UNDER-AGE players have long been known as the lifeblood of football clubs.
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They are a club’s next generation of players, but across the AFL Central Victoria region that lifeblood seems to be diminishing.
While the Bendigo Junior Football League is this year thriving with 11 new teams taking the tally to 137, a look at the under-age numbers in the Bendigo, Heathcote District, Loddon Valley and North Central leagues paints an alarming picture.
Across those four competitions, it has been a rarity this year for teams to fill their full quota of 22 under-age players.
The issue of players dropping off at under-17 and 18 level has been festering away over recent years and you’ve only got to look back through the sport pages of the Addy in the weeks leading up to the 2015 season at the calls from clubs seeking more under-age players to realise it’s a recurring theme.
The numbers over the first month of the season reiterate that, with it becoming the exception, rather than norm, for teams to take the field with a full quota of players.
Then there’s Huntly, Mitiamo and Wycheproof-Narraport that don’t have the numbers to field under-age teams, plus Castlemaine forfeited at home against Eaglehawk last Saturday in what senior coach Shane Robertson said wasn’t a good look
There’s no one reason as to why the drop off from junior football to stepping up to under-age football at a senior club, but clearly now there are more options for teenagers other than footy being the be all and end all during winter like it was for me in my younger years.
Whether it’s quitting footy to work to pay for the monthly mobile phone bill, not wanting to commit to the extra demands that come with advancing up the footy chain, losing interest in the game once mates pull the pin, perhaps unable to keep up with the progression of mates, or other sports becoming more appealing, the under-age numbers are no longer there like they once were.
As well as the battle for numbers, what’s also a worry is the one-sided nature of under-age games, particularly in the BFL under-18s where the average margin has been 84 points and 10 of the 24 games have been decided by triple-figure margins.
When you’re on the end of those sort of hidings regularly, like Kyneton and Castlemaine have, that can also make for a negative football experience and the appeal of the game can quickly begin to wane.
It won’t happen overnight and there are no quick fixes, but with a player points system on the horizon that benefits clubs playing homegrown talent in the seniors, addressing the diminishing under-age numbers and beginning to get the wheel turning back the other way is now as important as ever.
• Under-age playing numbers per game this season according to league website match results.
All leagues have a maximum of 22 per team.
• BENDIGO (U-18)
CASTLEMAINE – 17, 20, 16, 18, forfeit.
EAGLEHAWK – 22, 22, 22, 22, DNP.
GISBORNE – 20, 21, 20, 19, 18.
GOLDEN SQUARE – 22, 22, 22, 22, 20.
KANGAROO FLAT – 20, 20, 20, 20, 16.
KYNETON – 16, 21, 20, 22, 22.
MARYBOROUGH – 19, 21, 18, 20, 17.
SANDHURST – 22, 22, 22, 22, 19.
SOUTH BENDIGO – 22, 22, 21, 22, 22.
STRATHFIELDSAYE – 22, 22, 22, 22, 20.
• HEATHCOTE DISTRICT - (U-17)
COLBINABBIN – 22, 22, 20, 19.
ELMORE – 18, 21, 22.
HEATHCOTE – 20, 20.
HUNTLY – No team.
LEITCHVILLE-GUNBOWER – 22, 22, 22.
LBU – 19, 22, 22.
MOUNT PLEASANT – 19, 18, 16.
NORTH BENDIGO – 20, 20, 19.
WHITE HILLS – 19, 17, 17.
• LODDON VALLEY - (U-18)
BL-SERPENTINE – 14, 17, 19.
BRIDGEWATER – 19, 17, 20, 16, 18.
CALIVIL UNITED – 17, 17, 18, 17.
INGLEWOOD – 20, 16, 20, 20.
MARONG – 20, 20, 21.
MITIAMO – No team.
NEWBRIDGE – 19, 17, 19, 17.
PYRAMID HILL – 21, 18, 20.
YCW – 20, 19, 21, 18.
• NORTH CENTRAL (U-16)
BIRCHIP-WATCHEM – 20, 20, 20, 21.
BOORT – 14, 12, 13.
CHARLTON – 19, 17, 18.
DONALD – 22, 21.
ST ARNAUD – 20, 22, 22.
WEDDERBURN – 17, 19, 17.
WYCHEPROOF-NARRAPORT – No team.