2021 ANNUAL REPORT
CEO’S REPORT TIM MURRAY Chief Executive Officer
It was a pleasure to see our boys and girls back playing again in 2021. COVID has of course dominated our professional as well as our personal lives, and we hope that the impact of COVID on our games and volunteers is much less in 2022 than either 2020 or 2021.
Financially, the League is stronger this year, with payments being made to Clubs at the end of this financial year to compensate for the loss of games (and accordingly the lower costs the League faced). Clubs have been asked to make the entry level competitions as affordable as possible; to this end the League will be offering a $50 discount for all U8/U9/U10 players in 2022, provision for which is included in our accounts. The League is extremely fortunate to have great umpires and great coaches, led by Umpires Manager David Hannan. It is testament to Dave and his coaching team this year who retained and recruited a great base of umpires. The 2021 umpire cohort were as keen and eager as I have seen and I hope that passion continues to 2022. Further congratulations go to Ben Thiele who officiated his 300th game at the latter end of the 2021 season. Ben has been with the YJFL for over 10 years, is an umpire coach at Lynden Park and is one of the most reliable umpires in the League. The goal for all our competitive age groups is to ensure each game has two field umpires, and this will be a focus of the YJFL in 2022. We look forward to welcoming those who are interested to come and give it a go.
At the start of this season, we knew how much our players were keen to return to play and were delighted in the number of team entries and players registering. Club volunteers and especially Club Presidents deserve a huge vote of thanks. I specifically want to thank all Presidents who are retiring: Mark Centofanti (Ivanhoe), Andrew Chambers (Glen Iris), Caz Lorenz (Kew Rovers), Andrew Norris (Whitehorse Colts), Nic Moore (Bulleen Templestowe), Ritchie Appleby (Park Orchards), Shaun La Motte (Canterbury) and Suki StyantBrowne (Preston). Presidents make a significant contribution at all our clubs. The League had another strong year of registrations, which were roughly at the level of the 2019 figures. Growth keeps continuing in the YJFL but there are some concerns as we move beyond COVID. The effects were seen in girls’ football especially, as well as our younger age groups (Under 8-12) which is in line with what all Leagues in Melbourne experienced.
12
GameFace, our Digital Media Partner started their work in 2021 live streaming many matches from our home at Bulleen Park and at nearly every club’s home ground. This proved very popular with our players and parents alike and
