JUNIOR footballers in the Riverland will get the chance to have a kick and a catch this winter after a revised season was agreed upon last week.
The Riverland Junior Football League (RJFL) announced that under 9s and 11s will begin on Friday, July 3, while under 13s, 15s and 18s will begin a 10-week season on Saturday, July 4, with a three-week finals series to follow.
After initially announcing that the under 18 season would be cancelled along with the senior grades, the RFL commission changed their decision following a push from the clubs to ensure that age group were not missing out on a year of football.
Speaking to the Murray Pioneer on Friday, RJFL president Mike Allder said there was “a lot of willingness from most of the clubs to get it up and running”.
“Everyone is in it for the best interests of the kids, so it’s good to get it off the ground and to have the surety that we now have a date we can work towards,” he said.
“I have heard that it is all go for the under 18s.
“I have been informed by the commission that the under 18s will also play this season.
“It is great, because it is another group of kids, mostly in school age, that get to play on the weekends, so they don’t lose a year of footy.”
Mr Allder said five of the six A grade clubs have committed to the revised season following an RJFL meeting last Wednesday night.
“At this stage Waikerie are reviewing their decision,” he said.
“They came to the meeting saying that they weren’t going to commit to the season under the current guidelines.
“The rest of the clubs have committed though, so we will wait and see if they want to revisit that if we can give them more clarity on what is being proposed.
“There is still the opportunity for them.
“At the meeting on Wednesday night they said they are not going to partake, so it will be a five-team competition, with a bye.
“If they choose this weekend or in a week’s time that they are keen to play, then we can slot them in.
“We will hold that door open until games start, because it’s a better competition with more teams in it.”
Mr Allder said the RJFL waited for the RFL to make a decision on its season before deciding a plan of action for juniors.
“We wanted to see how the RFL went,” he said.
“If the RFL said they were in, we would have just followed in line.
“We really haven’t caught up until they came out with their announcement that the seniors were not proceeding, so that was cause for us to catch up.
“We have been waiting in the wings, but we have always been restricted until we knew what the seniors were doing.”
Mr Allder understood the RFL commission’s decision to cancel the senior grades.
“Seniors have different requirements to get their games up and running,” he said.
“We can work around some of those requirements for the juniors, such as not having access to changerooms and not having a crowd that you would at a senior’s game.
“So, we think we can abide by the government protocols just for the juniors.”
Mr Allder said the RJFL will be following the SANFL guidelines closely as the junior competitions get under way.
“With spectators we are allowed crowd of 500 from July 3,” he said.
“We will be monitoring the gate with numbers as such.
“We want to be as flexible as possible, so things might change day by day or through the 10-week season.
“But at this stage we will start off with the bare bones and we won’t access the changerooms to take that variable out, so kids will get there ready to play.”
Mr Allder said it was “very important” to keep kids playing football this year.
“Kids are the future of our clubs,” he said.
“They are the future A grade and B grade players, so if we lose them to other sports, that doesn’t auger well for our clubs.
“We are very keen to get them involved and playing footy and not only that, there are also other benefits you are going to get for their personal and mental wellbeing.
“It will help get back to some normality with playing sport and being with their mates.”
Mr Allder said the RJFL was in the process of confirming details ahead of the opening round of matches next weekend.
“The plan will be that the under 9s and 11s will proceed on Friday nights,” he said.
“The 13s, 15s and 18s will go ahead on the Saturday at new times to allow extra time between games to clear the oval.
“They are the only things we have got locked in at the moment, but there is a lot of willingness out there from the clubs to get footy happening.
“That is really where the under 18s came from, because the RJFL said they aren’t our care or control, but most clubs wanted the under 18s to have a chance, so that went to the RFL and they have made that decision.”