Football Victoria (FV) have released the 2022 FV Fee Refund Policy.
In line with the 2021 document, the 2022 policy clearly outlines the refund applicable for each competition, in the event of a 2022 “no season” scenario. In the unlikely event that Government restrictions prevent any matches from being played in 2022, minimum payments will be charged as a reflection of the unavoidable costs incurred by FV in providing insurance and competition administration for the football community. Please refer to the policy document for details.
Should some (but not all) matches be able to be played, a cost apportionment model will be used to calculate the refund, as was the case in 2021 where over $1.75m in refunds were delivered to the football community.
While we hope this policy will not need to be activated in 2022, it provides further clarity on the principles FV will use to underpin a fair refund to players and to Clubs, if our seasons are impacted.
Download the 2022 FV Fee Refund Policy here. FV’s advice to all Clubs remains that all players must be registered in Play Football, to be covered by FV’s player insurance policy.
FV has undertaken an extensive review to ensure that we are able to follow a clear process that ensures the integrity of our competitions at all times, should our season be impacted. Relevant updates to Rules of Competition will be communicated to teams in advance of each season commencing.
For any enquiries regarding this Refund Policy, please contact our accounts team on accounts@footballvictoria.com.au.
This policy applies to FV Player Registration Fees and FV Team Entry Fees for FV sanctioned competitions (see Appendix A in the policy for the full list of competitions).
Whilst FV is the state authority responsible for governing the game in Victoria, there are some competitions directly administered by other authorities, particularly in regional areas. It will be up to those Associations to form their own refund policy regarding their portion of fees. This policy will apply to the FV portion of the fees charged by those Associations.
In the event of a partial season triggering a refund, FV will use cost apportionment (actual expenses incurred) principles; a reasonable and transparent method of refund calculation that involves assessing what costs have been incurred by FV in planning and delivering the competitions to date. This means different levels of refund will be calculated for each competition. These refund percentages would rely on the same principles established through the 2020 and 2021 FV Fee Refund Policies.
The fees paid to FV directly cover a range of costs associated with delivery of football for 355 clubs, almost 4,000 teams and over 40,000 fixtures annually.
In general, FV staff are required to support and deliver the following:
- Insurance
- Team entry management
- Fixturing
- Competition rules, policies and support
- Registrations and Play Football administration
- Referee scheduling, education and accreditation
- Determination of player dispensation requests
- Development of our Rules of Competition and Player Regulations
- Establishment and operation of our discipline procedures (including the GDT)
- Council liaison - facilities and grounds
- Club support programs and services
In prior COVID-19 affected seasons, FV staff have also had to activate:
- Rescheduling and amending fixtures across competitions and hotspots
- Developing and supporting Club COVID-19 safe operations and logistics
- Extensive liaison and communications across councils and local policies
- Return to Training and Return to Play Conditions.
These costs are not linear to matches, in fact a substantial proportion of costs are incurred prior to the commencement of any season. In particular, FV incurs full insurance costs for the season. FV are not expecting any rebate from our insurer in the unfortunate event of a cancelled season.
Football Australia (FA) collects the National Registration Fee (NRF) from FV’s portion ($14 per junior and $33 per senior player).
The FA is expected to retain 100% of the NRF in 2022.
The FV Accounts Team at accounts@footballvictoria.com.au are your best contact for queries.