JUNIOR OPERATIONS REPORT Having thousands upon of thousands of boys and girls sitting at home on winter weekends, instead of playing football, was probably the most “Whilst we are disappointed to cancel junior football this year, frustrating thing to deal with from an AFL South East administration point of the health and wellbeing of the community has always been view in 2020. our top priority,” Black said. Participating in junior football – something that players, coaches, officials, “Covid-19 has presented a very unique set of circumstances parents and volunteers all enjoy – was taken away from us due to the and we need to ensure that our participants and volunteers Covid-19 pandemic that continues to have a huge impact around the world. emerge from this pandemic in a healthy state. All three of our junior competitions – Frankston and Districts Junior Football “We look forward to working with our clubs to create a safe League (FDJFL) South East Juniors (SEJ) and the Chisholm Top-Age and healthy environment for all members and volunteers as Competition were eventually cancelled after meaningful consultation with we put plans in place for 2021.” clubs around what the season might look like. AFLSE Chief Operating Officer Shaun Connell thanked all All options were on the table – including a reduced season that would junior clubs and corporate partners for the important role they begin and conclude later than our traditional April to August timeslot – but have played throughout the challenging Covid-19 journey. the following announcement to cancel the 2020 season was made on Friday July 10 due to metropolitan Melbourne returning to stage-three “The last few months have been unprecedented in terms lockdown. of managing community sport and I would like to thank the leaders of our clubs for being engaged in the process,” STATEMENT FROM AFL SOUTH EAST Connell said. AFL South East (AFLSE) today regretfully announce the decision to cancel all junior football competitions across the “All clubs understand the associated challenges and impact region in 2020. that Covid-19 has had and were very open and balanced with their views. Both AFLSE and the clubs have a clear obligation AFLSE was left with no alternative but to cancel football to protect participants, volunteers, officials, umpires, across the Frankston and Districts Junior Football League supporters and their families during these times. (FDJFL), South East Juniors (SEJ) and AFL South East Top-Age (AFLSETA) after Tuesday’s announcement “And our corporate partners have been rock-solid in their from Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews that metropolitan support, with junior football partners such as Chisholm, Melbourne would return to stage-three lockdown from Bendigo Bank, Bank of Queensland, Totally Workwear, 11.59pm on Wednesday July 8. Melbourne FC, St Kilda FC, McDonalds, Loco Sportswear, Heatstrip, Advanced Trophies, Garrleigh Trophies and our All community sport is banned for the six-week duration of entire supply network set to play a huge role in our planning the lockdown – effectively ending all forms of competition and eventual return to community sport over the coming and training until earliest Wednesday August 19. Given months.” the statement from the Premier, and the current Covid-19 -ENDSoutbreak across Victoria, AFLSE has decided that the current environment is not conducive to hosting safe and meaningful From our junior administration team that began 2020 - Carl Fletcher competitions this year. (Junior Football Manager) and Nicole Edney (Junior Football Coordinator) – through to our current Junior Football Coordinator, Leigh Buwalda, we A joint statement will be issued at 10am this morning, with would like to take this opportunity to thank all FDJFL and SEJ clubs for fellow metropolitan leagues - Northern Football Netball their professionalism and commitment to dealing with unprecedented League, Eastern Football Netball League, Essendon District challenges for local administrators. Football League and Western Region Football League – joining the SEJ in announcing the cancellation of football and Protecting all of our stakeholders was a clear number-one priority for our netball across these leagues in 2020. SEJ’s presence on this leagues and clubs in 2020, and this will continue to be the focus as we look statement stems from its metropolitan status, but all forms of to plan for a successful 2021 return to football. competition across the AFLSE region – including FDJFL and AFLSETA – have now been cancelled. Junior Operations Team AFL South East Head of South Eastern Victoria Richard Black said that while the decision would be disappointing for many – the reduction of Covid-19 cases in Victoria was clearly the number-one priority.
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