On behalf of the League Board welcome to the 2016 season which promises to be another very competitive one. Both the clubs and the League have been working hard in the off season and I am sure all will begin withsome hope for their results this year , judging by some recruiting as well as practice match results to date.
This year’s draw has reverted to more of the traditional home and away set up to avoid periods where clubs may not have had home games for some weeks. Following discussion with Clubs and as a result of AFL fixturing the Grand Final this year will be played a week before the AFL decider.
This year will see commencement of the points system where all players will have been allocated a certain number of points based on their level of playing achievement in this or other Leagues. There will be a points limit for the senior team each week and the system is designed to encourage loyalty to Clubs as well as to provide opportunities for local juniors, and to assist in promoting an even competition. The Clubs have been involved in productive discussions with the League to come up with the total points per week.
The League website is in the process of being redeveloped and it should be ready early in the season. This is one of our key communication tools (4 million hits last year) and will provide a wealth of information for followers of the competition .Our social media presence has grown significantly over the past 12 months and we will continue to develop this. Live scoring has proved extremely popular for those willing to follow games- if you don’t use it give it a try.
We have agreed a deal with One FM for broadcasting of games for the next 3 years. The team were recipients of an AFL award for their coverage last year and we look forward to further development of the product. All clubs will have at least one home game broadcast and the Saturday morning football show will continue. We will also look to livestream some games during the season.
As far as the Board is concerned at the Annual General Meeting Mick Williams and Freddo McMahon were reelected and Quentin Thomson became the new Board member. I would like to acknowledge the contribution of Peter Mangles during his years on the Board. The remaining members of the Board are Phillip Friedlieb, David Fox and Brayden Aitken.
As a Board we spent a weekend earlier in the year thinking about how we wish the League to develop over the next three years and we have set ourselves a number of tasks to complete. One of our priorities is to maintain the GVFL as a 12 team 3 level competition. There are some challenges being experienced by Clubs particularly in the Under 18 competition and we will work with them and AFL Goulburn Murray to find solutions which maintain viability.
Other tasks include looking at how we can better assist volunteers, improve our procedures, make sure that the League is presented in a professional way in all we do and review the finals system.
One of our major challenges will be to take on the Essendon District League in the new interleague competition, and the Board have already had discussions with Senior coach Scott Beattie and Under 18 coach Jason Wells to make sure we are in the best position to be competitive. I would like to particularly thank outgoing coach Travis Ryan for his willingness to provide his perspective on how we can get better.
We will also under take discussions with the Netball League about the feasibility of a combined League and it is possible that this season the Netball will be administered through the administrative hub which currently provides great service to the GVFL , Kyabram League , Shepparton Juniors and Seymour Juniors.
I wish all Clubs a successful season. Let’s bounce the ball !
David Roff
Chairman
Last Modified on 27/09/2016 17:31