Editorial: Competitive balance

By Michael Sholly – @vafaceo

Making the competitions as even as possible is one of the keys to the success of the VAFA. The relegation and promotion of two teams from each section ensures the senior and reserve grade competitions remain competitive. It is a different story in our newly created Thirds competition and under 19’s.  

We are currently administering six Under 19 sections and three Thirds. These competitions are not constituted under the same promotion and relegations system as our senior competitions. Strategically, our Football Operations department, in consultation with all our clubs, predicts where each team sits and devises a plan. There are many moving parts in creating these divisions – recent performances, the number of players departing the junior ranks, the quality of their junior and school sides are some of the information garnered to solve the problem.

This year we made some important decisions to both the Thirds competition and the Under 19s. Firstly, the Thirds where both Old Xaverians and St Kevin’s agreed to field two teams in the Premier Thirds competition. After Round 6 in 2015 we had one team undefeated with a percentage of 330% and at the bottom end two teams hadn’t won and had a percentage less than 30%.  By promoting last year’s Premier B Thirds grand finalists we now have no side undefeated, all percentages under 200% and no team under 50%. Whilst promotion and relegation is not a rule in this section the figures show that in this case it has had a positive effect on the competition with much more even results.

In the Under 19s we added a Premier Reserve section where clubs’ second sides all played each other. In the past these teams were spread, generally between Sections 3 and 4. By adding this section all clubs are on a level playing field which makes the clubs more satisfied.

Along with the addition of the new sections we have re-aligned all the Under 19 sections after Round 4. Two teams from Under 19 Section 2 have been relegated to Section 3 and down the line it goes.  This has had an immediate effect with more competitive matches for the team remaining in the section and for the teams that have been relegated.  Every player would like to go to play in a match where they have the opportunity to compete and give themselves a chance of winning.

Possibly the best indicator of enjoyment and commitment of players to the games is the amount of forfeits that we experience.  Clubs are always striving to put Under 19 teams on the ground and we all now the challenges this can present.  We believe having competitive matches will ensure team remain viable. After round 6 last year the VAFA had 13 forfeits spread through our juniors, Thirds and Club XVIII Sections.  This year we have had none, zero. This I about another 600 player involvements than last year.

When there is re-grading there are always going to be some winners and losers according to the draw. Unfortunately this is a consequence. The VAFA believe the competitiveness of matches and the lack of forfeits are a strong indication that it is working.