Cheers for local AFL

AFL Tasmania must be applauded for its strong stance which aims to stamp out bad behaviour and incidents of violence. It has taken a strong position, has shown impressive community leadership and is embracing a system which should, where appropriate, be emulated by other sports.

As revealed by the Mercury this week, 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 — a system which has used successfully in WA.

As our sports editor Brett Stubbs reported, under the system, teams will still be awarded four points for a win but poor behaviour — which could include players receiving red or yellow cards, or coaches, volunteers or supporters abusing the opposition or umpires — could result in up to all four points being deducted.

Good behaviour also could result in up to four points being awarded to a team.

It is the total of the competition points and the so-called “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.

Interstate competitions have reported a drop in related incidents of between 40 and 60 per cent after introducing E Points. There have been a spate of incidents which have cast a shadow across the game in recent years.

In 2016, an under-16s football game was called off just before three-quarter time because of violence towards an umpire.

The same year, an under-14 boy was allegedly hit by an opposition player’s parent after the final siren and a senior State League umpire was also allegedly attacked while out with his family in Salamanca on Saturday night.

The incidents have continued this year.

As recently as 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 Mercury sports desk is receiving reports of similar incidents on an all-too regular basis.

AFL Tasmania chief executive Rob Auld said simply that it was time to force change. “The 12 months I’ve been here, self-regulation isn’t working in the way we would want it to work.”

The system will be implemented next year in the STJFL and it is hoped statewide to the Northern Tasmania Junior Football Association and the junior arm of the North-West Football League.

And how will we know it’s working? Auld says simply: “Ideally 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.”

...for the first time ... the behaviour of players, coaches and supporters will help determine the ladder positions of junior football teams