CDJFL & NEMJFA Merge?

[Sheik Yerbouti]

5 teams from the CD junior league to join in the 14's NEMJFA comp this year 5 to the 15's, 4 the 16's.
Deal is on for this year only to give the CD league 12 months to get their act together, but once the foot is in the door?

The good news out of this is that now these age groups will be separated into two divisions hopefully eliminating the 20 & 30 goal canings that are commonplace in both leagues. Generous move by the NEMJFA, assisting their northern association no good to anyone kids playing the same team 4 times a year.

[Dogwatcher]

Kind of sad that that's the way it is.
Junior football admin in the north's struggled even when I was playing.

[carey]

eastern park have been in the comp. for a while hav'nt they ?

[Sheik Yerbouti]

eastern park have been in the comp. for a while hav'nt they ?

Yes, came in when North Pines went to the CDJFL.
From memory NP are one of the teams playing, as are Salisbury, & Salisbury West.

[smac]

EP went to North Eastern a couple of years prior to the North Pines move - they shifted the 14's to Greenacres to start with.

I would be pointing the finger at club management as opposed to league management too. Plenty of people with good intentions and no idea.

A merger has been rumoured for a few years now and may well become reality in the next couple of years.

[Dogwatcher]

I would be pointing the finger at club management as opposed to league management too. Plenty of people with good intentions and no idea.

That's a fair call smac. Club loyalties often prevent things being done for the betterment of football....just the way it is in so many other things...

How much involvement does the CDFC have these days in the local junior comp? It didn't appear to be heaps when I was a kid, but it could've changed.

[Pag]

I don't think the CDFC has any official involvement in the CDJFL besides being a patron, as are the Port Magpies. THE CDJFL just use the oval and clubrooms for association games and presentations.

This merger has needed to happen for a long time. A lot of people have done a lot of work to keep the CDJFL going but Eastern Park leaving was a blow for the competition. No offence to North Pines but they couldn't really replace a club with as many teams, good teams, as what Eastern Park had in the juniors. Angle Vale still need a full-size oval to be able to survive long-term, playing at the school just doesn't work after Under 10s. Doing the Div 1 and Div 2 for each age level could work, as long as the league realises that kids who play Under 14s this year will be Under 15s next year and so on, and don't predict a club's 2008 Under 14s on the performance of their 2007 Under 14s etc.

[smac]

CDFC provide a great deal of guidance to the CDJFL, via the delegates meetings. Sometimes the amount of respect given to the guidance given is less than what it should be.

Having seen the establishment and running of the CDJFL from close quarters, I know that all efforts are being put in to ensure the best result for the kids will be found - both leagues work closely (most of the time ) to ensure this.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

My understanding of the matter is that it's a one season only deal to give the CDJFL a year to rebuild it's junior program. Our rep from the association meeting reported that clearly. The CD president came over with a very good case & assured the meeting of their adherence to the NEMJFA rules & regulations.
I had a glance at the CDJFL websites results page & in the 13's looked like a couple of teams were really struggling, & with just a few teams that would be demoralising for all to have to face the same teams three or four times a season.
Surprising result considering that the NEMJFA have, in recent times declared that the books were closed & no more teams would be admitted, to their credit they've considered the big picture (again surprising given past history), even if just for a season.
Pag, I'm also in favour of the two tiered system & I'd be pretty confident that the teams will be split on last years results eg: 14's results into 15's this year. The problem imo in the NEMJFA being that TTG, Athelstone, Golden Grove & Happy Valley all draw from a large & relatively young demographic. Ingle Farms, Geppys & Para Hills are all a Blighty droppy from each other, while Walkerville, Broadys & Fitzroy seem to have a majority of their players from just a small handful of schools & in a lot of cases rely on family ties or dare I say it poaching to keep the numbers up, so a two tiered system will at least bring competitive results (hopefully) & a lot more enjoyment to the players parents & coaching staff.
With two sons & a total of eleven years in the system, these are just my personal thoughts so I'd love to hear Pearcys musings on this subject, whether he can state his own views I'm not sure but he'd have a better grasp on the situation that what I would.
Now that the deals done & dusted & with less than a week to go before kick off lets hope for a good year for the boys & (as a manager) you lot better put your hands up for canteen/BBQ/Goal Umpire ect duties to help out the running of the show.

[BenchedEagle]

Not entirely sure on the exact details but the CDJFL has moved base to Argana Park, where all the meetings have been held and all the association games will be held this year. Also plans are in place where the CDJFL will be funding and organising lights for our number 1 oval.

On another note expect bigger performances from the Elizabeth Juniors this year, numbers are up by about 25% in all teams, we will be fielding all sides from Joeys to 15s, which is exiting for us.

Sheik do u deal with CDJFL secretary Pat Watson, what do u think of her management of the CDJFL over the past few years?

[Pearcey]

Centrals juniors Under 14's, (4 teams), Under 15's, (5 teams), and Under 16's, (4 teams), have joined NEMJFA for 2007. Gives NEMJFA two divisions of at least 6 teams each in each grade from U11's to 16's. Junior footy at a club level is booming in many areas. Sad to see Kilburn juniors fold, though. It's dissapointing that they are located in a low growth, ageing area, but then so are the 'Roys and Gaza and they look set for a big 2007. We've broken our record for the number of registered players at the Rams but, despite nearly 80 new kids, we still need a couple of 11 amd 13 year olds as both these teams have just 19 players. I'm stunned, and gratefull, for the Under 14's who've just walked in 'off the street'. They had a good trial match win over TTG as did the 13's.

http://www.geppscross.homestead.com

[Pearcey]

Thanks Shiek. The NEMJFA-CDJFL deal is for one season. The U/14, 15 and 16 teams from Centrals have joined NEMJFA, there's no merger. They will play under NEMJFA rules, use NEMJFA umps, tribunal etc etc. NEMJFA cannot constitutionally allow more CLUBS to join, but new teams can be admitted on a short term basis. Kilburn is still affiliated even though they have no teams in NEMJFA this season. It's interesting to note that we worked out that, (before the demise of Kilburn), Gepps Cross, Broadview, Gaza, Para Hills, Pooraka, Ingle Farm, Kilburn are all in a small area and the average distance between these clubs is just 1500 meters, if a kid lived 1/2 way between any two of them. Too many clubs in a small area. G/Grove has a 'captive' population of about 30,000. The 6 remaining clubs mentioned above have about 15,000...and ageing. I'm not sure how Pooraka is travelling but the signs are not good in the U/11 to U/16 age groups. Gepps 16's and 15's are full. 11's, 12's, 13's and 14's are ok...just. We have about 30 5 & 6 year olds in 2 teams, same for 7 & 8 year olds, 9's are good, 10's are ok. Not sure why 11 year olds are so scarce this season, though. We had 32 last year, 19 this year.

Some people say we got lucky with the Northgate development. Um, we have 6 kids from there. The other 234 come from all over the place, from North Haven to Two Wells to Athelstone to Golden Grove. We didn't place any ads in newspapers for players. Kids, if they're happy, bring new kids to the club. That's the secret...keep 'em happy! It doesn't matter how many premierships you win if the kids are pissed off. They will leave. We've got 100+ game kids who have probably played less than 10 winning games but they are loyal and come back for more fun, year after year. In 2010 we will have 27 kids playing their 100th games..there are 27 fifty gamers this year, mostly Under 10, three 150 games and 7 hundred gamers. And remember this club won just 1 game in 2002!

Finally, starting the season this weekend is crap. So many families heading away for school holidays. Has hit us hard. Quite a few kids will have to play 2 games this Sunday to make up the numbers. Most clubs will have the same problem. There's no reason why they couldn't wait for another 2 weeks.

http://www.geppscross.homestead.com

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Draws out if our Elizabeathen members are interested.

http://nemjfa.homestead.com/

Teams entered

u14's Red
Salisbury West
Smithfield

u14's White
Salisbury North
Salisbury

u15's Red
Smithfield
Salisbury North

u16's Red
Salisbury North
Smithfield

u16's White
Central United
North Pines

If need be, have a look on the site for oval info, times ect.
Pretty well laid out site, put together by Pearcy I believe, clever munchican.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

.

Sheik do u deal with CDJFL secretary Pat Watson, what do u think of her management of the CDJFL over the past few years?

Sorry Duncs, missed that.
No, I'm a humble club committee member & team manager.
I leave all that hard stuff to the real hard workers like Club Presidents & Secretaries, the work & worry these people put in for the love of their club & the kids is mind boggling.

[Pidge]

Hi

I happen to umpire for NEMJFA. And the Central and Norwood Panels have combined (Well at least for training). I like umpiring. It also happens to be good money. It can be a TOUGH GIG though.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

What age groups?

[Pearcey]

Well, we are 5 rounds into the season and the system of 2 divisions seems to be working well. A couple of Under 14 teams volunteered to swap divisions but it's been pretty successful. I guess the best thing about the system is that 12 teams can win a premiership, rather than 6, and 48 will play in the finals, instead of 24. The system doesn't prevent 'floggings', though. Some teams still lose by 30 goals and that is disappointing. In past seasons our teams would definately NOT look forward to playing a Walkerville or PNU because we knew what the result would be. Now we don't have to play them and the kids are SO MUCH HAPPIER knowing they can be competitive in every match. There really is a positive, optomistic and almost joyful atmosphere around the club these days because, at last, the kids are having fun!
The more I think about it the more I'm convinced the clubs have to take responsibility for making the comp more even by promoting Aussie football, improve coaching and focus on the kids and forget about adult ego building. Too many clubs/teams are run by adults living out their sporting fantasies through the kids.

[Pidge]

The under 11's league isnt right. Athelstone won 140-0 the other week against Hope Valley. I know. I umpired it. Hopefully they sort it out soon. One guy kicked 10 goals.

[Pearcey]

G'Day mate. Then Athelstone got flogged by the mighty Roys a week or two later I think. We play the Roys this Sunday.
We turned up to Athelstone with 15 players a few weeks ago and one was injured in the first quarter. Obviously it was a one sided game although we scored a couple of goals. Haven't played HV yet but have played the Gullies.

I think the U12's White is an issue, with last year's, (unlucky to lose to PNU by a goal), grand finalist Gaza unbeaten in the lower division.

Why didn't they go to the Red division?

Same goes for our Under 16's, who finished 5th last year. Apparently the Association thought the 2 CDJFL teams would be stronger. WRONG!

[Pidge]

Yeah. Top of the table clash a couple of weeks ago at Fitzroy. Fitzroy beat Athelstone 67-7. And the next week Athelstone beat Hope valley by 140 points. What's going on there???