Junior footy will grab them young and keep them keen
AFLQ has introduced a junior competition it believes will spark a new rush of participation in club footy.
Roy’s Junior Footy for children in Brisbane and Suns Superstars for Gold Coasters is a modified rules competition aimed at participants between five and seven who have already completed Auskick.
Auskick, the flagship of the AFL’s introductory programs, has been a huge success.
Many of the programs are run through schools and the AFLQ’s challenge has been to entice those participants into weekly club footy. AFLQ CEO Dean Warren said the new competition was a fun and safe way to taste club football for the first time and he hoped it would become the natural progression for Auskickers.
“Obviously Auskick as our introductory program is really important for us, giving more than 28,000 kids across the state each year a taste of our game,’’ he said.
“Our real focus has been transitioning these kids into club footy.
“We’ve utilised the two clubs’ brands – Roy’s Junior footy and Suns Superstars – to help us achieve this.’’
Warren said the programs were the next step in development from the skills introduction focus of Auskick to where players begin to learn more about match tactics and teamwork.
The games have a no-tackle rule, smaller field sizes and are six-a-side.
“It’s aimed for kids five to seven who have done Auskick already and have started to develop their skills,” he said.
“You have to have done Auskick to play it. It still focuses on skills but they start to play matches.’’
The plan is that players then graduate to under-8s club football, which has nine players a side.
A modified form of tackling is allowed in the under-9s and 10s and then full tackling in under-11s.
From under-12s players compete for premiership points.