VAFA ROUND 2.indd - Victorian Amateur Football Association
VAFA ROUND 2.indd - Victorian Amateur Football Association
VAFA ROUND 2.indd - Victorian Amateur Football Association
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EDITORIAL<br />
Michael Sholly<br />
FOOTY<br />
RETURNS<br />
Round 1 was all about the football. For the players,<br />
the nervous wait for selection and reward for<br />
the summer’s work. For the supporters and<br />
volunteers, it’s that old Saturday morning routine.<br />
Then come the games, then deciphering the<br />
results and finally the post-mortems.<br />
For those who haven’t caught live scores via<br />
Twitter, the SMS from Redtxt at 5.30 and vafa.com.<br />
au provide the next step. Then the Sunday papers,<br />
where the Saturday stories can be digested more<br />
fully. Sometimes it can take days to absorb the<br />
results, goalkickers and best players.<br />
level. Keeping the majority of the squad together,<br />
adding just a couple each year to add strength to<br />
the list can be a formula for success.<br />
In the past decade, this has been particularly<br />
evident with St Bede’s/Mentone Tigers (Premier<br />
C – A consecutive premiers), Rupertswood (Club<br />
XVIII to Premier C in six seasons).and perhaps<br />
now La Trobe, which is coming off two successive<br />
premierships in 2009 and 2010.<br />
Premier C flag winners Beaumaris began its<br />
season with a strong victory over Oakleigh. I am<br />
sure this match would have had a big build up as<br />
they are two of the stronger clubs in the southern<br />
region of the <strong>VAFA</strong>. Their three way mini battle<br />
with Hampton Rovers is sure to provide plenty of<br />
highlights through the year.<br />
The highlights from Opening Day were plenty<br />
– Werribee’s great start to Premier C, including a<br />
win in the Premier Thirds competition, Caulfield’s<br />
demolition of St Bernard’s out at the once feared<br />
Snake Pit, La Trobe’s continuing winning ways or<br />
the fighting come from behind win by Old Carey<br />
to notch a sensational two point victory in its first<br />
match in Premier. These were all sides who were<br />
promoted from the previous year.<br />
In fact all seven senior premiers began the season<br />
with a win, obviously all bar Old Xaverians coming<br />
from the section below.<br />
It’s good to see promoted clubs do well. Over the<br />
last few years we have seen many sides go through<br />
the sections by establishing a winning culture<br />
and building on that success. Watching finals<br />
through the grades, it is evident that sides when<br />
playing with confidence could slip comfortably<br />
into sections a couple above them. However the<br />
benefits of gradually building on a winning culture<br />
far outweighs remaining stationary in any one<br />
The other two premiers from last season, Monash<br />
Gryphons and Banyule both recorded victories.<br />
Monash Gryphons unfurled their flag and in true<br />
amateur tradition the cable broke and the first half<br />
played with the flag at half mast. Still, they held on<br />
for a comfortable win against Hawthorn. Banyule<br />
had little trouble defeating last year’s runners up<br />
Old Paradians and one gets the sense that the<br />
Bears winning momentum will continue.<br />
Similar to clubs, the umpires began the year with<br />
a new team and were eager for success. New<br />
head coach Tony Hales is joined by new goal and<br />
boundary umpire coaches, Harry Stamos and<br />
Robert Sebbens and they enjoyed a great start<br />
to the year. We fielded two umpires in all senior,<br />
U19, U18, Premier – C Reserves and Premier and<br />
Premier B Thirds, a magnificent achievement. We<br />
have injected 45 new boundary umpires and 14<br />
goal umpires whilst losing only 11 and 6. I am sure<br />
everyone will get behind these new umpires and<br />
welcome them all into the <strong>VAFA</strong>.<br />
The <strong>Amateur</strong> <strong>Football</strong>er<br />
THE JOURNAL OF THE VICTORIAN AMATEUR FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION<br />
April 16, 2011 Vol. 11 No. 2<br />
THE AMATEUR FOOTBALLER 2011 1