FOOTY MAKES POINT
BAD BEHAVIOUR TO HIT JUNIOR LADDER POSITIONS
Self-regulation isn’t working in the way we would want it to work — AFL TASMANIA CHIEF EXECUTIVE ROB AULD
FOR the first time in Tasmania the behaviour of players, coaches and supporters will help determine the ladder positions of junior football teams.
After a spate of unsavoury incidents, AFL Tasmania and the Southern Tasmanian Junior Football League will implement the Environment Points (E Points) system for under-13s to under-18s.
Competitions in Western Australia have reported a drop in related incidents of 40 to 60 per cent after introducing E Points.
AFL Tasmania chief executive Rob Auld said it was time to change to curb unruly behaviour on junior footy fields.
“The 12 months I’ve been here, self-regulation isn’t working in the way we would want it to work,” Mr Auld said.
“You’ve got to look at options where you might intervene and what I like about this if from the evidence out of WA suggests, the incidences have reduced significantly and it is a reward based system.
“If you set the right standards and the right codes of conduct and you create the right culture you can actually benefit from this system.”
Under the system, teams will still be awarded four points for a win.
But poor behaviour such as players receiving red or yellow cards, or coaches or volunteers or supporters abusing the opposition or umpires could result in up to all four points being deducted.
Alternatively, good behaviour can result in up to four points being rewarded to a team.
It is the total of the competition points and the E Points
that will determine a team’s position on the ladder.
Umpires will distribute or deduct the E Points, while clubs will have a chance to appeal the E Points via an independent body.
Mr Auld said it would be implemented next year in the STJFL and there are also hopes it will go statewide to the Northern Tasmania Junior Football Association and the junior arm of the North West Football League.
“It is communicated as a reward system because you can actually benefit from being closer to the bottom to the top in a competition sense but if
you run a really good club and your officials and your players are exemplary in the way they go about their week to week bonus, you can enjoy a lift in the ladder provided some others in the competition aren’t behaving as equally well,” he said.
“Ideally what you’d love to have it so it is not affecting ladder positions because all clubs are behaving so well that they are all getting the bonus points and the win-loss is what it is.
“That’s ultimately what success looks like.”
In July the STJFL was forced to investigate a clash between an adult and a player
in the New Norfolk-Lindisfarne game at New Norfolk, an investigation that was never concluded after the adult failed to appear before the tribunal.
The STJFL is yet to officially tick off on the E Point system but president Jim Horne backed the move.
“We want everyone involved with the STJFL to enjoy their football experience and we are looking at systems that incentivise being good football citizens,” Mr Horne said.
“These sets of actions we hope will help educate and promote the standards of on field and off field behaviour that we strive for.”