The Goldacres North Central Football Leagues 2017 season kicks off on Saturday 8th April. A feature of the first round will be a replay of the 2016 grand finalists in Premiers Charlton and runners-up Wycheproof-Narraport at Charlton Park. Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers will be at home to St Arnaud; Wedderburn plays Birchip-Watchem at Donaldson Park Wedderburn and Boort are to host Donald at Boor Park with the strong possibility the game will be played under lights.
With the season starting on April 8th it will not take long for clubs to get their first break for the season as Easter falls the following weekend. There are two further byes included in the draw for all clubs, all clubs having the long weekend in June off for the Queen’s Birthday and then in round twelve Wedderburn and Charlton have the weekend off. In round thirteen, week one, four clubs, Wycheproof-Narraport, Boort, Birchip-Watchem and Donald have the bye and in week two of round thirteen Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers and St Arnaud have the bye.
Reunions Round 13, July 29th 2017
We have two reunions happening in round thirteen July 29th with the Wedderburn and Birchip-Watchem Clubs holding reunions over this weekend.
Wedderburn Football Club will be holding a reunion of the 2007 senior premiership where they play Charlton the team they defeated in 2007 to win their first premiership for 37 years.
Also happening in this round will be the twenty year reunion of the amalgamation of the Birchip and Watchem Football Clubs with Birchip-Watchem taking on Donald at George Cartwright Oval.
Finals in the Goldacres North Central Football League are set down to commence on Saturday August 26th with the Grand Finals to be decided on Saturday 16th September, two weeks prior to the AFL Grand Final.
Inter-League for the Goldacres North Central Football League this year is against the Geelong & District Football League with our league to host. The Goldacres North Central Football League has been successful when travelling down to Geelong to play the Geelong & DFL. In our last two meetings the silverware on offer to the winner has returned home with us and we would hope that we can repeat those victories on the home soil in 2017. As hosts of the game the Goldacres North Central League Board will make a decision on the venue to play the game hopefully early in the New Year.
At a recent meeting with the Board and member clubs it was decided to raise the price of entry into home and away game for the 2017 season with an increase of $2 now making entry $10. All finals prices have remained as in 2016 with the first three finals at $12 and the Grand Final set at $15.
The Goldacres North Central Football League held their AGM on Wednesday 14th December 2016 at Wycheproof where current Chairman Kevin Anderson had given prior notice that he would step down as Chairman and also from the Goldacres North Central Board. Kevin has been the Chairman for the past five years and has been a great leader of our league. With Kevin’s departure this created a vacancy and as the league received nominations from Board members in Chris Hogan and Brett Schofield who have completing their two year terms and re nominated with the league also receiving two further nominations from Tim Lockhart and Barry McKenzie. With four nominations for three positions there was a need for an election to fill the three vacant positions. The result of the election seen Brett Scofield and Chris Hogan winning a further two year term and Tim Lockhart was the other successful nomination to win a two year term. With the departure of Kevin Anderson the league needed to appoint a new Chairman and the Board Members nominated Chris Hogan as their new Chairman with Chris being dually elected to lead the league for the next twelve months following in the footsteps of his father Bryan who was President back in 2005/2006. On behalf of all North Central followers we thank Kevin for his tireless work over his time on the Board and congratulate the incoming Chairman Chris on being elected into the league leadership role.
All clubs would have been very active since the end of the season in replenishing their playing stocks and while we will see some departures from the league we will also have some new talent join clubs within the league. Clubs will face a new challenge in the coming season with the introduction of the Players Payments Scheme (Salary Cap) commencing for the 2017 season, after a soft cap was introduced in 2016 to have clubs prepare for the introduction of the Salary Cap in 2017. Last season clubs had the player points system introduced and all clubs managed to get through that challenge without any problems. Initially most clubs believed that they would need more points than they were allocated but very few clubs even came close to their allocation on a regular basis.
Most clubs have taken a brief break over the Christmas, New Year festive season before returning for a full on charge at their club being successful in the upcoming season.
To all Football, Netball and Hockey Officials of the three codes, club officials, players, volunteers and supporters of the three codes played in the Goldacres North Central Football, from the Chairman and Board Members we wish everyone a successful and enjoyable 2017 season.
Lance Standfield
General Manager
“Goldacres” North Central Football League.
Last Modified on 26/01/2017 14:33