Admin Notice Season 38 Administrator - Candidates Announced

[TheInjuryFactory]

Hello All,

First and foremost would like to thank Elton Johns Wig & ClarkeM for their efforts in Season 37, well done gents and obviously our best wishes as a league are with Wiggy and his family.

Given the unique circumstances before us, we are left without an Administrator for Season 38 and beyond according the Sweet FA league rules. With Wigs voluntarily stepping down and endorsing the action undertaken by club captains in accordance with rule 3D, a caretaker admin is required to represent the committee and oversee an election process.

That lucky son of a bitch is me, and so here I am representing the committee to advise the broader league of how this election process will play out.

A way forward was proposed, given the complete lack of guidance & criteria for a situation such as this within the existing rules, with the intent to as quickly as possible identify the strongest pool of candidates possible for the task at hand.

Club reps/LGs were consulted and a rough criteria was accepted as below.

Base criteria for consideration:

• Has a minimum of 5 Sweet FA seasons under their belt
• Ideally at a minimum, has captained a Sweet FA club (min 2 full seasons) and holds previous committee experience (min 2 full seasons)
• Has a clean record with site moderators & administrators (not spotless, but clean. Call it a no dickheads policy if you like)
• Ideally has proactively & notably contributed to or co-ordinated behind the scenes league operations (i.e simming, match posting, ladders, statistics, qooty tours, awards nights, charity matches, state of origin etc)

The timeframe for the election process to play out was also agreed upon by a majority of committee, with the below underway as we speak. Clarkey has already alluded to this in his announcement of Wig's stepping down.

Proposed Application/Election process:

1. Seek any additional applications via your LG for submission and tabling in this thread ASAP. Deadline Thursday 27th June.
2. Announce candidates publicly as per the rules on Friday 28th with Committee reps to take application submissions back to their LGs for discussion and formulating their club's voting preference. Noting a preferential vote appears to be the likelihood given we have more than 2 candidates applying.
3. Sub thread formed in committee room to invite candidates for any prepared questions/serious concerns. An exhaustive public Q&A will not be run given the candidates & the urgency in finding a replacement, however believe we may wish to ask one or two pointed questions of them based on specific club concerns or broader leaguecraft considerations/intentions.
4. Committee reps submit their questions adhoc and successful applicants have right of reply in committee room election sub thread, Deadline for responses Sunday 30th June.
5. Committee votes open for next admin on Monday 1st July. Votes to be formally lodged via PM to caretaker admin & 2nd committee delegate for oversight (I request this be Mobbs). Deadline for voting midnight AWST Tuesday 2nd July.
6. Votes tallied, with winner to be announced publicly Wednesday 3rd July.

Admittedly, there may be a need for us to be flexible with some of the above dates, and clearly in the interest of a fair and reasonable process for all, we will adjust as necessary. However each day we take to find a replacement means less time for the incoming admin to plan, as no further planning for S38 is taking place until we elect a new Admin.

As of deadline last night, we have accepted three applicants for the election process and I will share their submissions below.

Congratulations to The Filth Wizard, ClarkeM & DenieD on having your nominations accepted by committee and being considered for the role of Sweet FA Administrator for Season 38 on a three season term as per the Sweet FA rules.

Good people of the Sweet FA, please review the submissions below, reach out to your captain or LG members and give your thoughts or pose any questions you would like to pose for the candidates in the Q&A to be held in committee.

On behalf of the committee & the league at large, thank you to those who have applied and best wishes for you all. I'm confident we will elect a fine Administrator to take the league forward into Season 38 and beyond.


Nominations as follow:

DenieD

Hello, I am Ken
View attachment 2030212

And I want to help push Sweet FA into the future.

My experience:

• Have 5+ active seasons in the SFA where I have been one of the leading team posters on multiple occasions.
• Captained the Gumbies to 3 successive finals berths. 2 of them being top 4 finishes.
• Finished inside the top 20 of the beez in both of my first two seasons, then went on to nab 4th place in season 34 with a whopping 1074 votes.
• Submitted the greatest BTGID charge of all time then suddenly withdrew it without further comment.
• Came out of early retirement to win a FRED medal
• Won a club medal at both the Gumbies and Wonders for my on and off-field performances in season 34 and season 36 respectively
• Claimed back-to-back All-SFA spots playing for the Wonders

My vision for the league is quite simple: Make it fun and let people have fun.

I know the idea of fun is different for everyone, so in order to fulfil everyones desires I will have to be flexible in my adminship and look to the mature voices of past admins and committee members to get a full picture of how to run things in my first season on the job. From there I should have the confidence in my 2nd and 3rd season as admin to push the larger ideas I have in my mind for how to better improve this league.

The big one I want to implement in my time is for huge spectacle events for match threads, such as a round robin type week where there is only one match thread for 7-14 games. (one to two matches a day for the week). Could be implemented in the off-season (state of origin) at first to see if people like it, then move it into the next season of SFA if it works well.

Another one is getting rid of the bye. The bye is a huge stain on the current league system and I want to end it at all costs. Either by removing a team (unlikely to happen unless if a team drops off massively) or adding a new one (far more likely). In order to fast-track this process in my time as admin, I will be making the rules slightly more lenient for others to gather the resources to create a team within the next 3 seasons. This would also potentially make a rush of people try to form a new team and that would create a lot of interesting threads and commentary (particularly if there is more than one team in the making, as there would only be one spot in the league. we don't want odd numbers of teams).

I also want to make the mobbs and beez nights far more extravagant and spectacular. Recently they have seemed a little dull and boring. I plan to make them more inclusive for posters who may not currently care about them, by adding in additional awards. More awards = more winners

Kind Regards,
Your favourite doll, Ken

The Filth Wizard

Good day committee.

I have been watching with interest the events that have transpired to lead the league into a new admin and I'd like to again wish my condolences and support to EJW, it is unfortunate his tenure and ideas have been cut short with such a tragedy however real life reigns above all.

I feel due to the nature of this admin search the one thing the league and committee needs more than anything is some stability, a steady leader and time to ease back into the rhythm we had prior to the need for EJ to depart. I don't believe in bold statements and "election promises", I've observed innovation galore in many previous admin elections and rarely do these things come to fruition. This isn't the role it used to be, the committee has been entrusted with vast amounts of responsibility so above all this role needs to be a figurehead that can get the best engagement and ideas out of the clubs themselves. I believe as a senior member of the league that has been here for 23 seasons, many of those as a club leader and three of those as the admin during a general peak moment in the leagues history, that I am a logical successor and can be used as the vessel for the next great admin and a great committee contribution.

I believe the league is in a strong position and that is due to a stronger current committee and a wealth of work by ClarkeM in the shoes of EJW. I believe the next admin will do well to be a good listener, reactionary to a degree and more than anything advisory with authority, something I think places me ahead of the pack due to past experience. While this is a good committee is it also one that can do without a whole heap of romancing as everybody is starting from behind going into S39. With the milestone Season 40 coming up fast we need a team (us) working to make that the celebration it deserves. Above and beyond, we need to have fun.

With that, I submit my application to be the next top model admin.

ClarkeM

Having recently been the GMQO for Season 37, although under unique circumstances requiring me to step in to full administration duties, has led me to complete confidence that I would be more than comfortable and capable in the role moving forward. It's been comforting to know that there have been many messages of support and kudos from Committee members and league representatives to date validating this and while I'm not one to constantly seek validation, it's been reassuring to have had that support accordingly.

Understanding that my capacity to deliver the role during this time was limited by a few factors that were and are specific to the situation itself. This included but is not limited to the respectful unknowingness of EJW's capacity to return to the role, my capacity in the role was term limited meaning I was not welcomed to provide support beyond Season 37 etc.

Although I initially did not have an interest in the role, having been witness to the demands of the league, I recognise that I can help and naturally, I should offer my services to a place I've spent the better half of the past 16 years. I'm not particularly fond of those who criticise without offering solutions and so I am officially putting my name forward. Equally, I was never keen on the blown out election process that this league often demands of the admin job and so with this being lessened extremely, I am admittedly open to the idea so long as I don't waste time pandering to impress or stake my case more than is reasonable. I'm not a politician seeking votes for my ego, I simply just want the job to be done right and I'm putting my hand up to do it.

Given the sensitivity of the situation, it's safe to say that I was able to get all administrative matters together to ensure a successful awards season under the parameters I had to work with, facilitated an entertaining finals season, coordinated well with the Simming and Posting Community (though admittedly it took a little while to across all of these logistics) and provided the Committee with the appropriate actions per the rules as they are written to address the EJW situation accordingly. In addition to this, I have recommended ideas which have both been adopted and rejected by the Committee to which I have fully respected on each occasion. Modernisation of the Beez Trophy vote awards through a Google Form with in-built validation checks, I'd be seeking to doing something similar with the Mobbs which is still currently done manually and incredibly time-consuming for all parties. I was proactive with the fixture and sought out a solution to limit the impact of 12/13 teams' "byes" by introducing a unique albeit controversial approach to introduce mid-week matches aimed at maximising capacity for activity. Whether it worked or not, the approach was innovative and in response to an issue the Committee had with regards to 2 byes. I was then proactive with the clubs that these matches impacted to ensure that team sheets were submitted accordingly and appropriately so that these "outlier" matches and other matches shifted to Monday/Saturday nights were accounted for as best as possible. I was also a vocal advocate for Thursday night deadlines to be changed to account for those in our Western States and didn't feel it was necessarily fair to impose harsh penalties when a WA-based captain was to submit a team sheet after 9/10pm on a Thursday night while Eastern States had the luxury of until midnight themselves - as a Victorian, it addresses my awareness of biases and consideration of the wider community including the simmers whom were not impacted by this change.

It's not public knowledge I don't believe however I think it was a first (?) that this season's Grand Final was watched over Live Stream to ensure that there was no chance of any manipulation - not that there was any concerns, but just that extra level of validity for finals I felt was necessary with modern technology and processes. I'd be looking to implement this for all 9 Finals matches moving forward as admin.

The way I see the role of admin is that the Committee in fact run the league and the Admin and GMQO support them in achieving their intentions and concerns. The Admin is not the "head figure" of the league but will naturally be the main focal point for the public for when an issue arises. There's a time and a place for the admin to step up and put their foot down but this should be appropriate to the situation.

During my short time, we had minimal infractions from clubs aside from the acknowledged Bombers Committee issue. While it raised some concern and angst, this was necessary to stamp out this behaviour inhibiting the work of volunteers who make this place run.

The league doesn't need to go backwards. The place is as fun as ever and we have a great community as it is already so I would be seeking to continue to nurture this community as best as we can with what we already have and wish to welcome in new and old.

Now, to address whether I meet the criteria as AUR has shared through - I believe I do without question:

• Minimum 5 seasons.
  • I'm at 30 seasons now and sit all time 6th in games played.
• Captain/Committee experience.
  • Have experience both as club rep for multiple seasons across different eras and as GMQO in a different role - to which it must be acknowledged I was very diplomatic in how I addressed any and all matters concerning the Wonders, my own club, fully respecting the club rep holds their view and not myself. Have also captained the Wonders for 4 seasons and been a long-standing LG member/spokesperson for the club.
• Clean record.
  • I believe I meet this criteria with ease.
• Proactively contributed to the league.
  • Where to even begin?
  • I've been an archivist and advocate for the preservation of stats and history, I've been a staunch advocate and pioneer in the SoO space for a long, long time, I also executed the Qooty Tour concept in it's initial conception, I've coordinated awards nights both at club and league level. I have recruited many posters to this league, I would say overall I would go close to having recruited the most posters to this league during my time here.
    • I even spent an entire off-season (~2014 I think) specifically recruiting for 3 clubs that weren't the Wonders - they were the Roys, Baghdad Bandits and Sin City Swamprats as all three clubs were struggling and I managed to bring in multiple rookies to each club. This even led to receiving a Sin City Swamprats club award at the end of the season as acknowledgement of these efforts.
    • I have always been an advocate for recruiting for the league before that of my own club and this is a value of selflessness that I believe is important to consider when considering suitability for the admin role.
  • I have simmed matches before however it was a very long time ago and can't recall if it was ever an official match or for exhibition's sake. I've been a match poster though once again a long time ago until this season's GF.
    • I've also stepped in as GMQO as of late and have been working feverishly on the complexities that exist with a 13 team fixture.
  • I've helped out in so many aspects of the league, winning a Frankston Rover award and being a constant media contributor (however it's very fair to acknowledge that this is no longer much of an interest).
  • I've helped with statistics collation, preservation of club logos and historic concepts that are somewhat innately embedded within my knowledge of the league.
  • Not one for talking about myself all that much but I've done a lot in this league and while context has been asked to provide, I don't think it accurately summates everything I have done for this league.

Some ideas I am considering either introducing or as proposals/initiatives for consideration with the Committee include;

• Modernising the recording of awards (e.g. Mobbs Votes).
• Video validation of finals matches.
• Ensuring regular updates to other League Awards and how these are tracked and processed throughout the season, ensuring it's not all started and completed in the final 3-4 weeks of the season.
• All-SFA criteria continues to be an area of concern for many so I would will be seeking to address this immediately and come to a clearer consensus with the Committee regarding the final make up of the team.
• Specific to the simming/posting team only (cc: MWPP) - I'll be seeking to revamp the sim-check process to be streamlined and less clunky than it currently is. I have ideas around this.
• I'd like to re-introduce a Best Finals Player concept previously proposed to the Committee and believe it's a positive concept.
  • The SFACA MVP award will be examined and reviewed through the Committee.
• Winter SoO remains as a staple product for the league while across Summer, we may seek to revitalise a CricSim off-season tournament using existing Sweet FA Clubs etc.
• Committee involvement will need to be better addressed throughout the course of a season
  • I'd reintroduce the 1 vs 2 club representatives in the committee by putting it to an immediate committee vote. The "back-up" would be here as a viewer only however this is something I believe the club's should decide whether it's 1 or 2 reps, not the admin.
• More to evolve over time, but for now, this is just a snippet...

 

[Gralin]

Thanks for running with this TheInjuryFactory
Thanks to the applicants for putting their hand up and thanks to Elton Johns Wig and ClarkeM for Season 37

 

[Wosh]

Thank you TIF for undertaking this, on top of everything else you do. Hopefully we can respectfully get a new admin to lead the League forward.

 

[Matera92]

This no dickheads policy is discriminatory, how dare you put a line through 97.4% of the SFA community.

 

[Gralin]

This no dickheads policy is discriminatory, how dare you put a line through 97.4% of the SFA community.

That number seems a little low

 

[TheInjuryFactory]

This no dickheads policy is discriminatory, how dare you put a line through 97.4% of the SFA community.

 

[Footypie32]

This no dickheads policy is discriminatory, how dare you put a line through 97.4% of the SFA community.

The Committee wishes to know the names of the 6 non-dickheads please.

 

[Wosh]

Thanks for running with this TheInjuryFactory
Thanks to the applicants for putting their hand up and thanks to Elton Johns Wig and ClarkeM for Season 37

Thank you TIF for undertaking this, on top of everything else you do. Hopefully we can respectfully get a new admin to lead the League forward.

 

[DenieD]

The Committee wishes to know the names of the 6 non-dickheads please.

Well considering Headless doesn't have a head I assume he's one of them.

 

[PhenomenalV1]

• Winter SoO remains as a staple product for the league while across Summer, we may seek to revitalise a CricSim off-season tournament using existing Sweet FA Clubs etc.

Replace CricSim with a Basketball equivalent and we have a deal.

 

[DenieD]

Replace CricSim with a Basketball equivalent and we have a deal.

I can get behind some Qasketball.

 

[Footypie32]

Well considering Headless doesn't have a head I assume he's one of them.

Your reasoning stands.

+1 Admin points.

 

[Jabba73]

It won't effect this Admin election, going forward, the criteria is far too restrictive and needs to be more inclusive.

There are a number of clubs with long term captains that have capable people ... that cannot nominate this time due to overly restrictive criteria.

Meeting the current criteria is not the panacea it is made out to be for this job. Creativity and innovation are not the sole purview of jaded long term participants.

To keep this place alive, we should encourage anyone willing and able to do the job to present their case. Effectively eliminating over 95% of participants is self defeating.

 

[DenieD]

It won't effect this Admin election, going forward, the criteria is far too restrictive and needs to be more inclusive.

There are a number of clubs with long term captains that have capable people ... that cannot nominate this time due to overly restrictive criteria.

Meeting the current criteria is not the panacea it is made out to be for this job. Creativity and innovation are not the sole purview of jaded long term participants.

To keep this place alive, we should encourage anyone willing and able to do the job to present their case. Effectively eliminating over 95% of participants is self defeating.

I agree Jabba. For this place to grow and flourish we need newer voices giving their thoughts and ideas a chance to be heard. There should of course still be some criteria as the admin job isn't for everyone, but there should be some wiggle room for the wider SFA population to put their hand up if they truly think they have what it takes.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

FWIW I think the Criteria are rock solid.

As well as activity in media, match threads, Clubland and Committee I think all candidates require experience of volunteering behind the scenes.

 

[Cadsky]

Wish I could have backed myself in but circumstances prevented it. Goodluck to the three candidates.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

Wish I could have backed myself in but circumstances prevented it. Goodluck to the three candidates.

I was thinking you might chuck your hat in the ring. Next time maybe.

Oh and goodonya TIF for taking this on.

 

[Footypie32]

It won't effect this Admin election, going forward, the criteria is far too restrictive and needs to be more inclusive.

There are a number of clubs with long term captains that have capable people ... that cannot nominate this time due to overly restrictive criteria.

Meeting the current criteria is not the panacea it is made out to be for this job. Creativity and innovation are not the sole purview of jaded long term participants.

To keep this place alive, we should encourage anyone willing and able to do the job to present their case. Effectively eliminating over 95% of participants is self defeating.

I tried to tell TheInjuryFactory that Werewolf Mod experience was far more important, but he ignored me.

 

[Mrs Turbo]

Great work stepping up here TheInjuryFactory - well done you
...and good luck to each of the candidates.

 

[Jabba73]

FWIW I think the Criteria are rock solid.

As well as activity in media, match threads, Clubland and Committee I think all candidates require experience of volunteering behind the scenes.

The captaincy for 2 years criteria is very onerous, would be more realistic to have LG experience as the criteria.

Some teams have long term captains, it disqualifies the rest of their squad from being Admin.

Some people are happy to run a club and would never want to run the league. Unfortunately this criteria is telling them to get the hell out of the way of someone who is aspiring to run the league ... even if that person does not want to run their club.

Makes very little sense given part of the behind the scenes work is not necessarily done by the captain of the side and those are the very skills required to run the league successfully.

 

[Headless]

The captaincy for 2 years criteria is very onerous, would be more realistic to have LG experience as the criteria.

Some teams have long term captains, it disqualifies the rest of their squad from being Admin.

Some people are happy to run a club and would never want to run the league. Unfortunately this criteria is telling them to get the hell out of the way of someone who is aspiring to run the league ... even if that person does not want to run their club.

Makes very little sense given part of the behind the scenes work is not necessarily done by the captain of the side and those are the very skills required to run the league successfully.

It's not two years.

 

[Jabba73]

It's not two years.

SFA years/seasons, you got me, wrong wording. Doesn't change the sentiment that 2 seasons as captain is onerous when coupled with 2 seasons in the committee.

​

Base criteria for consideration:

• Has a minimum of 5 Sweet FA seasons under their belt
• Ideally at a minimum, has captained a Sweet FA club (min 2 full seasons) and holds previous committee experience (min 2 full seasons)
• Has a clean record with site moderators & administrators (not spotless, but clean. Call it a no dickheads policy if you like)
• Ideally has proactively & notably contributed to or co-ordinated behind the scenes league operations (i.e simming, match posting, ladders, statistics, qooty tours, awards nights, charity matches, state of origin etc)

 

[beez]

It won't effect this Admin election, going forward, the criteria is far too restrictive and needs to be more inclusive.

There are a number of clubs with long term captains that have capable people ... that cannot nominate this time due to overly restrictive criteria.

Meeting the current criteria is not the panacea it is made out to be for this job. Creativity and innovation are not the sole purview of jaded long term participants.

To keep this place alive, we should encourage anyone willing and able to do the job to present their case. Effectively eliminating over 95% of participants is self defeating.

Nonsense.

Rubbish.

Drivel.

 

[Jabba73]

Nonsense.

Rubbish.

Drivel.

If I have triggered you, I am on the right track.

Thanks for your affirmation.

 

[beez]

If I have triggered you, I am on the right track.

Thanks for your affirmation.

I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold