Midgets division to be added - February 12 2010
Midgets division to be added
Teo Pellizzeri
February 12 2010
Shepparton News
A “midgets'' division for child soccer players is the only major age-group addition Goulburn North East Football Association will look to implement for the coming season.
The innovation was tabled at the association's major operations meeting last night, along with a proposal to introduce a second junior girls' division next year.
The ``midgets'', a maximum 10 years old age group for boys and girls, could be played as soon as this year in order to accommodate club members in the age range and also boost attendances for senior matches.
The timeslot proposed for the midgets division is 2.30 pm to 3 pm, in order to retain more young players and their families at venues to watch the senior men, which kick off at 3 pm.
The clubs rejected a proposal from Shepparton United to increase the junior girls' age-group limit from under-15 to under-16 this year, but passed a motion to change to an under-16 age group next year as well as introduce an under-14 age group.Senior men's action was also a hotly debated topic as the association indicated it would be modifying its ex-radius by-laws, without any input from the clubs.
The full changes were not disclosed at last night's meeting, but league president Frank Trimboli indicated the new competition by-laws would allow clubs to register as many senior men's ex-radius players as they wanted.
However only three ex-radius players could be selected in any given match.
An ex-radius player has previously been classified as an individual living or recruited from more than 100 km away from his or her club's town, not including juniors who had moved away or foreign players who had claimed permanent residency.
Last season's by-laws allowed clubs to have four ex-radius players registered.
The ``State of Origin'' representative match or series against the Griffith soccer league was also proposed by the association, with the clubs approving of the idea.
The association said it would now work in conjunction with the Griffith soccer league to pursue the concept further.
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