VAFA Statement

Jason Reddick – VAFA CEO

To our VAFA Community,

It’s important that I address recent media coverage of the important issue of concussion.

I begin by stating that the headline  “28-day Proposal” used for the concussion article appearing in today’s newspaper is misleading. No such VAFA proposal exists nor are we currently producing one.

In this interview I did make reference to the recent announcement by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) recommending that all community sport should mandate a 21 day minimum period of exclusion from contact sport following a concussion, and that we have sought the AFL’s position on this and whether there is likely to be a change from the current 12 day minimum period advocated by the AFL.

The AFL have advised me yesterday that they will announce their position next week.

VAFA has also been doing our own fact finding process to identify what is world’s best practice, so we are in an informed position to determine the appropriate approach for our VAFA players and clubs.

Regardless of the minimum Return to Play (RTP) stand down period, the key part of the VAFA concussion protocols is that a player who has registered a concussion can only be approved for selection once a medical professional clearance certificate has been provided. This important step safeguards the players health and takes the risk of any mis-diagnosis out of the hands of our Club volunteers. Our staff will manage the Play HQ system for player eligibility for match day selection accordingly.

To assist our players through the RTP protocols, the VAFA have invested in elevating the player injury insurance to Gold level status at no cost to Clubs. This provides players with 90% coverage of non-medicare RTP costs leading up to the player obtaining a clearance certificate. Removing the financial impediments is another key initiative we have undertaken to assist our VAFA players in this area.

Ultimately our focus is on VAFA player safety and well being.

We will provide an update on the AFL’s RTP minimum period as soon as received. We will also continue our focus on delivering best practice for our competition and keep you abreast of any further developments in this space.