Player Registrations

All players must have now registered. Any players not registered at the time of Gear Pick Up will not be issued a uniform and won’t be able to participate in the first-round games.

Uniform Pickup

Uniforms must be collected either Friday 7th Oct, 6:30-8:00pm or Saturday 8th Oct, 9:00-10:30am. The uniforms will be available for pickup from our Hews Parade clubhouse (located beside Hews Reserve on Hews Parade, Belrose). Only one person (it doesn’t have to be the manager) is to pick up the uniforms on behalf of the team. We won’t be handing out individual uniforms. 
 
As part of the uniform pickup, each team will be given two bibs to be used for your goalkeepers throughout the competition.  They are your responsibility.  If you lose them or forget to bring them to a game, you can purchase bibs at the marquee.  At the completion of your final game at the end of the season, the bibs are to be returned to the marquee. Additional bibs can be purchased from the marquee for $10.
 

Competition Format

Players who participated in last year’s Summer Football competition won’t see any changes to the competition format or draw.  For those new to our Summer Football, we borrow from Aldi’s “Good, different” theme. We want to maximise enjoyment for everyone so the competition format is premised on the core concept of having as many teams as possible play similar ability teams each and every week.
 
Teams are paired on ability within an age group range.  For most teams, their age group range is two years either side of their nominal age group.  This allows us to avoid the unwanted situation of having very strong teams in an age group flogging weaker teams every week.  The fluid draw system allows strong teams to float up in to a higher age group and lower ability teams to drift down to a lower age group where they are more likely to be competitive. 
 
The draw is determined weekly, based on the results of previous games.  Within an ability group (determined by all previous results), preference is given to pairing teams of the same age group. Girls-only teams will be paired against other girls-only teams (except for U6’s) unless a team has agreed to play against mixed-gender teams. Of course, the O35’s only play in their own age group.  The principle of playing teams of similar ability each week applies within their comp as well.
 
Towards the end of the comp, teams will be placed in tournament groups to finish out the season, culminating on the final night to decide winners of each tournament group.  Regardless of whether you finish near the top or bottom of your tournament group, no team ever gets knocked out so you will continue to play games up until the last day.
 

Rules and Draw

The rules for our competition can be found here. Please ensure all players are familiar with them prior to your first game. The draw will normally be published on the website the Sunday evening before the Tuesday the games are to be played.
 

Forfeits

We don’t want teams to miss out on playing a game if it can be reasonably avoided.
 
As such, if a team needs to forfeit a game then we need to be advised by 4pm on the Saturday before the game.  This allows us to take your forfeit in to account and avoid your scheduled opposition team from also missing a game.  If your team forfeits a game and has not advised us within the required timeframe, then your team will likely be excluded from the following week’s draw (i.e., you’ll miss two games).
 

Byes

Byes are a structural part of the draw.  All teams will end up with at least one forced bye and some teams will end up with two.  Teams with a bye are noted at the bottom of the published draw. There are three types of byes, namely forced, voluntary, and disciplinary.  
 
“Forced” byes are given to teams to allow the comp to run with more teams than can be played on a given day.  From a competition perspective, you receive the same points as if you had won a game.
 
“Voluntary” byes are when you advise us that your team won’t be able to play on a given day.  From a competition perspective, you receive the same points as if you had drawn a game.  If there are fewer voluntary byes than the number of forced byes we need on any given day, then we treat the voluntary bye as a forced bye.
 
“Disciplinary” byes are those that we give teams when we need to encourage a team to improve one or more aspects of its behaviour (e.g. failure to advise a forfeit in a timely manner, non-compliance with competition rules, poor on-field behaviour, poor behaviour by team supporters).
 

Fields

All games will be played at Lionel Watts, located on Blackbutts Road, Frenchs Forest. We have the use of 10 synthetic fields and 4 grass fields. Teams will share these fields equitably throughout the competition. A field layout diagram is located at the bottom of the draw and there are field layout diagrams at the main marquee on game days.
 

Player Borrowing

You can only borrow players who are registered to play in our Summer Football comp. Your registration entitles you to insurance cover in the event of injury.  Unregistered players don’t have insurance and hence can’t participate. Girls-only teams cannot borrow boys however they can borrow a girl who is playing in a mixed-gender team.
 
You cannot borrow players from a team with an age group greater than the age group of your team.
 
If we discover that an unregistered player has participated for your team in a game, your team will be excluded from the draw for two games and a repeat offence will have your team removed from the comp with no refund of any fees.
 
We are looking forward to seeing all players, old and new and wish you all a very enjoyable season.