The Number one reason kids enjoy football “is to have a competitive game as possible”
The BJFL has no interest who wins week in week out or who wins the Grand Final. The sole focus is to have players enjoy playing football with equality games against proportionate opposition for the majority of the season. Hopefully this will enable them to continue playing throughout their adult life due to the enjoyment of their BJFL experience.
Grading Objectives
Equality of games:
1. To have the lowest possible margins weekly
2. A competitive game as possible between the top and the bottom teams
3. An average margin of 25 -35 is considered excellent, 36 - 49 is really good and 50-65 is acceptable. Some leagues/divisions are as high as 80 points differential per game. Remember if a team kicks 2 more goals a quarter, the end result is nearly 50 points, yet the game might have been very even in actual play.
Restrictions
Unfortunately it is very difficult for clubs to nominate each year where they believe their club is positioned.
Last year for example there were several nominations from teams to be in the same grade, only to be beaten by 20 goals. We have some competitions which unfortunately have an odd amount of teams creating byes, we also have the possibility of a comp with only 4-5 teams, which isn’t practical either.
The basic recommendations of a junior division should have 6 teams as the minimum, ideally 8 and no more than 10 to 12 and preferably no byes. Unfortunately, each year these ideals are hard to achieve.
FAQ’s
Why can’t you just use a formula in a computer? We have 22 “different” clubs and approx. 160 teams, this year we have clubs with 22 teams, others as low as 1, some with 3 teams in one division, others with only the 1. We have approximately 20 grounds available, however they are governed by 3 different leagues and several COUNCILS, add to this 7 independent junior clubs (some schools) and also Woorinen Youth girls and you can see there are so many different scenarios and intricacies (and also other user groups Auskick, Masters and the CVFL Womens comp).
When will we have the fixture? Prior to Round 6… Trying to organisenearly 80 games of football a week on a restricted use of 21 ovals will probably give you an understanding of the difficulties. We can’t play on the same day as Seniors as we are Alcohol free and entry free (except finals). We also have some teams that can’t play certain days due to work and other commitments, such as other sports and venue availability. We also take into consideration councils requirement of ground availability due to weather and usage. The other complexities are Clubs like to play successive games to have the opportunity to have a successful canteen to help cover the costs associated with playing sport, and also like to have family days to build their clubs connection with their community and or senior body. Add Equalisation, trying to give each Club the opportunity of even home and away games and scheduling times for travelling clubs to travel at reasonable hours, hopefully you can understand the difficulties we face to create a fair and equitable fixture.. Furthermore, each round takes approximately 5-6 hours without interruptions, and unfortunately you can’t have any more than two people at once working on it because of the complexities of trying to achieve a fair and reasonable outcome for ALL teams. (see pic)
Why are we in a comp with a team that beat us by 80 points: In some grading games the top team can actually beat the 3rd top team by 50 points, therefore by the time they play a team that may be 7th or 8th it could easily be an 80 point margin.
Please be aware if you have a query or concern from a parent, please try to educate them on the process and if really aggrieved contact us through your club and we will respond - Unfortunately we are unable to answer individual queries.
Last Modified on 17/04/2019 14:37