Junior footy clubs have approached the Northern Tasmanian Junior Football Association board amid concerns that illogical rostering is making it difficult for families to participate.
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Officials and parents have questioned scheduling, which has seen teams travel unexpectedly long distances to matches that includes a fixture which saw Deloraine and North Launceston play off in St Marys.
Last month the Longford Junior Football Club contacted the NTJFA seeking an explanation for “unnecessary travel” and why some clubs had been allocated more home games than others.
The board has since responded, saying a volunteer shortage was a factor in the rostering setup and pointed out that clubs have had the option to move games all season.
Competition manager Emma Anderson said late team entries and withdrawals at the start of the season, and varying numbers of teams in leagues had also played a part in rostering difficulties.
“There will always be a certain amount of neutral games to be played during the season because of the inequity in teams,” Anderson said.
“While there is such unevenness in teams submitted by clubs, the NTJFA roster never has and never will be a true home-and-away competition.”
Longford Junior Football Club president Ted Jones said while he understood the difficulties associated with having different clubs competing in different age groups, the current format left much to be desired.
“I think it’s hard on parents because in some situations families have two or three boys playing in different age groups and one parent is going in one direction with one child and another parent is going in another with another child,” Jones said.
“We had two Longford teams (on Sunday) that didn’t play at Longford because they were rostered somewhere else.
“We had a full gameday, but there were other teams playing at the Longford ground when we could have had our two teams playing there.”
Last weekend’s fixtures saw Prospect and Scottsdale play off at Longford, while the previous week Scottsdale and Longford travelled to St Marys.
Scottsdale under-16s coach Christian Barnes said his side had been scheduled to play in St Marys three times this season despite East Coast not fielding a side in the Northern Tasmanian under-16s competition.
Barnes said that with Scottsdale’s junior sides already struggling for numbers, unnecessary away trips had put some extra strain on teams.
“We all just want the best for the boys really, the priority is the kids wanting to play footy,” Barnes said.
“I think if the rostering was a little bit more organised then it would flow better.
“Hopefully if they can’t resolve it this year, they can resolve it next year.”
There are 12 different clubs in this year’s NTJFA and nine different age-group competitions, catering for boys’ and girls’ football from ages nine to 16.