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AFLW 2024 - Round 10 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
VAFA General Discussion
- Thread starter Max Leader
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Clarity or transparency may be the right term, rather than fix
1. Affiliation Fees
2. Umpires (inc. payment of club provided umpires)
3. Rep Football
4. No more Ireland trips
5. U/19's age cut off (status quo or are we changing back)
6. Elsternwick Park will likely come up
Elsternwick Park
Expect to see more photos of Elsternwick Park being flooded after Thursday's big rainstorm. Elsternwick Cricket Club will be furious with the VAFA and Bayside Council, seeing they may not play any games on the ground for another month.
Sad to see Russell Davidson go.
You've lost the plot
Where's he going, pazza? The VAFA website merely said another community comp.
Mike Olotripo
Club Legend
- Nov 15, 2019
- 1,077
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- AFL Club
- Collingwood
1. The VAFA board needs to be able to sit down and look at the reality of its current situation without turning it into a civil war.
2. Find new ways to bring in revenue to the VAFA without simply raising affiliation fees. The VAFA have to go and bring in more sponsors, I know it's hard, but it must be done to ensure financial viability for the competition going forward.
3. What to do with reserves football is a big one. I see it at Collegians where a club like Collegians is borderline uncompetitive, add to that Uni Blues and I'm sure Old Haileybury will be in this bracket next year in premier reserves due to having a far smaller group of playing resources than clubs with larger stocks of players due to school being single sex or strong junior club affiliation. I know Old Carey had a similar problem a while back in premier reserves too. I'd actually propose something similar to what soccer does where an under 23s with a limit of players over that age (say 6-8) are eligible to play in that side, which essentially becomes your reserves team. I'd say this because it is pretty clear to me that beyond the age of 23 you aren't getting as many blokes hang around a club anymore to just play reserves football. Food for thought.
4. Look at clubs playing games outside the traditional time of 2pm on Saturday a little bit more, i.e. I think senior games at 4:45pm on a Saturday could be a real winner for clubs in terms of revenue from more people coming to watch games under lights. Most clubs have now got pretty good lights.
5. Look at playing finals in the higher sections away from Elsternwick Park unless the surface is up to scratch going forward. Sandy seems an ideal option.
6. Bring back rep footy in some shape or form without it costing a bomb.
Not sure the VAFA have much control over the state of EP however they can control what games are played there. Should have abandoned it as a finals value years ago. Remember when rivers of raw sewage were flowing through the changerooms? That should have been the end of it there and there. A decade on and we are still debating it’s usefulness as a finals venue. Terrible ground and will be glad if I never have to visit that wind swept $hi% hole ever again.
The obnoxious annual season registration and accompanying fee needs to be abolished. Pathetic that amateur players need to stump up just to register and does not happen in any other league. Another money grabbing exercise introduced by the previous hierarchy to cover up their financial mismanagement.
Sort out the U19s. By stealth and through various ‘side bar’ deals it has evolved into something else. And while on underage footy – personally, I just don’t get the U23 concept. My own club, to its detriment, entered a 23s in preference to a 3rds this season. Was a disaster and hopefully never occurs again. In my view it is a shambles and should just be merged with the 3rds.
Reserves. A bit left field and certainly not ideal but due to the disparity in depth and quality, perhaps consider separate gradings for reserves. Just wait and see what happens when Old Haileybury 2s take on Xavs 2s next year. Will be a blood bath and not good for club or competition.
More broadly I think we need to accept that the VAFA has changed forever. For the foreseeable future it will be dominated by APS old boy and Melbourne uni clubs. We can either get all misty eyed or hostile about that or just accept your lot, find your level and get on with it. Personally, I have reconciled the fact that my club is a long way off competing for an A grade flag but with some effort can remain a strong, relevant and respected club in the Premier grades.
VAFA as i've said many times have no control of the surface at EP . The first thing they should be doing is throwing OM's off and use it as a back up .
Correct, its a council ground like all other ovals in the area. Not sure why the constant hate on OMs being based there though? What have they done wrong?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't OMs move to EP the catalyst to enable the government funding for the EP upgrade?? I believe a local side needs to be based there and it was either OMs or AJAX. Not sure why Elsternwick couldn't/didn't cut it.
OM have a perfect ground in Fishermans bend
There's one thing the VAFA can do at if they want to get back on the good books with the VAFA community. Bring back the printed editions of 'The Amateur Footballer' on a weekly basis instead of being viewed online on the VAFA website. And in the 'Amateur Footballer', apart from the usual previews/reviews, 'For the Love of the Game' column, milestones in the record, recall the 'Looking Back' column that was written up by the late Noel Rundle out of an enforced retirement.
Mike Olotripo
Club Legend
- Nov 15, 2019
- 1,077
- 1,150
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
I think you will find it's not their ground, it is Melbourne Grammar's ground.
Are they not a Melbourne Grammar old boys ?
Mike Olotripo
Club Legend
- Nov 15, 2019
- 1,077
- 1,150
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
As seen by the recent removal of Old Mentonians from their school's ground, it's not that easy!
So if no EP where would they be and really a lot couldn't care less
You have hit the nail on the head. Old boys, not current boys. Port Melbourne is owned by the school and used for APS school-based competition. Very few old boy clubs have the fortune to play at a facilities provided by the school and those that do must work around APS/AGSV fixtures. Even the “big dogs” such as SKOB, Xavs, Old Brighton, Wesley, Scotch etc have to use council-based venues. Truth be known schools barely tolerate the old boys affiliate clubs.
FWIW a prominent Ammo Club announcing re-signings for 2023 seems weird. What did they actually re-sign?
random observer
Debutant
- Jul 12, 2017
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- Sydney
I lifted this from the Division 2 2023 thread, as it is more of a general thing, rather than just Div 2:
Against this, a factor not examined is player payment. When Banyule left, the president expressly cited a wish to pay players (refer BANYULE VOTE TO LEAVE VAFA - VAFA ). Clubs closely surrounded by large numbers of paying clubs are always at a disadvantage, and it is even worse if they produce large numbers of juniors just to see them poached by the paying club/s just down the road. I am told that this was a major factor in Bentleigh returning to the SFNL, and probably also for Werribee Amateurs / Districts going to the WRFL (and maybe Point Cook, too).
Also, what do you mean by 'psychographics' (not a term I'd ever heard applied to local footy)? The wiki definition of 'attitudes, interests and opinions' sounds very close to 'culture' (which is listed as a factor for Eltham Collegians). How are psychographics and culture different? Is psychographics a polite way of saying they are bogans who don't fit into the VAFA (private school / middle class suburban) culture?
Good analysis SeaSide, so far as it goes. However, several clubs have been overlooked: South Mornington, St Francis Xavier (now Narre South Saints) and Mt Lilydale (now North Croydon) also left, mainly for reasons of 'geography' (i.e., travel). Other factors may also have been in play - such as renaming themselves to become a 'local' club and widen their potential player base - but travel was always a big factor for clubs that were such outliers.
Against this, a factor not examined is player payment. When Banyule left, the president expressly cited a wish to pay players (refer BANYULE VOTE TO LEAVE VAFA - VAFA ). Clubs closely surrounded by large numbers of paying clubs are always at a disadvantage, and it is even worse if they produce large numbers of juniors just to see them poached by the paying club/s just down the road. I am told that this was a major factor in Bentleigh returning to the SFNL, and probably also for Werribee Amateurs / Districts going to the WRFL (and maybe Point Cook, too).
Also, what do you mean by 'psychographics' (not a term I'd ever heard applied to local footy)? The wiki definition of 'attitudes, interests and opinions' sounds very close to 'culture' (which is listed as a factor for Eltham Collegians). How are psychographics and culture different? Is psychographics a polite way of saying they are bogans who don't fit into the VAFA (private school / middle class suburban) culture?
Mike Olotripo
Club Legend
- Nov 15, 2019
- 1,077
- 1,150
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
I'd like to point out that most (not all) of the school hierarchy, that is board, principal etc. wouldn't give two hoots about old boy amateur football clubs. I was made aware that the new-ish principal of Wesley was a former Collegians player, whose father was a long time Collegians stalwart, however I doubt this is too common these days.
However, the old boys / girls associations that most of these schools fund absolutely love the old boys / girls football clubs as it is 9 times out of 10, usually the largest affiliate club.
I know at Collegians, not too long ago the head of the Old Wesley association was amazed that every week all the sides would sit down and have dinner together, many being ex Wesley students and how incredible even a small feat like that was, so there is a level of appreciation and usually pretty good connection, but I'm sure if Collegians asked to play at the school every week, this would cause an issue, especially with school sport being played on Saturday. Other clubs like Old Trinity are able to play at their school grounds, same for Old Carey, but as Jimmyjack points out, this is a rarity.
Maybe they have to try harder , Marcellin have it tough at times , but adapt . I wonder if OM's have put enough work into it , what would they do if EP was closed for a season ?
AnimalEnclosure
Senior List
Two big issues around VAFA HQ for me:
1) Should not be somewhere that is put under pressure by having to accommodate a club's full roster of matches as well as various VAFA matches, plus training demands. Most grounds would deteriorate and struggle with that amount of constant traffic.
2) Elsternwick Park has always been a soulless, muddy, windy venue, and the surface this year was simply appalling at times (B-grade grand final was a farce).
Rather than looking at ways to punt OMs, I would argue the VAFA needs to look at other available options and go all in to relocate and develop. Then look at bringing back ''match of the round'' type games (to be scheduled at the start of the season) to give the venue a real HQ atmosphere. Sandy is great, but a long way to the southern edge of metro Melbourne. I think it needs to be a central venue, which should also help with attracting a broader range of umpires for training, and make it more accessible for all clubs. Other former VFA grounds would be worth considering. My own view is that they should throw the kitchen sink at the old Port Melb VFA ground (North Port oval).
1) Should not be somewhere that is put under pressure by having to accommodate a club's full roster of matches as well as various VAFA matches, plus training demands. Most grounds would deteriorate and struggle with that amount of constant traffic.
2) Elsternwick Park has always been a soulless, muddy, windy venue, and the surface this year was simply appalling at times (B-grade grand final was a farce).
Rather than looking at ways to punt OMs, I would argue the VAFA needs to look at other available options and go all in to relocate and develop. Then look at bringing back ''match of the round'' type games (to be scheduled at the start of the season) to give the venue a real HQ atmosphere. Sandy is great, but a long way to the southern edge of metro Melbourne. I think it needs to be a central venue, which should also help with attracting a broader range of umpires for training, and make it more accessible for all clubs. Other former VFA grounds would be worth considering. My own view is that they should throw the kitchen sink at the old Port Melb VFA ground (North Port oval).
Fact , Port Melbourne is not available due to the cricket club who will never move . Also the bullies at the AFL have tried to get NP as the home of Women's footy and the CC won't budge with support of the council.
Sandy is really not a long way South a Frankston would be a long way .
Agree about OM and getting back to the match of the round .
AnimalEnclosure
Senior List
Take your point re Port Melb cc. But surely the issue with AFLW is that it runs across the cricket season. North Port has still hosted matches during footy season and even VFL / VFA finals matches in the fairly recent past. Perhaps it could work if the VAFA GFs were scheduled a week earlier (meaning only that we would get rid of the ridiculous mid-season double bye in Premier grades). Anyway, might not be possible but it is the sort of option that should be thoroughly explored.
The key is to have a central venue that can accommodate a decent HQ/change rooms etc and can be fenced off for finals.
Disagree about Sandy not being too far. Might be OK from Ormond, but remember that about a third of the clubs are situated north of the Yarra. If you are Therry or St Bernards or Ivanhoe and you play at Sandy on a Sat arvo, good luck getting home before 7.30pm. And Sandy would pretty much rule out training sessions for any umpire not based in the southern suburbs.
The key is to have a central venue that can accommodate a decent HQ/change rooms etc and can be fenced off for finals.
Disagree about Sandy not being too far. Might be OK from Ormond, but remember that about a third of the clubs are situated north of the Yarra. If you are Therry or St Bernards or Ivanhoe and you play at Sandy on a Sat arvo, good luck getting home before 7.30pm. And Sandy would pretty much rule out training sessions for any umpire not based in the southern suburbs.
Might be the same one I saw. Probably would be better saying ‘have committed’ rather than ‘have re-signed’. I expect the club is trying to generate a bit of interest for next season. Perhaps shut down rumours of departures or perhaps influence potential recruits with news that key players are staying on. Challenging times for all clubs in all comps so no harm in sharing some good news with the players and supporters.
