2021 ANNUAL REPORT
FOOTBALL OPERATIONS
Shaun Dowling Senior Football Operations Manager
appetite from the children to again be actively involved in community football. Whilst we didn’t get to finish the season in the way in which we all would have liked, we did get 10 rounds of football this season which allowed 2,403 actual matches to take place. With no finals series able to be played, the top placed teams were declared premiers for the 2021 season. This decision resulted in 27 of the 32 clubs winning at least 1 flag.
Thank You
After a challenging 2020 season, it was fantastic to have football played again in 2021. Despite the uncertainty of how we as a League would bounce back, it was extremely pleasing to see a total of 503 teams participate in the season across 66 competitions. This was a drop of five teams from our 2019 numbers and, given the circumstances, can only be viewed as a resounding success. Full credit for this success sits fairly and squarely upon the Leadership of the clubs who played an enormous role in re-engaging with their communities and the YJFL cannot thank them enough. 2021 did see a drop in team numbers in our non-competitive age groups, Under 8s, 9s and 10s (Mixed and Girls). 141 teams participated, which is a drop of 25 teams (15%) from our 2019 numbers. This drop off was not unique to the YJFL and, as such, the AFL, through FDMs Matt Young and Eliza Straford, and the YJFL, through Brad Jamison and Jessica O’Connor, will have a particular focus on assisting clubs improve their Auskick numbers (where required) and transition from Auskick into club football. Our 2021 player numbers were stronger than anticipated with 10,891 registrations consisting of 8,293 male players and 2,598 female players. These numbers basically aligned with our 2019 numbers which proved that there was a real
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Club volunteers – it is impossible to run a competition of our size without the considerable contribution from club volunteers. Whether they be a team manager, a goal umpire, a timekeeper or any other role, big or small, all of these people make up the totality of a successful football league and we thank you all for your contribution. Club Committees – If the past 18 months has taught us anything, it is how fortunate we are to have high quality people performing committee level roles within our clubs. Despite the many barriers placed before them, Club Committees remained focussed upon the end game of getting kids playing football again, which they did to great success. YJFL Umpiring Group – a big thank you to David Hannan and his umpiring group for their hard work, organisation and, in particular, flexibility in ensuring that we maximised umpire numbers across the League each week. In excess of 80% of all matches across the League had more than 1 umpire and this can’t be done without an enormous amount of work. YJFL Staff – a big thank you also goes to Brad Jamison, Aidan Paus and, especially, Jessica O’Connor for all the work and support that they offered me across the whole of the 2021 season. Finally, I would like to thank Peter Nicholls for the friendship, support, advice and guidance that he has provide across the 20 years or so that I have known him. We all know that Peter has made an enormous contribution to the YJFL but he has also been a fantastic support and mentor to so many people across the League and his retirement will leave a huge pair of shoes to fill.
