Eastern Football League to introduce measures to ease burden on volunteers

THE Eastern Football League will trial a host of initiatives, including a last touch out of bounds rule, this year in a bid to ease the burden on volunteers.

Eastern Football League chief executive Phil Murton. Picture: Christopher Chan

THE Eastern Football League will trial a host of initiatives, including a last touch out of bounds rule, this year in a bid to ease the burden on volunteers.

The league estimates the measures could save up to 21,000 hours on volunteer labour.

The roles played by interchange stewards on game day will be streamlined, while the signing off of team sheets in junior games will also be simplified.

The last touch out of bounds rule has been trialled in junior practice games, removing the need for club boundary umpires.

It will also be introduced in the first four rounds of the junior ranks with a view to potentially expanding the rule in the under-19s and reserves competitions.

“The aim over time would probably be to try and get two field umpires down into some lower divisions as well and the benefits of that are that it keeps the game moving, obviously you don’t need to find a couple of dads or brothers to go and run the boundary,” EFL chief executive Phil Murton said.

“It removes another role so our estimates are the combined time saved of volunteer labour will be between 20,000 to 21,000 hours across the season.

“We understand that volunteer burden is one of the biggest risks in our game so if we can introduce some initiatives, or question some of our procedures and processes or change those ... that can only be a positive thing.”

The AFL Women’s introduced a last touch out of bounds rule this year, following the lead of the SANFL.

“The savings in terms of what you need from volunteers might make it a worthwhile initiative,” Murton said.

“Let’s have a look at everything that we ask clubs to do or what they are doing and critically examine how important it is or if there is a different way to do it and try come up with a solution to reduce the burden on volunteers, who we know are the lifeblood of our clubs and our game.”

“The more we can make sure any role a volunteer is doing is a really important one, then it is a win for everyone.”