Under19, Under18, Under17 ??

From our club website - our public announcement to our members as to our position on the future of underage competitions within the SANFL.
Whilst also in Eagle News #6 thought may be interesting for others to add their point of view - not sure if other clubs have made their viewpoint public.
Col D
Underage Competitions
Currently the SANFL are undertaking a review of the Underage competition. The League has conducted this review over the past 12 months or so and recently requested all Club’s views.
The environment in football is constantly changing and at this level it has changed rapidly over the past 5 years. We have increasing enrolments into College education and thus more underage players are unavailable for Under 17’s in particular. The draft age has increased from 17 to 18 in the past 10 years pointing to Under 19’s being the talent identification age, and we have working families with high fuel costs causing difficulties committing for 2 to 4 years of travel from country areas. The competition must be an elite competition displaying the best talent at League Clubs, currently we are unable to do so in both grades when you have College Football occurring and injuries throughout the grades.
Our Club’s submission is that we are in favour of 1 full underage team with a modified Under 17’s team (playing 8 games)
Our Preference is for one Under 19 full season team.
Currently we have 15 of our best players playing in the College system not playing with us, consequently we do not have an elite competition particularly at Under 17’s level. The alternative of having an Under 18’s age group will still have our best College players playing for their College and not their League Club (in our case 13 of the 15 would still be playing College in an Under 18’s scenario). Players would have to play Reserves football after completing a College education if an Under 18’s is implemented, whereas an Under 19’s competition gives the opportunity for players to play at least 1 year of underage before Reserves football if they are not capable of playing at the higher level.
Under 19’s gives the opportunity for late developers such as Paul Stewart to play at that level prior to Senior football. Paul Stewart started the 2006 season as a final year Under 19 with 6 Under 19 games and completed the season with a League Premiership. If an under 18’s competition was in place he would not have played Reserves football at the commencement of the season and may never have been noticed or drafted. Brett Burton was in a similar situation in his last year of Under 19’s football.
We do not however support all underage players playing at the junior level until the Under 18 Championships are complete. Players should be able to play at the level that they are capable and get the most benefit, and that is the highest level available.
Any program adopted irrespective of number of teams and or age group can only be successful if it is fully funded, the Clubs will be unable to fully fund programs on their own. To achieve the Centres of Excellence the AFL and SANFL are suggesting, it will need a minimum of $25,000 per year per Club funded additional to the average $200,000 the SANFL Clubs are investing themselves.
Finally it is vital that we get the number of Junior teams and age group correct. Under 19’s is in our opinion the correct age group. The SANFL has for a long time supported the age group of Under 19’s when others were Under 18’s and the Draft was 17 years of age. The draft age has now increased from 17 to 18 and we have reliable information that the TAC Cup is looking to increase the number of Under 19’s playing at that level up to 6 players.
The Eagles are very strong of the opinion that the indicators are right for a change to one Under 19’s underage team with a modified shortened Under 17’s team playing 8 game
John Kantilaftas
Chief Executive Officer
Woodville West Torrens Football Club
Whilst also in Eagle News #6 thought may be interesting for others to add their point of view - not sure if other clubs have made their viewpoint public.
Col D
Underage Competitions
Currently the SANFL are undertaking a review of the Underage competition. The League has conducted this review over the past 12 months or so and recently requested all Club’s views.
The environment in football is constantly changing and at this level it has changed rapidly over the past 5 years. We have increasing enrolments into College education and thus more underage players are unavailable for Under 17’s in particular. The draft age has increased from 17 to 18 in the past 10 years pointing to Under 19’s being the talent identification age, and we have working families with high fuel costs causing difficulties committing for 2 to 4 years of travel from country areas. The competition must be an elite competition displaying the best talent at League Clubs, currently we are unable to do so in both grades when you have College Football occurring and injuries throughout the grades.
Our Club’s submission is that we are in favour of 1 full underage team with a modified Under 17’s team (playing 8 games)
Our Preference is for one Under 19 full season team.
Currently we have 15 of our best players playing in the College system not playing with us, consequently we do not have an elite competition particularly at Under 17’s level. The alternative of having an Under 18’s age group will still have our best College players playing for their College and not their League Club (in our case 13 of the 15 would still be playing College in an Under 18’s scenario). Players would have to play Reserves football after completing a College education if an Under 18’s is implemented, whereas an Under 19’s competition gives the opportunity for players to play at least 1 year of underage before Reserves football if they are not capable of playing at the higher level.
Under 19’s gives the opportunity for late developers such as Paul Stewart to play at that level prior to Senior football. Paul Stewart started the 2006 season as a final year Under 19 with 6 Under 19 games and completed the season with a League Premiership. If an under 18’s competition was in place he would not have played Reserves football at the commencement of the season and may never have been noticed or drafted. Brett Burton was in a similar situation in his last year of Under 19’s football.
We do not however support all underage players playing at the junior level until the Under 18 Championships are complete. Players should be able to play at the level that they are capable and get the most benefit, and that is the highest level available.
Any program adopted irrespective of number of teams and or age group can only be successful if it is fully funded, the Clubs will be unable to fully fund programs on their own. To achieve the Centres of Excellence the AFL and SANFL are suggesting, it will need a minimum of $25,000 per year per Club funded additional to the average $200,000 the SANFL Clubs are investing themselves.
Finally it is vital that we get the number of Junior teams and age group correct. Under 19’s is in our opinion the correct age group. The SANFL has for a long time supported the age group of Under 19’s when others were Under 18’s and the Draft was 17 years of age. The draft age has now increased from 17 to 18 and we have reliable information that the TAC Cup is looking to increase the number of Under 19’s playing at that level up to 6 players.
The Eagles are very strong of the opinion that the indicators are right for a change to one Under 19’s underage team with a modified shortened Under 17’s team playing 8 game
John Kantilaftas
Chief Executive Officer
Woodville West Torrens Football Club