Following six months of research and consultation the Shepparton District Junior Football League (SDJFL) Review Panel has released its Final Report and recommendations.
Key highlights of the Panel’s recommendations include a strengthened governance structure for the League, the current divisional structure being replaced with U10s and U12s, the adoption of the AFL Junior Match Policy and the formation of new ‘cluster’ clubs to provide increased support and to consolidate volunteer workloads.
AFL Goulburn Murray Region General Manager Martin Gleeson is really happy with the outcomes achieved.
"The Review Panel was set up at the commencement of the season to conduct a review of the Primary School competition to ensure it is providing the best possible participation opportunity for local children" he said.
"Containing members of AFL Goulburn Murray, the Primary School clubs, SDJFL Executive and Valley Sport the Panel represented all key stakeholders and this allowed us to receive quality feedback on the current status and to discuss a whole range of ideas for the future."
"The competition has grown 11 teams in the past two years which is an incredible result and we wanted to make sure there was a structure in place to manage that growth and ensure its sustainability."
"As well as running internal workshop sessions to debate concepts the Review Panel also interviewed each club on key aspects and gathered a whole range of data on age groups, retention rates, team numbers and primary school population demographics to assist with discussions."
"An area of concern for the Panel was the volatility of some team numbers in Shepparton based schools. Fluctuations of team numbers each year in a number of the smaller schools threaten the continuity of their participation with a very small group of committed volunteers carrying the burden of the team each year."
"Added to this was the situation where a number of teams struggled to provide age appropriate playing opportunities with Grade 3 and Grade 6 participants often in the one team."
"This scenario led to the establishment of ‘cluster’ clubs in Shepparton to provide a governing committee to represent the interests of smaller schools and aggregate both participants and volunteers."
"In many ways the model is a reflection of what has evolved outside Shepparton with Mooroopna, Tatura, Nathalia and others providing a single club environment for multiple feeder schools."
"To assist with the set up of the new committees an AFL Goulburn Murray or Valley Sport staff member will be allocated to each one as a mentor to work the volunteers on their structure and guide them through the set up process."
"The age group change to U10s and U12s also simplifies the pathway and will create much more effective and easy to understand links from Auskick to U10, U12 and then U14."
"The Primary School competition will also undergo a name change to ‘Junior Division’ offering U10s and U12s with the U14 and U16 competition re-badged as ‘Youth Division’ to assist with realigning the player pathway."
"In a governance context two places on the SDJFL Board will be directly allocated to the Junior Division and a revamped meeting schedule will be focused on supporting the great work of club volunteers."
As a member of the Review Panel St Brendans President Jason Richie is looking forward to the recommendations being put in place.
"Its been a really interesting and productive process being a part of the Panel" he said.
"The recommendations are really strongly participant focused and from a club viewpoint will continue to develop football at the primary school level."
"As an example we estimate that the implementation of the AFL Junior Match Policy will provide our kids with an extra 25% playing time each week which will massively help their enjoyment and development."
"We recruit participants to our game really well each year and the recommendations will also help us to increase our retention rate by simplifying age groups and structures."
SDJFL President Chris Thomas also endorsed the changes and is excited for the future.
"The Board have been fully supportive of the Panel and the process and have endorsed the recommendations" he said.
"We have a relatively unusual structure in that our Junior Clubs are different to our Youth Clubs but these changes will provide greater alignment between the two divisions and help to streamline the playing pathway."
"Our focus as a League is always on the growth and development of our players and these recommendations support that ethos."
"The recommendations will be voted on at our Annual General Meeting on 30 November and I look forward to working with the Panel to implement the changes for 2016."
Last Modified on 04/11/2015 11:45