Capital Football is conducting an extensive review of the ACT Men’s State League to ensure it is best placed to meet the challenges and investigate options and proposals to further improve the league.
The review will consider a broad range of issues from organisatons and individuals. A Review committee has been set up to consider all submissions and comments.
Closing date for submissions and comment is 6 August 2010.
The Review committee will review submissions with the intention to discuss the primary findings and recommendation options with clubs in early September. Ad hoc meetings with clubs will be conducted, as required, to address issues raised through the review process.
A Draft report will be submitted to the Capital Football Board and clubs for comment and consideration with a Final report to be submitted for the Board meeting in mid October 2010.
Clubs to be advised in early November of the recommendations agreed by the Board and the subsequent implementation plan.
In addition, Capital Football have released two documents for public ocnsideration:
1. Terms of Reference for the Review, and
2. Issues Paper (concerning the Mens State League - if you have issues that are included in this document, include them in your submission)
The documents referred to above are provided below - read on:
ACTFF (Capital Football) Men’s State League 2010 Review
Terms of Reference
A review of the ACTFF Men’s State League will be conducted in 2010 to ensure the League is best placed to meet the challenges of continued growth and to investigate options and proposals that might further improve the League.
The review will consider the broad range of issues that relate to the organisation and operation of the Mens State League (Mens Divisions 1 to 10), taking into account the need to maximise the utilisation of available referees and the finite number of grounds available to the League.
The review will not encompass issues in regard to the Premier League, the Masters League, ACTAS, high performance or representative player arrangements, financial arrangements (such as registration costs) or disciplinary arrangements.
The review will be conducted by the Men’s State League Review Committee (MSLRC) comprising George Lemon (chair), Charlie Rajak, Nick Isaacson (members of the Mens Standing Committee), Alasdair Grocock (Mens League Manager) and Ross Jones (independent member).
The MSLRC will consult with the clubs in the men’s State League and will also consider views that might be raised by the broader football community. The consultative process will commence in June 2010 with the circulation to SL clubs of an issues paper and an overview of the review process and timeline, at which time
submissions and comments will be invited.
The review is scheduled to be completed and submitted to the Capital Football Board in November 2010. This timing will allow adequate time for any recommendations adopted by the Board to be implemented well in advance of the commencement of the 2011 winter football season.
George Lemon Chair
Alasdair Grocock Mens League Manager
ACTFF Men’s State League 2010 Review
Issues Paper
Capital Football is reviewing the organisation and operation of the Mens State League to facilitate the continued expansion of the League and to consider proposals that might improve the League.
The review will be conducted by the ACT Mens State League Review Committee (MSLRC) in consultation with senior football clubs of the ACT and region. The first phase of the consultation process is an invitation to all senior clubs to prepare a submission, or provide comment, on issues that might be considered, including suggestions of options to address issues raised or that might otherwise stand to improve the League.
Just some of the issues that might be considered by the review team are outlined below:
Number of State League Divisions 1 and 2 teams
- In 2010 there are 7 Division 1 and 8 Division 2 teams compared to the more ideal 10 teams in all other Mens State League divisions, with the exceptions of Division 5 (19 teams) and Division 9 (9 teams)
- The current requirement for a club to enter both a Division 1 and 2 team to participate at these levels is seen by some clubs/teams as an entry barrier to these divisions
- One of the rationales for the requirement is that Division 2 teams are considered by some clubs as the Division 1 reserves and, where this is the case, it is beneficial to have the 2s play before the 1s at the same ground, particularly where travel (eg to or from Cooma or Goulburn) is involved
- The general expectation is that the stronger a team, the higher the division that team will play in and, although there will always be anomalies, it is apparent that some lower divisions are generally stronger than higher ones (for example, Division 3 is considered by many to be stronger than Division 2)
- The difference in performance between top or bottom of the table and the other teams in some divisions is greater than desirable (eg Division 6)
- Although the Mens Standing Committee and Mens League Manager can move teams into higher or lower divisions where the need can be justified, further consideration of other mechanisms to place teams in appropriate divisions might be considered, including promotion/relegation Promotion/relegation would not address the placement of new teams into an appropriate division
- Game start times have been seen in the past as a significant impediment to promotion/relegation (see separate issue)
- The 19 teams in the 2010 Div 5 have effectively been split into two competitions with finals to be played by the top two teams in each ‘sub-competition’ of the Division
- Determining the minor premiership winner is problematic
- The costs and benefits of split divisions requires further consideration
- Mens State League games are played on Saturday afternoons with games commencing at either 1:00pm (Divisions 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) or 3:00pm (Divisions 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9)
- Providing referees for all games is problematic and organising grounds for so many games is becoming tricky
- There is limited scope to add a third game start time on Saturday unless evening games, under lights, are introduced
- There are fewer Capital Football games on Sunday and moving some divisions toSunday could be considered, although it might encourage some players to regularly play in two Divisions (ie Sat and Sun) and the impact of this requires assessment
- Due to other commitments of many players, it appears preferable that the game start time of each division should be constant throughout the season (ie they should not change from week to week as is the practice for Premier League)
- The 2010 Mens State League commenced in early April and will be wrapped up by mid September
- The benefits of bringing the start of the season forward needs to take into account the impact on teams wishing to participate in the pre season Federation Cup
- The Mens State League comprises over 100 teams ranging from the more social teams to those that are keenly competitive
- Splitting the League into a social stream and a competitive stream, with the competitive stream playing under more standard laws of the game (eg substitutions rather than interchange) might be an option
- Alternative streams might also be considered, such as a club stream (eg a sub-league comprising clubs that can field three teams - an A, B and C team – that might all play on Sunday) although such a split might divide the higher level teams into two streams to the detriment of both streams
The implications of allowing two or more teams from the one club into a division (as might occur with the introduction of promotion/relegation) requires further assessment
Higher degree of integration with the Premier League
- It might be expected that some senior clubs that do not currently have Premier League teams might aim to enter the Premier League at some stage in the future
- The review might consider any changes to Mens State League arrangements that would address any identified barriers to progression