outstanding achievement for all players, coaches and officials involved. The senior men’s and women’s defeated the Adelaide Footy League and created history as the first senior community football competition to travel interstate simultaneously with logistics all operating effortlessly. Both the U19 and Premier B – Division 4 programs reclaimed overdue victories against AFL Victoria Country and Western Australia. I wish to extend a sincere thank you to all Big V officials; Head coaches Stuart Powell, John Kanis, David Kinsella, Russell Barnes and their respective coaching panels for offering their expertise, time and passion for the Big V. Finally, special mention to Director of Football Mr Mick Overman for his guidance, expertise and love of the Big V in overseeing the entire program.

Acquiring quality personnel off-field + attracting committed and talented amateur players onfield = Big V success. The Big V is alive and well!

Administration

The VAFA Portal launched at the VAFA Conference in February to create efficiencies in communicating with clubs. The password protected platform allows club administrators to access rules and policies, submit online forms and view content distributed by AFL Victoria and VAFA Football Operations. This initiative will develop into the main source of communication across all departments of the VAFA.

The VAFA Football, Growth and Integrity Sub-Committee continued to drive football strategy and I wish to extend a thank you to Vice-President and Chairman Mr George Voyage for his leadership, support and trust in Football Operations and all members for their commitment and input.

The Football Operations department experienced significant change in 2018 with the addition of Haydn O’Connor leading our umpiring department, joining Shona MacInnes in Women’s Football & Engagement and Mikala Sykes across Football & Events. To successfully administer 33 competitions, coordinate 569 umpires, liaise with 73 clubs, manage four representative programs, re-locate mid-year to a new facility and operate our largest finals series should not be underestimated and I am incredibly proud of what has been achieved as a team by three dedicated and efficient professionals. The conclusion of the 2018 finals series marked the off-season for Football Operations with the focus on improving processes for team sheets, reducing match day volunteer requirements and utilising technology to create efficiencies in how we operate.

Season 2018 continued growth, witnessed change and experienced success, once again reminding us what a privilege it is to be an ammo!