GRAND FINAL
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 12th
HENSHILWOOD OVAL, IRYMPLE
Gates open 8.00am
Football Games
9:30am Thirds, Imperials v Mildura
4 x 20 minute quarters plus time on
12 Noon Reserves, Wentworth v Irymple
4 x 20 minute quarters plus time on
2:25pm Seniors, Wentworth v Robinvale
4 x 20 minute quarters plus time on.
Netball Games
9:30am Under 17's Imperials v South Mildura
10:30am C Grade South Mildura v Red Cliffs
11.30am B Grade Imperials v Mildura
12:30pm A Grade South Mildura v Imperials
Admission prices: Adults $10. Aged and invalid pensioners with ID $5.
Students under 18 with ID $5
Children under 16 accompanied by an adult: Free.
Children under 16 unaccompanied $2
Companion card holders: Free.
NO BYO ALCOHOL ALLOWED -- BOOTHS OPERATING
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In recent times I have received feedback from both the Mildura Rural City Council & Mildura Police over criticism levelled at them that they are responsible for restrictions that influence the venues selected for SF&NL finals.
This continued criticism is starting to wear pretty thin with many.
As stated many times the venue for the finals is decided on where we can best stage the event without jeopardising public safety or incurring excessive cost.
Several years ago the clubs, yes the clubs, insisted that instead of a rise in affiliation fee’s the league should become financially self sufficient. This decided, it was then agreed by the clubs that control and staging of all finals would fall back to the league as a way of achieving financial independence, along with attempting to attract sponsorship. Thus all clubs agreed to forgo the opportunity to host any final or participate in a roster for finals liquor sales. The league would annually tender all concessions excluding alcohol sales, once again as a major source of income.
The league then decided that if all of the work was going to be left to them that the annual final series would be staged where it would be easiest to comply with issues such as public safety, permit of public entertainment regulations & liquor licensing.
Once again I will attempt to explain the reasons for which we, the SF&NL board make their decisions.
Our first priority is public safety:
I would like each club over the next few weeks to have a look around at their home & away games and check for themselves the level of care or priority given to;
Safety plan:
Does your club have a practised emergency plan, for implementation in the case of any unforseen emergency?
Cars:
If an emergency vehicle needed to gain access into your ground could it be done quickly and safely?
Do you clearly mark and police the emergency ground access?
Are cars parked in a safe and uniform manner, with no double parking or blocking a vehicles ability to exit?
Do you have a disabled parking zone?
Is there any attention given to loutish & hoon behaviour (which includes loud and offensive music)?
Is any consideration given to the safety of young children?
Are vehicles encouraged to travel slowly, at least at walking pace?
Have you noticed the amount of people who utilise fence parking and never return to or use their vehicle during the day?
Alcohol:
Has there ever been any consideration that your liquor outlet may be too close to the field of play?
Do you discourage people from being able to stand at the ‘bar’ and consume?
Do you implement ‘can’ limits?
Do you practice responsible service of alcohol?
Is there any effort made to discourage the entry of alcohol?
Is there any effort made to discourage the entry of glass?
Do you enforce alcohol free zones?
Do you request that alcohol or glass not be taken onto the arena?
Do you have a blanket ban on alcohol in and around the coach/interchange benches?
Do you implement dry areas around player & umpire change rooms?
Toilets:
Do you consider that your ground has adequate toilet facilities?
Do you maintain these facilities regularly on game day?
Ground access:
Do you implement ‘officials only’ on and around the coach/interchange bench area?
Do you maintain crowd control whilst games are in progress?
(Are there people wandering around the boundary, children playing close to the boundary)
Costs:
The staging of annual finals series is a costly venture, the largest being security, power, police and hire. All of these costs will continue to be ongoing irrespective of where finals are held. The league saves money by utilising Irymple because of the positioning and availability of toilets and a huge saving in police & security.
These are all considerations that the league needs to take into account when choosing a venue, some of them law, most of them commonsense. As volunteers the same as at club level we have no control over weather conditions, we play a winter sport and need to take the good with the bad. Venues need to be pre booked licences need to be applied for in advance.
We acknowledge that we need to improve disabled and elderly parking, this will continue to be outside of the ground, but we have always offered vehicle access to drop off elderly or disabled. In the past we made an effort to set aside elderly/disabled parking inside the ground but unfortunately this was abused.
We work very closely with Mildura Rural City Council and local Police to ensure that events conducted by the league run smoothly and safely. We understand our responsibility to put people back onto the streets in a relatively sober state; we recognise our duty to protect our players, umpires & patrons.
We reinforce the fact that what we do is the leagues decision which is made in conjunction with the mentioned authorities. To blame these authorities for the leagues decisions is senseless.
I am sure that if you as club leaders took some time to explain to your supporters some of our reasoning, irrespective of whether you agree, it would go a long way towards us gaining a greater level of understanding.
Peter Congress
President
Sunraysia Football & Netball League Inc.
Website Editor