District Officials will visit grounds on weekends to ensure compliance with the following.** All the items covered below are in the 2017 Junior Club Manual

8. Modified Rules – Year 4 to Year 6
Please remind coaches and parents that they are not playing for premiership points and this is the time for skills development. There should be no emphasis on winning. Clubs will be issued with fined for any breaches of codes of behaviour.

9. Match Day Officials
MANAGERS
Should make sure all pre-match paper work is completed and handed to umpires, inform umpires of any situations such as low player numbers and even up rules may apply.
Must try to control and keep the coaching staff and team supporters calm when incidents arise and try to avoid any escalation of any incidents.
Must make a full report in consultation with coaches and any other appropriate parties if any incidents arise that need to be reported or investigated. The Report must be forwarded to their Club President before the end of the day so that the President can forward it to the District officials within the correct time frame for an incident to be investigated.

RUNNERS (Yr 5+)
Must enter and leave the field through the interchange area in all age groups.
Must deliver the coaches message and immediately leave the playing area and must not linger on the ground. Free kicks can be awarded against runners staying on the ground and getting caught in the play.
Ordinary runners (people relaying messages to players from the coach) can enter the ground but they are not to take water onto the ground and they should get on and off the ground as quick as they can. Runners should not hang around on the ground, get in the way and should not speak to opposition players or umpires.

WATER RUNNERS (Yr 7 to Yr 12)
Must not be in or near the coaches box during play. Must give water and then immediately leave the playing area. Must not coach while on the ground.
Must only take no more than two bottles on to the ground when delivery water to players. Bottle racks or crates MUST NOT be taken on to the ground during play.
WATER RUNNERS (Yr 4 to Yr 6)
Water runners in Year 4 to Year 6 games are not supposed to take water onto the ground but should stand near the boundary line so that the players can get a drink during stops or when the play is at the other end of the ground.

BOUNDARY AND GOAL UMPIRES
Must not be seen to be coaching or instructing players and may not speak to opposition players in any inappropriate manner.

FIRST AIDERS
Must immediately go directly to the aid of any injured or potentially injured player. They should not get caught ball watching and miss injured players behind the play.
Must understand the rules in relation to players being removed from the ground, i.e. players not removed through the interchange cannot return to the ground (THIS APPLIES IN ALL AGE GROUPS), players taken off the ground on stretchers or a ‘deemed stretcher’ by being chair lifted cannot return to the ground.
Where possible, first aiders from both teams should work together to assist injured players.

INTERCHANGE STEWARDS
Both teams must provide an Interchange Steward for all age groups from Year 7 upwards. These should be seated in the interchange area in between the coaches boxes (ideally at the back end of the interchange area not on the boundary line). Note – this is optional for Y6 and below and not a bad idea if you want to head off any disputes with parents regarding their son/daughter’s game time.
The Interchange Steward is responsible for the recording of all players interchange during the game – this can be done manually or on an iPad using Interchange Manager App. (the Interchange Steward should make sure iPad is fully charged before start of game).
The details of the day must be saved at the end of the game. These details must be provided on request of the District Registrars. The request may be made at any time during the season.

To also note, moving players from team to team:
A number of clubs that have two teams in an age group have ask if it is ok for players from one of their teams to play in the other team if the one of the teams is short of players. The answer is no. While I understand the logic of rotating players that may be rostered off from one team or making sure that a team has a full complement of players if they are short due to injuries, holidays, etc, doing so is not permitted by the By-Laws that apply to AFL Youth Football in Western Australia.

By-Law 6.6.3 states that “Team sheets are to remain constant. Players are not to move from team to team from round 1, unless instructed by the JCC for a re-allocate.” Additionally, By-Law 6.6.4 states that “Each team is to treated as a separate club”.

So, players can’t move from team to team within their club after the season has started and if a club has more than one team in an age group the two teams are to be considered as completely separate entities under the By-Laws.

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Non compliance with the matters set out above may result in Clubs and Teams being issued with a District ‘please explain’ letter and may result in Club Fines, loss of club championship points and Loss of E Points for Open Rules teams.

If clubs have concerns about these By-Laws (or any other By-Law for that matter) your should let me know in writing and I can then raise those concerns at meetings of the nine Competition Directors when we are considering changes to the By-Laws.

Thank you.
John Thurtell
Claremont District – Competition Director

Location

Wembley Sports Park