Eastern Football Netball League: majority of junior clubs pull in one direction
The EFL’s junior clubs have been surveyed by league headquarters about a season return, and the majority have pulled in one direction — with a catch.
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The majority of junior football clubs in the Eastern Football Netball League support a return to the field, provided that and protocols set in place remain achievable.
Mitcham junior president Anthony Grace said the EFNL had been “really proactive” in communicating AFL Victoria’s guidelines and what it means for the league’s 36 junior clubs.
The state governing body recently released its return to training protocols permitting senior clubs to train in groups of 10 from May 25, with the EFNL delaying a return to training until at least May 31.
While the neighbouring Yarra Junior Football League has confirmed a mid-July return to competition, the EFNL has been in dialogue with its junior clubs via a series of Zoom conferences.
“The overwhelming thing that I got out of that was as long as it’s safe to do so and protocols aren’t overly difficult to implement and aren’t costly, then the (majority of) clubs support a return to play,” Grace said.
“People are very different across a club – last year we had over 350 registered players and short of surveying our parents individually … we know there’s a mixed bag of responses to playing this year.
“We’ve got people that are really cautious, and then we’ve got the other end of the spectrum.”
In a recent communication to its clubs, the EFNL said junior football would be treated independently from its senior football and netball competitions when considering a return.
Grace said junior and senior football presented different hurdles to overcome in order to see a return to play.
But juniors faced a likelier prospect of a green light with significantly different cost structures and less pre-season preparation needed.
“One of the things that is a genuine concern is whether people are able to follow the instructions of social distancing and only one (parent) turning up at games … I don’t think that stuff’s been formalised yet but that’s kind of where it’s going to be heading, I think.
“The return to training stuff’s been pretty well communicated. We’re in the process of dealing with all of our coaches and providing COVID safety officers for each of our teams.
“Probably the bigger hurdle for us is council access. Once the league gives the go-ahead for the season, council will fall into line with that and that’s pretty much the communication they’ve had with us.”
The club’s junior member base has been informed of the drastic changes to training and matches should they see a return to play.
“We put out a communication to our members along those lines, that there would be no changeroom access, back slaps, high fives, one parent per kid, shortened matches where you’ll bump-in and bump-out where you’ll arrive no sooner than 20 minutes before a game and then you’re gone within 10 minutes of the siren,” Grace said.
Football Victoria recently announced a limited return to soccer training at the discretion of each club from May 18, following the federal and state government’s road map to cautiously reintroduce the sport in a staged approach.
Grace said one of the concerns for junior Australian rules was losing players to rival codes in footy’s lay-off along with the immediate COVID-19 forced changes to playing a contact sport.
“One of the concerns with the return to play is how much fun’s been taken away from the kids and if kids want to participate in something that’s not as fun as it used to be,” he said.
“That’s a consideration for each family to make for their kids.
“Hopefully the health side of it all keeps trending the right way and that means we can get more and more stuff back to how we’re used to.”
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