THIS weekend marks the start of our finals matches for the 2019 season.
On Saturday, EDFL Women’s Qualifying and Elimination Finals will be held at Moonee Valley and Tullamarine football clubs.
Then on Sunday, all junior competition finals commence across multiple venues.
While participation and involvement in team sport at great community clubs is the core purpose of the EDFL, finals are a special time of year for players, coaches and umpires.
Whether your team has qualified for finals, and wins or loses this weekend, we hope everyone has an enjoyable experience and walks away with great memories of the day and year.
We thank the many clubs who have offered to host EDFL finals this year.
By late in the football season all volunteers can start to feel the strain and it is pleasing to see so many clubs request to hold finals at their venue.
We hope all clubs with finals at their venue have successful days.
Last week the EDFL Board announced some significant changes to our underage competitions for the 2020 season.
In simple terms, we are moving from ‘odd’ to ‘even’ age groups.
Therefore, our competitions next year will be Under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18.5.
This change is confirmed for all junior boys competitions.
It is planned for junior girls, with further consultation to occur in coming weeks before being finalised.
There were many considerations when making this decision on the underage competitions.
We appreciate that as a result, some players could compete as ‘bottom-agers’ for four years within a five-year time frame.
Some parents and officials may see competing as a bottom-age player as a positive, whereby their child can potentially further develop their skills against participants who may be slightly older.
Others may see it having more negative aspects.
Ultimately, the decision was made for the greater good of the entire League and increasing participation across all age groups.
Good luck to everyone this weekend.
