AFL Cairns Juniors in conjunction with AFL Cairns and the Junior & Senior Affiliate Clubs are looking at a competition restructure for at least 2014.
AFLCJ current competition model is: U8/9/10/11/12/14/16/18.5. With U8/9/10/11/12/14 played on Sundays (9:00am to 2:30pm), U16’s played on Friday nights and U18.5’s on Wednesday nights. This has been the model for the AFLCJ Competition for several years.
We really value your thoughts and feedback: Please fill out the short survey we’ve put together via the appropriate link below:
Players Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N7P3KQ8
Parent & Supporters Survey: COMPLETED
Why change?
Since late 2011, AFLCJ and affiliate Clubs have been constantly looking for ways to strengthen, develop and improve the standard of our competition, to evolve with change and administer the competition on the true demands of all involved for the betterment of the region.
In recent years, while U18.5’s have maintained a high standard of play and put on an exciting–and very watchable–brand of footy, the competition success has declined for various reasons:
- Inability to recruit and maintain players
- Travel demands & participant workload
- Midweek commitment for all involved
- Personal/work restraints and volunteer assistance.
Over the past three years, the U18.5 competition has suffered numerous forfeits (many more than any other age group) across three seasons and two Clubs having to pool players in order to field a side.
In order to analyse this problem, AFLCJ has done extensive statistical research to get an accurate picture of what is occurring and attempt to find out why. As first thought, the major problem is centred around the U18.5 competition; however, the statistics (below) showed us that it also significantly affects other grades, particularly the U16’s.
U18 Competition
266 Players Used in Total for Season 2013
Standalone U18 Players: 136 Players
Players that qualify in ‘other’ age groups before U18’s: 72 Players
Players who are not ‘registered’ (3 or more games): 58 Players
51% of the U18 Competition are ‘actual’ U18 players
27% of the U18 Competition are under aged players
21% of players do not meet the 3 game minimum
Of the ‘qualified players’ (excluding players that play less than 3 games) 65% are U18’s players.
As you can see above, of the qualified players, only 65% are actual U18’s players and the rest of the competition is made up of bottom aged players. This means that each week on average, 35% of the U18 Competition has U16’s playing up, subsequently playing a minimum of 2 matches a week. This is unusual for our game and increases the possibility of player burnout and overuse injuries.
Not only is it a player issue: In 2013, 50% of AFLCUA umpires were unavailable to officiate on Wednesdays due to umpiring load and commitment, as well as, U18’s receiving the least amount of support, attendance wise.
On average, for other AFLCJ Competitive Grades (U12/14/16) the ‘actual’ playing age above in the competitive grades is 85% of players. This is a 20% difference between U12/14/16 to U18.5’s Football.
One proposed solution:
AFLCJ is proposing a restructured competition model to enhance youth pathways and consolidate participants, by reformatting the grading structure to U8/9/10/11/13/15/17.5 (aka Colts). The competition structure we see U8/9/10/11/13/15 played on Sunday (9:00am to 3:30pm) with the U17.5/Colts grade, open for:
Option 1 – U17.5 played on Friday night
Option 2 – U17.5 Played on Saturday morning
Option 3 – A mixture of Friday night and Saturday games
AFLCJ, in consultation with Junior and Senior Affiliates, believes the restructure model has several benefits including:
- Creates one less night for all involved (no Wednesday night games)
- Reduce demands/commitments on players/officials/staff & volunteers (mental/physical burnout prevention measure)
- Each Junior Club will be able to successfully field a side each due to condensed qualifying age bracket (forfeits reduction measure)
- Strengthens the Pathway for Youth Participation and creates ownership/accountability – if you don’t train you don’t play
- Strengthens the Link between Junior & Senior Football
- Strengthens AFLC Seniors/Reserves Comps with increased youth participation – indirectly allows older players to assist in differing roles and the Masters competition
- Reduces travel for Clubs & players by a minimum of one night per week
- Eases the facility and resource load i.e. ground usage, lights etc
- All Junior players will be of school age
- Competitive age groups align with many other AFLQ regional (AFL Mackay, AFL Capricornia and AFL Wide Bay) and metro competitions Peninsula Sport and school sports age groups
- More spectators will see the high standard of our Colts Football
- Minimises the amount of players playing more than one game a week
Essentially, the restructure moves the AFLCJ playing grades down by 1 year, allowing for top age juniors (and 18 year olds) to now play senior football.
At present, only 51% of U18’s are qualified U18’s players, 27% qualify in U16’s, 21% don’t reach 3 games. It is expected that the above restructured model would increase the number of qualified players by at least 20% in 2014.
Your opinions are invaluable to us. Please fill out the short survey we’ve put together via the appropriate link below:
Players Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N7P3KQ8
Parents & Supporters Survey: COMPLETED
Kind regards,
AFLCJ Executive
Last Modified on 19/11/2013 11:10