By: Troy Swainston – Chief Executive Officer – Eastern Football League
Our Bendigo Bank junior boys’ finals kick off this weekend and with a cold snap coming across Victoria this could deliver some closer than anticipated results.
We must say a big thank-you to all those clubs who are hosting finals over the coming weeks – your support is greatly appreciated.
Last week, we reviewed the results across the divisions within the League. Overall, the new divisional structure has been a big success with more competitive games taking place across the League. One of the key measures we use is the percentage of games won (lost) by 25 points or less.
The evenness of Division 1 and Division 2 has been highlighted many times this season and for good reason with 60 per cent and 56 per cent of games being decided by 25 points or less.
Relegation and promotion play a big part in restoring competitive balance each year and we expect to see further improvements next season.
Division 4 is the only division where we have seen the competitive games reduce in numbers. Some of the questions we need to ask ourselves is which division would be more competitive if there were nine teams in it – Division 3 or 4? Would an eight-team Division 4 deliver more competitive games than a nine-team competition? What we do know is competitive-graded football is critical to a healthy competition.
The table below demonstrates that from a holistic point of view, this has been our most competitive year of football with 42.2 per cent of total games being won (lost) by 25 points despite margins in a couple of divisions growing. For comparative purposes, the prior year division’s results have been shifted up or duplicated to match the restructure.
Another important topic of discussion in community football is the Player Points System and Allowable Player Payment Limits (salary caps).
As communicated last year, all metropolitan football leagues across Victoria in season 2020 will have a maximum salary cap limit for their highest division of $200,000.
In addition, there is a working party currently reviewing the Player Points System. Presently, total team points are capped at 47, this may stay the same or come down a point or two depending on the outcome of the review.
We believe you need both the salary cap and Player Points System to have an effective system, but we would like to see the system simplified. The consistent feedback we have received from clubs in relation to under-18 NAB League players and VFL players will be communicated back to AFL Victoria.
A big thank-you to all our senior clubs for supporting the Towards Zero Round, with another massive week of football this week with live games across all divisions.
Good luck to all teams on the weekend and remember to tune into the Eastland match of the round on 1377 SEN+ or watch the live stream via the EFL website.