VAFA finals eligibility

With finals upon us, it is timely to remind everyone of the VAFA’s finals eligibility rules. Please read below for everything you need to know:

To be eligible for finals (and subject to the operation of Rule 55D) a player must be eligible and registered to represent the club; meet any applicable age requirement; and meet the games qualification stated below:

• Senior – no games qualification.
• Under 18 – a minimum of 2 games for the club in any grade PROVIDED THAT:

(i) a player who has played in 6 or more Open-age games must have played a minimum of 6 Under 18 games; and

(ii) a player must not have played more than 10 Under 19 games.

• Under 19 – a minimum of 2 games for the Club in any Grade PROVIDED THAT a player who has played in 6 or more Open-age games must have played a minimum of 6 Under 19 games.
• Reserve – a minimum of 4 Reserve or Third Grade games and a maximum of 10 higher ranked games.
• Third – a minimum of 4 Third Grade games and a maximum of 10 higher ranked games.
• Club XVIII – a minimum of 4 Club XVIII games and a maximum of 8 higher ranked games.

Under-age hybrid teams

The finals qualification for a hybrid team comprising a combination of players from more than one Club (including a Club from another competition as referred to in Rule 44(b)) is a minimum of 5 games for that team.

Playing more than one game on a weekend

• If a player plays in more than one VAFA game on the same weekend, only the highest ranked game counts for finals eligibility purposes.
• If a player plays in an AFL/VFL/TAC game and a VAFA game on the same weekend, the VAFA game does not count for finals eligibility purposes.

 Clubs fielding more than one team in a Grade

• Open-age:
• If the teams are in different Sections – to be eligible to play finals for the lower-ranked team a player must not have played more than 10 games in the higher-ranked team.
• If the teams are in the same Section –

1. a player cannot interchange between teams after 30 June;
2. a player can only play finals for his post-30 June team; and
3. the games qualification is a minimum of 4 games for the finals team, and more games for the finals team than the other team.

• Under-age:
• A player must have played at least four (4) matches in the lower ranked team and not more than ten (10) higher ranked matches in the home and away season.
• Where both U19 teams are playing on the same day the lower ranked player must have played two (2) games in either the higher ranked team or lower ranked team to qualify.

More than one team playing finals on the same weekend

Where a club has more than one team playing finals on the same calendar weekend the following special games qualifications apply:

• [Senior and Reserve playing] – the qualification for Reserve is a minimum of 2 games in the Senior or Reserve or Third
• [Reserve and Third playing] – the qualification for Third is a minimum of 4 games in the Reserve or Third Grade, and a maximum of 10 higher ranked games.
• [Senior and Under-age team playing] – the qualification for the Under-age team does not include the 6 game provision in Rule 55C(b)(i) or 55C(c).
• [Reserve or Third and Under-age team playing] – the qualification for the Under-age team does not include the 6 game provision in Rule 55C(b)(i) or 55C(c) provided the player has otherwise met the games qualification for the Reserve or Third Grade, as the case may be.

Over-age players in Under-age Grades

An over-age player permitted by the Board in accordance with Rule 51 or 53 to play home and away games in an Under-age Grade is subject to a finals qualification of a minimum of 8 games for the team he wishes to represent in finals.

AFL, VFL or TAC listed players

The qualification is a minimum of 5 games for the team a player wishes to represent in finals, 2 of which must be after 30 June or in the alternative, a minimum of 8 games in total during the season without any temporal limitation PROVIDED THAT an Under-age player may combine Senior and Under-age games in order to meet the 5 or 8 game qualification for Senior finals.