Anglesea’s under-16 team booted from the finals following a ladder restructure

A Geelong junior footy team has been punted from the finals following a league error and the club is now calling on AFL Victoria to intervene.

Anglesea's under-16s have been kicked out of the finals series. Picture: Alan Barber

An embarrassing fixture bungle has cost a team of heartbroken local teenage footballers their spot in the finals, prompting their club to launch an urgent appeal for AFL Victoria to intervene.

Anglesea Football Club is furious at an AFL Barwon decision to boot its under-16s team from the finals.

The Roos thought they had qualified for the finals after a stirring two-point win over Colac on the road last Saturday.

However, in an email to the club on Monday afternoon from AFL Barwon, the Roos were informed that an adjustment had been made to the under-16 ladder following a review of the current standings in preparation for the finals.

Under AFL Barwon’s rules, where a competition has an uneven number of byes by participating clubs, the match ratio system was applied to create a fair and accurate ladder.

Modewarre was removed from the division after Round 2 following 84 and 108-point defeats, creating a seven-team competition.

One of the Roos’ players, who wished to remain anonymous, was left heartbroken at the decision.

“Our team moved up a division and played a really tough season,” they said.

“We won our last game and thought we made finals. But AFL Barwon stuffed up and let us all down.”

Anglesea coach Jordan Keras with president Paul Nigro Picture: Mark Wilson

“Unfortunately, this adjustment has resulted in Anglesea under-16 moving to fifth place on the ladder, which means the team is no longer in contention for the finals,” AFL Barwon said.

“We understand how disappointing this news must be, and we sincerely apologise for the impact this decision has on your players, coaches, and supporters.

“Please know that this adjustment was made to ensure fairness across the competition, and we deeply regret any inconvenience or frustration this may cause.

“We appreciate your understanding.”

However, in an email to the league, Anglesea president Paul Nigro questioned why the information was brought to light after the game and on a Monday.

“Surely you would have been aware of situation well before now,” Nigro said.

“This inequity within the fixturing was created by yourselves by an early restructure that took place with under-16s.

“It is clearly not our fault we have played one less game than some other teams.

“And secondly why wasn’t percentage adjusted as two of the top teams played a team that was demoted?

“AFL Barwon is responsible for this embarrassment and lack of communication.

“We seek an urgent review of position with AFL Victoria as we will be doing the same.

“I seek urgent attention to this matter.”

In a further email from AFL Barwon head of operations, Michael Limb, he said the ladder would not be readjusted again.

“Whilst the outcome is unfortunate and disappointing for your under-16 group, we are obliged to follow our bylaws when creating a ladder for a competition where there are an uneven number of byes experienced by all teams,” Limb said.

“The decision to move Modewarre from the division post grading was not taken lightly and is not something that is normally considered, but the circumstances at the time were such that the decision needed to be made in the best interests of the competitions.”

However, Limb admitted the peak body had erred by not adjusting the ladder formula at the time, leading to a “great deal of emotion” amongst the Roos.

“We sincerely apologise,” he said.

“The manner in which this was communicated to you was also not appropriate and we have dealt with this internally.”

He said AFL Barwon would learn from the experience.

“We hope that your under-16 playing group are rightfully proud of their efforts this season and are looking forward to a long and fruitful future in football,” he said.

In a statement, an AFL Barwon spokesman said with about 900 of the 1200 football and netball teams competing in graded competitions, it was necessary to have divisions with an uneven number of teams where “an even number doesn’t promote competitive equalisation”.

“Movements between divisions postseason are not common but are in some circumstances required post the commencement of a season, in the best interest of competitive equalisation,” the spokesman said.

Originally published as Anglesea’s under-16 team booted from the finals following a ladder restructure