In last week’s Inside the EFL, CEO Phil Murton answered a much-asked question – How’s the League going?
How’s the League going?
As we travel around to games, people often ask, “How’s the League going?” While that’s a question best left for others to judge, it’s also worth reflecting on how we change from year to year.
We don’t often do this until the end of the year when we review what’s been done and realise that significant change occurs every year to make the competition improve, grow and hopefully run better for everyone involved.
I thought it would be a good exercise to do now and also help me answer people’s question.
From a team numbers perspective, we’ve seen some great growth again. Netball is up another 13 per cent to 79 teams and EFL teams in the Deakin Uni Eastern Region Women’s Competition have increased from 7 to 14. With no new senior men’s clubs, those numbers are consistent on 98 (seniors, reserves, veterans), and we are at 36 under-19 teams, up one from 2017.
At junior level we have had our best growth in years with junior girls up at 83 teams and junior boys growing to 338, pleasingly with record numbers in non-comp age groups (8-10) and the most number of teams at under-15 and 17 team level since 2011.
So overall, we have 648 football/netball teams this year, up from 611 last year.
While in a comp our size we’ll always have some clubs at senior or junior level not operating as well as they’d like, with AFL Vic we’ve changed how club development is managed so clubs are now getting more support.
More than ever before has been invested into school programs in areas where participation has been low to increase Auskick and junior club registrations, with the early results looking promising.
Umpire numbers have been strong, with 130 new umpires joining the ranks and umpire churn the lowest in years. We’ve got some work to do with filling our requirement of goal umpires, with injuries and unavailability hurting at present.
Off-field, we are excited in signing on new major sponsors in Eastland and carsales, the latter bringing with it a change in umpire uniform to a new more modern cut and design by AFL umpire uniform supplier Project Clothing.
Online match-day paperwork, introduced in senior footy last year, is being rolled out across the junior competitions this year creating further efficiencies and time savings for both umpires and League staff.
A new podcast has started and our video media offerings will be expanded in the coming months, making the most of extra match day footage with Division 2 games now being filmed. A new media outside broadcast van is on its way, which will help provide a better base for both calling and filming games of the day, which continue to improve with enhanced on-screen graphics and replay.
We are trialling a range of match-day operations changes aimed at reducing volunteer workload and if adopted will reduce volunteer burden by some 20,000 plus hours. These include last possession rules in juniors and women’s, which also speed up play and make for less congestion, opening up the game and making it better to play, umpire and watch. New instructional videos for match-day officials have had over 4,000 views helping us manage the game day environment even better.
Percentage from junior footy has been removed and we will now use head-to-head tie breakers to split teams who finish even on points or match ratio. It means the games that really matter are the ones against the teams of similar ability, not beating up on the teams who are struggling.
A new Coaching Philosophy, developed in conjunction with Hawthorn, the Eastern Ranges and AFL Vic has been launched to create an even better environment for players and as part of a new MOU with Hawthorn, are looking at trialling some small-sided games in non-comp footy to give players a better match day experience and hopefully develop their skills more.
So, to answer the question, “How’s the League going?”, while I’ll still leave that for others to judge, the EFL is proud of being progressive and innovative and not afraid to try things and take some risks. We won’t get it right every time, and always take on feedback to build and improve on what we are doing.
There’s a quote I like that says, “Roll out what you did last year and you will be guaranteed to get the same result, less 10%”.
It rings true. We are always looking to improve and evolve. It’s what’s helped us grow into the respected competition we are today. The willingness to do this is important not only from a League perspective, but from a club and player perspective also. As an industry we are sometimes averse to change. Keeping an open mind and making change based on informed decisions is important.
See you at the games this week.
