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Football Operations Memo

Quick links document: http://nfnl.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/NFNL-Club-Quick-Links-Information-Forms-FINAL.pdf

Football Weekend Enquiries Contact Person, Numbers and Processes

Saturday only– Jeff Downes (Football Operations Manager) – 0413 911 376
Sunday only - Callum Griffiths (Football Operations Coordinator) – 0434 646 925
Umpires – Martin Ellis (NFNL Head of Umpiring) – 0411 490 214

Outside of game day emergency matters. Any received Football Operations general email/phone message/text message enquiries received outside of business hours on a Friday/Saturday night will be attended to the next day from 8am sharp Saturday/Sunday. We appreciate your understanding of the timeline of contactable hours for league staff.
Please also note that during the weekend days league staff will not be regularly checking emails as we are offsite at games, so please alternatively text or call the appropriate NFNL Staff’s mobile number Jeff Downes (Saturday) and Callum Griffiths (Sunday) which will be manned from 8am and they will get back to you as soon as practical.

Fines – Schedule 20- NFNL Fines Policy

This Memo is to however communicate to all clubs that 2023 we now return to normal NFNL competition practice and principles with no covid By Laws in place and with this will come the issuing of fines as per NFNL By Laws.

  • There will be NO warning grace period in early rounds for reported team officials not wearing NFNL uniform requirements on Umpires Match Report Forms as was the case last year. Fine of $100
  • There will be NO grace period for teams withdrawing from set competitions after fixture release as there was last year. Fines up to $1000 can be issued at the discretion of the league as per NFNL By Laws
  • There will be an instant issuing of fines for any forfeited games should exhaust all options to have fill in players from Under 19s, junior teams etc where allowable. Fines can be issued up to $1000 as per NFNL By Laws at the determination of the league.
  • The Club forfeiting a game will also be responsible for the full payment of umpires for that scheduled match due to failure to fulfil engagement as per NFNL By Laws.

The league wants to be as upfront as possible with all clubs and fully transparent ahead of the 2023 season on issuing of fines. They can be expected and will be issued for any non-compliance to rules and requirements.

Fines are unfortunately a necessary evil in competition management and we certainly do not use it as a revenue raiser for the league in which some clubs may perceive when disgruntled at being issued a fine. Ideally, we would like to not have to issue any fines this year as it will mean all clubs are in adherence to requirements and playing all their scheduled games.
Fines are required to be issued by the NFNL like all large sporting competitions to:
1. Ensure integrity of our competitions is not compromised for the best interests of ALL clubs and ALL competitions which is our priority.
2. Ensure scheduled games are played and peoples participation is not decreased due to the failures in organisation/planning by some opposition clubs on occasions.
3. Ensure the NFNL professional brand is protected.
4. Ensure a professional and identifiable NFNL game day is portrayed publicly with team official NFNL uniforms and for umpire benefit on game day that all persons are instantly identifiable and quickly identifiable in their specific roles.

Email addresses for Online Umpires Match Report

As communicated at all pre-season forums the league will be inputting all current President, Secretary and Football Managers email addresses we have on file from your submitted club details form prior to the season in the back end of our new online Umpires Match Report form. These persons email addresses will automatically receive a copy of the online Umpires Match Report once it has been submitted by the umpire.
Please note umpires are required to submit by no later than 6pm Sunday each weekend, so all club leaders should have all information in front of them over a weekend of all your club games with the email notifications on each of your club games. The league will do a stocktake of submissions on Sunday night after 6pm and notify umpires direct to complete if they haven’t done so already. (So just note if you have not received a specific game Umpires Match Report this is the most likely reason for this and it is being chased up the league staff with umpires).
If you have not received by Monday 12pm still please let me know and this may be a minor email name error in back end of the system which we can then fix.

Team Managers Game Day Roles – Unchanged from 2022

• Ensuring correct numbers of persons are in coaches box area. This is your coach and up to 4 other persons maximum which is generally runner, assistant coach, sports trainer, team manager in most instances used by clubs as their 5 persons. Noting fines are issued for non-compliance.
• Ensuring all team officials are in identifiable NFNL uniform requirements i.e. Trainers vests, Goal umpire bibs (if a goal umpire has not been able to be supplied to one of your games), runners top, water carriers, coaches bibs or armbands.
• Give the umpire your printed out final team sheet prior to the match or by no later than half time.
• Attend umpires change rooms immediately at the end of the game and hand to umpires timekeepers cards, goal umpires cards (if club goal umpire was required). Then wait to gain the ALL CLEAR from field umpire that there has been no reports. Noting yellow cards will be submitted by the umpire online in which Club President/Secretary will receive a copy of once submitted by the umpire. Fines are issued of $100 for any Team Manager that does not report to the Umpires Room post-match immediately to gain the ALL CLEAR.
• If there has been a player/official report these remain being done on the paper form and in which team managers are still required to witness and sign off on the paper Player/Official Report sheet and then receive their copy.
• Please communicate to your team managers that the umpire will take a picture of team sheets, scorecards, timekeepers cards and any report sheets and upload them as part of their process of submitting the online Umpires match report. It is the choice of your club/team managers if they wish to retain these documents.
• At NO STAGE should the team manager be discussing umpiring decisions. Captains are the only person allowed to approach a field umpire if required for rule clarification at an interval break.

Mandatory game day requirements - Live Scoring & Best Players and Goal Kickers – Avoid Fines

• Please note live scoring is a mandatory requirement for all Under 19.5, Reserves and Senior Mens and Womens matches by the home club. Fines will be issued of $100 per game for any games that are not live scored.
• Best players and goal kickers are also mandatory entry requirements post-match by no later than 5:30pm on the day of the match and fines of $100 will also be issued for failure to enter by the deadline.

 

Senior Men and Women MVP Coaches Votes – Communicate to coaches – Avoid Fines

Please ensure coaches are communicated of the strict deadline of Monday 5pm and given the direct link to submit this. Fines are issued of $100 for failure to meet the deadline. Coaches MVP Votes Form Submission

 

Reminder on Umpiring Appointments Processes

As communicated at Presidents and Secretaries meetings your club can assume the appropriate umpires have been assigned to your games unless communicated directly to by the league that there is a shortage on that game. Umpiring appointments will not be distributed via email to clubs as per previous seasons but can be located on the NFNL website on Friday nights.
We will endeavour to provide any affected clubs with as much notice as possible mid-week on any issues to allow you more time to find suitable persons to fill the gap. We have much stronger umpiring numbers currently than this stage last year so we hope to be less reliant on clubs this year to fill these shortages. But just like players, umpires can also be sick/unavailable/unreliable so we appreciate your clubs understanding of this if requested to find club umpires at any point during the season or in the unfortunate event an umpire does not show up despite confirming with our NFNL Head of Umpiring that they accepted the appointment.

 

AFL VICTORIA COACH ACCREDITATIONS AND REGISTRATIONS

We have frustratingly been alerted by several clubs over the past week of some current issues with the syncing of accreditations to coach registrations (same issue as last year!). Callum is working through this with AFL Victoria and appreciate your understanding this is not an NFNL error/problem but an AFL Victoria system issue again!
Any issues outstanding still on game day this weekend please just manually hand write the coaches name on team sheets. But note they are required to have valid accreditation. Please contact Callum cgriffiths@nfnl.org.au on any issues you may have with this at your club.

MRP Panel Request Items & Incident Reports procedures and deadlines
Please note that this season the MRP will not be reviewing the video footage of all yellow cards given by umpires during senior videoed matches. The league has confidence in that the umpire would have made a report on game day from being their live and in the moment of play at the match. So if your club has concerns on an incident that has not been reported by the umpire on game day you must submit this to the league via the online form for the MRP’s review. See below links.
For Senior videoed men’s matches the MRP will only be reviewing footage of incidents that:
1. The umpire has requested be looked at via the online Umpires Match Report or communicated by the umpire to the NFNL Head of Umpiring post-match directly.
2. Any MRP incidents submitted by clubs direct via the online form by Tuesday 10am for the MRP to review video footage of.
Any other incidents from game day you wish to bring to the leagues attention for review (non-videoed matches) must be submitted by no later than Tuesday 4pm via the online Incident Report form.

Set Penalties Reminder – Reported Players

• A reminder that if your player is reported and your Team Manager has not notified the umpire that they wish to accept the set penalty post the match they have until 10am Monday to inform the league via the Set Penalty Accepting/Declining online form.
• If your club fails to notify the league by the strict deadline of 10am Monday that your player chooses to challenge the set penalty and go to a Tribunal Hearing, the set penalty will automatically be triggered for that player again noting your club will have missed the strict deadline of Monday 10am.

VFL Local Releases

The VFL Local Releases document will be placed on the NFNL website website after release by AFL Victoria. Normally by no later than 5pm Friday it will be published (as the NFNL receives late Friday afternoons generally from AFL Vic)
A reminder it is the responsibility of your club to please ensure your club checks the releases via the website link for any of your players within this category on a Friday night and if your player does not appear, you MUST submit in writing to the league written verification of the approval release from the club prior to them playing for tick off.
Noting we have had some instances that the released document hasn’t contained all releases in some instances from AFL Vic.


In closing:
• The league has listened to feedback from clubs last year and will be aiming to release any major Memo communications to clubs by no later than Tuesday/Wednesday throughout the season to allow clubs sufficient time to pass on key information to your club team managers, coaches and volunteer team officials. Only emergency late Memos will be sent later in a week if we feel it is urgent to communicate something prior to a Round.
• Any registrations, transfers, permits etc should be submitted during the week well in advance of a round to ensure there is no game day issues presenting for your club and to ensure we can then assist you. Any game day player/coach/volunteer registration and/or transfer issues should come through our Football Operations Coordinator Callum Griffiths via email cgriffiths@nfnl.org.au through the week and not left until the weekend game day as we may not be able to approve/assist if received then.
• If you have not done so as yet we highly recommend you save to your desktop on phone/laptop the Quick Links Document your one stop shop resource for most administration and operational information links and deadlines for the 2023 season.
 

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