Dear Members

The 2011 season seemed to take forever to get here and we had no sooner kicking the dew off the grass in anger and another break while we worked through the Easter festivities. I think everyone was glad to see the season resume on the weekend and we look forward to the weeks ahead.

It has been an incredibly busy few months for the committee and our coaches and team managers as we worked towards a smooth start to the season. Well done to all. 

Junior football gradings has dominated the agenda again this season after two years of relatively smooth seas. It would probably fair to say that a number of the  grading anomalies over the past two years have been manufactured by clubs / coaches trying to manipulate the system in pursuit of a premiership rather than the league’s structure.

A junior comp such as the RDFL faces a number of challenges in its efforts to grow and foster the best competition that it can. We have a unique mix of small and large clubs which don’t make it easy. As you can well imagine getting an even competition for all is nearly impossible however the last two seasons have been arguably as even as we have been able to get it.

You can imagine our collective surprise and concern when the league decided to revert to tried and proven failure of a system from a few years ago which was littered with one sided games. History rarely changes and on cue the one- sided games have returned in many divisions. No one enjoys being heavily beaten week in and out. For that matter it is no fun, nor does it do much for our children’s football development, winning by these margins week after week either.

I think it would be fair to say that if you took a straw poll of RDFL junior club presidents there would be a clear belief that this decision was made with very little input from the clubs and was not clearly communicated to us until the release of the draw the Friday before the junior season started.

I would like to congratulate Darren Zarb and his team for the professional way they have handled the late changes and thank our parents and players for their understanding. I need to point out that the club, through Darren and myself have been working in the background with the league to try and facilitate a more appropriate grading system since the draw was released. There have been many emails, letters and discussions with the league.

The RDFL president, Ollie Matthews contacted me during the week and has reaffirmed that the Board will be looking at the grading situation after round three.

In the meantime let’s get right behind our teams, particularly those that have suffered some heavy losses. Rupertswood has always made it clear to its families that winning is not the be all and end all; it’s about our kids enjoying their football and developing their football and team skills. Let’s hope that the League will soon be in a position to rectify some of these issues and readdress the balance.

Go Rupo!

Rob Morrice - President