Community Kickoff! Key Info And Preliminary Fixture Release

As the Football Victoria community competitions season nears kick-off with more than 35,000 fixtures to take place this season, please take the time to read some key information provided by the FV Competitions Team:

Late Withdrawals

Since releasing the fixture on Friday March 22, FV’s competitions team has had 384 teams withdraw from competitions. FV is currently working through league adjustments and will have leagues ‘re balanced’ by round 4 (after the re-grading period). If there are further team withdrawals before this weekend, this fixture will simply be cancelled rather than reallocated. Team managers are asked to continue to check their fixtures online right up to Friday evening. With more than 3,489 teams entered in FV competitions, there will be many football matches played this weekend and thousands of players enjoying the game for the first time in 2019.

Late Entries

FV currently has 90 pending late team entries which will be considered during the re-grading period at the conclusion of Round 3 or otherwise determined by FV. Late Entries must be submitted by 10:00AM Monday 29th April.

Fixture Clashes

Due to the 384 late team withdrawals, the competitions team are now working through 280 fixture clashes and alterations. The competitions team will work through this backlog and endeavour to have all clashes resolved for all clubs. Any further team withdrawals will result in the cancellation of the fixture. We remind clubs and Team Managers they can scan age appropriate leagues online to find other teams that have a bye and seek to arrange a friendly fixture if they do not have an allocated fixture for this weekend. There are many clubs that may have teams in the same situation and would welcome a game. FV’s aim is to have as many players involved in a game this weekend as possible.

Referee Schedule

All clubs without an appointed referee will be notified via email by the FV referees department each Friday afternoon. Clubs can then arrange a club referee. The email notification will be sent to the club nominated Play Football email address.

In the event of a referee withdrawing from a previously accepted appointment on matchday, an appointments officer will attempt to appoint another referee. Should a referee not be appointed, clubs will be sent a SMS advising them a referee will not be attending. Clubs should then arrange a ‘club referee’ to referee the match.

What should we do if a referee does not present on the day?

o    The next most senior Match Official (eg. Assistant Referee) will take charge of the fixture.

o    If no registered Match Official is present to act as the ‘Replacement’ 10 minutes prior to the fixture, both clubs should agree on a ‘Replacement’ referee.

A ‘Replacement Referee’ can be a parent or club official that knows the relevant Rules and Laws of the Game. For further information go to page 16-17 for Club Referee Guide (Click here).

o    If, by the scheduled kick off time, no agreement on a ‘Replacement’ referee can be reached, the Home Club must appoint a person to act as Match Official for the fixture.

o    If any match does not kick off within 15 minutes of the scheduled kick off time due to the absence of a Match Official, the home team will forfeit the fixture.

o    All Clubs must fulfil all fixtures, regardless of whether a Match Official is present to take charge. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action.

o    Clubs are encouraged to report non attendance of referees via the Club Feedback Match Officials form

Player Registrations: Profile Picture

All players who are participating in Junior Competitions (U12 – U20) are required to upload a photo on their Play Football Account in order to ensure that the ID cards are generated.

Some photos may be uploaded landscape as opposed to portrait. Where a player is having issues uploading a photo, the player or club can contact FFA support to upload the photo playfootball.support@ffa.com.au including the following details; Full Name, DOB, Name of club registering for in 2019 and attach the player ID photo.

Player Registration: Team Manager Team Profile Print-Out

All nominated club registrars must produce Player ID cards to be presented on match days for Junior Competitions (U12 – U20) as per the 2019 Rules of Competition – Click here.

A step by step manual on the process of how to generate Player ID Cards can be found using this link.

School holiday season start

In order to fit in an 18 round season with a break over the Easter holiday period and appropriate catch up rounds into the council allocated winter window for facilities, FV has started this year’s season on the first two weeks of the April school holidays. FV is aware that player participation in school holidays can be a challenge for some clubs. We encourage clubs to work with all players of appropriate age, footballing ability and physical capability to ensure that your teams have enough numbers to field a team. We know this often means that the parents that are not on holiday are required to ‘ferry’ players between different fixtures on the day. Provided the players are capable and well prepared for the games then this as an opportunity for more football on these weekends. Of course, clubs and parents should always use their discretion when determining a player’s capability to play multiple games in one day and/or across a weekend. The current predicted weather conditions in Melbourne are for 23 degrees on Saturday and 24 degrees on Sunday and these conditions should also be factored into a players capacity to play multiple weekend games.

U12 9 v 9

This weekend is the first weekend that community clubs have had U12 competition move to a 9 v 9 format. Whilst the rules, field set up and other requirements have been previously sent to all clubs, please remind your coaches and Team Managers of the format change and where they can access all information in relation to this format of the game. All details on our community 9 v 9 format can be located at this link. As this is the first weekend of 9 v 9 for U12’s, we encourage clubs to work with each other to understand the rules and support the players to have an enjoyable football experience on the day.

Daylight Savings Ends

This coming Sunday morning, 7 April, daylight savings ends. This means that at 3am, Victorian clocks will go back by 1 hour.

Pictures: Rachel Bach, ByTheWhiteLine