Fair point. How about the teams that finished 3rd & 4th In Div 3 of the Ammos. Have to travel to Fawkner to play an elimination final at 9.20am on a Sunday. Joke. The AFL needs to step in and do something about the lack of grounds for finals.
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SFNL Div 1 2025
- Thread starter Bunk Moreland
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The AFL don't give a flying F uck
Does not surprise me one iota.
random observer
Senior List
- Jul 12, 2017
- 164
- 226
- AFL Club
- Sydney
How? Force councils to fence off grounds? Or 'encourage'/compel clubs to host finals?
The middle ring suburbs (where finals grounds usually are - people complain about going to the outer suburbs) are increasing in population due to apartment building. No new parkland is being created so existing parks are coming under more pressure. This makes it hard to justify having parks fenced off when they are only used for paid football matches 9-15 times a year. When councils upgrade parks, they are likely to remove fencing to open it up for more users - as has already happened at Gillon Oval, Princes Park (South Caulfield), Victoria Park (Collingwood), and probably other grounds used as finals venues in the past (Bentleigh? - I haven't been there in some years). Temporary fencing could be put up for a few weeks (WFNL have done it out at Braybrook) but it will cost and councils may not like it.
Clubs actually wanting to host finals is another issue. Many clubs now have so few volunteers that they are allowing commercial operators to run their canteens - meaning that most (if not all) of finals canteen revenue will go to the operator, not the club, so there is much less incentive for these clubs to host finals.
There's also issues around equity. Clubs need to have good facilities and plenty of volunteers to host finals, and clubs like this are usually already cashed up - hosting finals will provide even more money and (probably) more success, while clubs with poor facilities / few volunteers miss out and are left further behind.
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Meant he was only able to attend 8 games for the day.
swanniesman23
Draftee
- Aug 9, 2024
- 10
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The league has made a serious **** up and have got the quarters lengths wrong yesterday in the St Paul’s vs Cheltenham. Sounds like they had the qtrs going at 18 mins plus time on (reserve grade rules)… Some quarters only going for 22 mins.
Sounds like there’s someone to blame for this and really doesn’t say much for the integrity of the league.
Sounds like there’s someone to blame for this and really doesn’t say much for the integrity of the league.
Rule changes for finals in that the umpire must signal time on if the ball goes out of bounds where home and away it was automatic from when the umpire signalled to throw it in.
Another stuff up
For the reserves game switches on the weekend the league didn’t even consult with the clubs if they were ok to switch day and venue .
You would think if they were going to move a game away from the original schedule and give a team a home ground advantage they would at least have the courage to consult before just sending an email advising of the change .
I was told that Cheltenham were not happy with it.
NW were certainly very surprised when told the game would be switched . Said they couldn’t believe it.
Not sure if the league charged NW for hosting yesterday either .
NW were very happy overall with yesterday
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A group of us standing there together at NW yesterday watching the game actually raised this issue in game. How senior football in any comp especially at division 1 and 2 level can have quarters going 22-23 minutes is unacceptable in a final let alone in season. Clock should be stopping for all ball ups , throw ins , goals and points and should not be any shorter than 28-29 minutes even with say 2 goals each kicked, but to have quarters running 22-25 minutes, clearly there are issues in the time box and the league should be over it, reserves football should also be flat 25 minutes not 20 and a continuous clock incorporating stoppages , ball would lucky to rolling play for 12-13minutes with the flat 20mins quarters. None the less I don’t think it would have helped st.pauls yesterday , very poor after quarter time but it opens it up for a great showdown with Springvale next week.
Clock only stops for goals, behinds, out of bounds and out on the full
swanniesman23
Draftee
- Aug 9, 2024
- 10
- 13
- AFL Club
- Sydney
Interesting to see the stats come through from Saturday’s game — 25 touches being the most for either side, and coming from the ruck, Hofert, really shows how low-possession the game was. Only three multiple goal kickers (O'Toole, Louie, and Davis) is surprising too. It ties back to my earlier point around timekeeping — why would the league make a change that effectively cuts out almost a full quarter of time-on each week? It’s going to make it really hard for anyone to put together big individual games — whether it’s someone racking up mid-30s in touches or a forward kicking a big bag. If anyone was at the game on Sunday, feel free to share your thoughts — did it feel short or flat live?
Also worth bringing up again is the need to revisit the VFL qualification rules. Right now, once a player hits 10 state league games in a season, they’re overqualified — meaning we’ve got young players who’ve earned opportunities at higher levels, now sitting on the sidelines come finals. It doesn’t make much sense and it’s a real limitation for clubs trying to build depth. Compare it to the EDFL or NFNL, probably the two strongest metro comps in Melbourne — their top-end players often find ways to qualify in the bye weeks, and there are no overqualification restrictions. The result is better-quality finals, stronger teams, and a better overall product. Of course, money plays a role — that’s the case everywhere — but the points system helps keep things in check.
Curious what others think — are these rules actually helping the competition, or holding it back?
Also worth bringing up again is the need to revisit the VFL qualification rules. Right now, once a player hits 10 state league games in a season, they’re overqualified — meaning we’ve got young players who’ve earned opportunities at higher levels, now sitting on the sidelines come finals. It doesn’t make much sense and it’s a real limitation for clubs trying to build depth. Compare it to the EDFL or NFNL, probably the two strongest metro comps in Melbourne — their top-end players often find ways to qualify in the bye weeks, and there are no overqualification restrictions. The result is better-quality finals, stronger teams, and a better overall product. Of course, money plays a role — that’s the case everywhere — but the points system helps keep things in check.
Curious what others think — are these rules actually helping the competition, or holding it back?
From my understanding the league haven't made any changes in regards to quarter lengths in the finals for senior grade football.
It has always been the case that the clock does not stop for ball ups around the ground. Therefore the more ball ups & fewer the goals, the shorter the quarter will be. Anything other than this is up to the hosting venues timekeeper.
The only question marks I've ever had in my time are games held at Caulfield & Clayton, where back in the day the quarters all magically ended at the 25th minute! Whether there was 3 goals or 8 goals in the quarter
I do bring a lot to the conversation
Maybe different leagues need to have a good hard look at themselves. Ridiculous amount of bye weekends, non-existent forward planning, exponential growth targets that dilute the product and the standing of the league.
I wondered that on saturday as had rarely seen quarters go for less than 25 minutes throughout the season but some of them were done and dusted at 22minutes. Not that it would have changed the result really but still not ideal especially for those sides who might be on the fitter side of the equation and could run over sides.
I seriously question if this was even done based on seeing a 22minute quarter.
This happened later in the year at Dingley as well.
I noticed the quarters went really short as opposed to the 28+ earlier in the year
The league changed the ruling for the finals for out of bounds in that it was only when there was a delay the umpire would signal by raising his hand .
In the normal season the clock stopped when the umpire signalled to throw the ball in.
So they are leaving it up to umpires to decide when to call time on.
And they have to remember to do it , though they haven’t had to pay attention to it all season and now they do .
Bloody ridiculous .
- Banned
- #1,519
Amazing that this could happen in such an important finals game!?!?!? Its honestly bewildering. All quarters on Saturday were approximately 22 minutes. So lets assume that normal quarters are about 30 minutes; that is 32 minutes of the game was lost. A full quarter of the game ?!?!?! There was miscommunication between the umpires and the timekeepers as to how the out of bounds time off would be called or not called. Possibly the biggest stuff up in SNFL history. This level of stuff up doesn't happen in under 9s junior finals. Lucky that Cheltenham won by 4 goals and not 4 points else there would have been a major protest from St Pauls. For God's sake it isn't hard. Everybody just needs to be on the same page but for the SNFL on all issues, that seems to be too much to ask. An embarrassment that will be swept under the carpet. Don't shoot the messenger also.
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So you are telling us that the league HQ or the senior umpiring brass have decided to change the time rules on the run? The clubs , the supporters and the general local football enthusiasts who pay league entry of $15 are paying to come watch local Premier league division 1 quarters run 22-23 mins and a clock run for out of bounds and ball up? Amateur hour strikes the league again. 28-29minimum this isn’t junior football folks , take a gate but provide 88-92mins of football instead of 115-120, it’s a quarter less !!
- Banned
- #1,521
So true Marousses, anyone who attended the Cheltenham v St Pauls game at Narre Warren should get 1/4 of their entrance fee back because they only say a 3/4 game about 32 minutes short of normal time, an abomination of an error.
But that's the SNFL for you. Mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake.
But that's the SNFL for you. Mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake.
A number of clubs in WA put their catering out to tender, so they receive an upfront figure at the start of the season and the caterers come in, use the club's facilities then clean up and go home at the end of the day, while the club gets a guaranteed amount of money.
One club in Kalgoorlie has a food truck at all of its matches and at most games they will have either an ice cream van and/or a jam donut van. They make a killing each home game without putting any work into it while it is on the vans to hit break even.
I have heard of clubs in Victoria doing the same as well.
If a club hosted finals, they would no doubt engage the caterers for an extra gig or two for an agreed price.
Can't see why a club would get no money at all for catering in an instance like that.
swanniesman23
Draftee
- Aug 9, 2024
- 10
- 13
- AFL Club
- Sydney
Let’s hope they get it right this Saturday/Sunday at the SFNL HQ this weekend. The league will never compete with other competitions in the metro divisions with mistakes like this.
I’m not sure how anyone from the competition picked up on this on Saturday and thought ghee these qtrs aren’t going for very long, the comp obviously lacks leadership…
Do either club have a representative in the time keepers box during finals?
I’m not sure how anyone from the competition picked up on this on Saturday and thought ghee these qtrs aren’t going for very long, the comp obviously lacks leadership…
Do either club have a representative in the time keepers box during finals?
- Banned
- #1,524
Yes, in finals they are club appointed timekeepers unless the league overrule.
43.1 TIMEKEEPER APPOINTMENT
43.1.1 A Timekeeper must be provided by each competing Member Club.
43.1.2 No person shall be permitted to act as timekeeper unless they have attained the age of eighteen (18) years of age.
43.1.3 Clubs competing in a Finals Match are to supply their own timekeepers unless provided by the League.
43.1.4 Each Club must provide a suitable clock that is to be synchronised with the other Club’s timekeeper at the commencement of each Match.
43.1.5 A Timekeeper must remain in the designated Timekeepers box at all times during the Match.
But if the umpire doesn't blow time when it goes out of bounds then they both have to follow the stupid rule. I mean sometimes it takes 20-30 seconds to get the ball back into play if someone has to go and fetch the ball.
43.1 TIMEKEEPER APPOINTMENT
43.1.1 A Timekeeper must be provided by each competing Member Club.
43.1.2 No person shall be permitted to act as timekeeper unless they have attained the age of eighteen (18) years of age.
43.1.3 Clubs competing in a Finals Match are to supply their own timekeepers unless provided by the League.
43.1.4 Each Club must provide a suitable clock that is to be synchronised with the other Club’s timekeeper at the commencement of each Match.
43.1.5 A Timekeeper must remain in the designated Timekeepers box at all times during the Match.
But if the umpire doesn't blow time when it goes out of bounds then they both have to follow the stupid rule. I mean sometimes it takes 20-30 seconds to get the ball back into play if someone has to go and fetch the ball.
Cheatenham