VAFA Amateur Status

The VAFA defines an AMATEUR as follows:

An Amateur is one who does not receive or agree to receive, either directly or indirectly, any remuneration or reward whatsoever (whether by match payments or expenses or otherwise) in respect to their participation as a player, in the Victorian Amateur Football Association. Receive or agree to receive – remuneration or reward may not be offered in an immediate sense or at some point in the future at an unspecified time.

Directly or indirectly – remuneration or reward may not be offered to the individual player or any person associated with that individual.

Remuneration or reward – examples of what is permissible or not permissible as a reward or remuneration refer to table in the PDF document below.

The spirit of the “Amateur” definition will always prevail and each case will be looked at individually on its own merits. Any payment, reward, or benefit that might induce a person to play with a VAFA club will be regarded as a breach of the definition of amateur status. The examples below are provided as a guide, but clubs should always seek guidance from the VAFA as to whether a situation is within, or in breach of, the definition. If such guidance is not sought before the event, a club will not be able to complain after the event if it is found, notwithstanding technical reliance on the examples below, that a given situation is not within the spirit of the definition. Please note any reference in these Guidelines to a “senior’ team of a club includes a reference to both the senior men’s and women’s team of that club. Please note any reference in these Guidelines to “pay” or “paid’ includes remuneration or reward (as defined above).

Refer to the following PDF for further details.