Knights Homemakers 67-69 Union Street Kyabram VIC 3619 Ph: (03) 5852 2388 WorkSafe Community Championships LET THE GAMES BEGIN elcome to the inaugural WorkSafe representative colours in the GrainCorp AFL AFL Victoria Community Victoria Community Challenge. Championships. Nineteen junior U19, U18 and U15 representative matches will be played as curtain raisers to the WWe are delighted to be able to take this next step Community Championships, while the first FIDA towards the establishment of a Victorian Senior match between the Grampians Giants v Hamilton Community Football Championships involving Boomers will play in front of a big crowd at most leagues in Victoria. Mininera as part of the newly formed AFL Victoria The WorkSafe AFL Victoria Community FIDA Western Conference. Championships promises to be one of the most Following on from a successful 2016 Community exciting initiatives within community football in Umpiring Round last week, I would like to 2016 and potentially for years to come as the congratulate all the umpires who have been opportunity to participate in senior selected to adjudicate in today’s matches. representative programs continues to be a highlight for footballers in community Their hard work, dedication and strong competitions across the state. performances either in the V/Line Umpiring Academies or metropolitan league associations Senior representative football has been enjoyed will put them in good stead to officiate by Victorian country leagues in the WorkSafe AFL community football’s top players. Victoria Country Championship for many years, while metropolitan leagues have welcomed the Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to return of representative football as part of the thank all the leagues, staff, players, coaches and Metropolitan Championships since 2014. volunteers involved in the inaugural WorkSafe AFL Victoria Community Championships, for their For the first time, these Championships will enthusiasm and support in the lead up to the provide a true premier model allowing a league to event. be recognised as the best community football league in the state and an opportunity for We hope that you enjoy the experience and wish metropolitan and country leagues to play against you the best of luck for the remainder of the 2016 each other on a regular basis. football season. Brett Connell Today, a total of 36 leagues will compete in a one AFL Victoria Community Football off head-to-head match across 18 venues around & Engagement Manager Victoria, with a further two leagues competing in their own local challenge match across the same weekend. In the initial year of the Championships, leagues have been fixtured against each other in a manner which will assist in the official ranking of leagues for 2017 and beyond. In addition to the Championships, the next generation of community football stars will also have the opportunity to don their local WELCOME KDFNL PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE n behalf of the Kyabram District Football Netball League I would like to take this opportunity to thank all involved in getting our teams together for 2016 inter-league clash with the Golden Rivers Football League and Golden Rivers Netball OLeague. Congratulations and thank you to our Coaches: 15 and Under Netball – Sherryn Wall (Undera), 17 and Under Netball – Rod O’Neill (Lancaster), Senior Netball – Julie Telford (Tallygaroopna), Senior Football – Brent Chapman (Murchison) and U18s Dean Wileman (Stanhope). Brent is also supported by Christian Barnett (Merrigum), Troy Auld (Stanhope) and Linc Sullivan (Nagambie) and Ricki Shiner (Longwood) is assisting the U18s. I know the passion you have shown will enable us to field competitive sides that will hopefully result in the desired outcome, and that is wins all round. Thank you also to our runners, water boys and other officials helping out. Thanks to all the people that have been involved in the selection process and to those that are here today assisting with getting these teams on the ground and court. There are too many for me to name and I don't want to leave anyone out. I'd like to particularly thank all of the parents involved with getting your young footballers and netballers to the numerous training sessions involved to enable them to get here to today’s games. Thank you to Neville Montgomery and the Tallygaroopna Football Netball Club for hosting the football trainings and the final netball training. Your hosting of the final combined training session and the catering afterwards was greatly appreciated by the Executive and all of the teams. Our trainers including Jenna Macartney, Jess McLennan, Bridie Stanton, Miki Hart, Jade Stevens and Chris Tooley have done a terrific job and I thank you for your untiring efforts so far and for today. I am looking forwarded to our games against the Golden Rivers Football League and Golden Rivers Netball Association today. I would like to welcome GRFL Chairman Daryl Billing, and GRNA President Kellie Burmeister, and all Golden Rivers players and officials to the Goulburn Valley, and to the Tallygaroopna Recreation Reserve in particular. It is a huge job getting two football and netball teams to travel so far and it is greatly appreciated. Thank you. The KDFNL executives believe that inter-league football and netball is an extremely important event in the football and netball calendar. We have endeavoured to get our best teams on the field and court today and look forward to some great games. Our 15 and Under netball team won’t be playing today unfortunately, however they are competing in a Shepparton tournament tomorrow and have also been entered in the Association Championships on the 5th June. The 17 and Under and Open netball teams have also been entered in the Championships. Of course, a huge thank you to all of the footballers and netballers who are competing today. I know you all have put in a great deal of effort and commitment to be here today and that you will be representing the KDFNL to the absolute best of your abilities. Finally I'd like to thank the team at AFL Goulburn Murray who have been planning this day for many months. It is a huge event to organise and I'm sure it will be a great day. Good luck to all competing teams. Wayne Ryan Sandy Ryan President Vice President - Netball Kyabram DFNL Kyabram DFNL Golden Rivers Football League Chairman’s Report he Golden Rivers Football League is made up of 9 Teams and they are Wakool (in Recess) Moulamein, Hay, Wandella, Macorna, Nullawil, Ultima, Quambatook and Murrabit. The League was originally called The Kerang & District Football TLeague which at the time included sides from Appin, Rovers and Lakes, clubs that were predominately all based within the Kerang Shire. Now the League encompasses 5 Shires, Buloke, Wakool, Swan Hill and Hay. As you can see, there is a fair diversity from where Clubs are based and all with different income streams for the Club Members ranging from grazing, cereal cropping, dairy farming and irrigation. All this leads towards many different discussions at football amongst club members. Still, the central issue to all of these discussions is the weather and how it is affecting us all. Travel time to matches has become something that all Clubs must take into consideration. For example, the longest road trip in the VCFL is the Hay to Nullawil journey, a distance in excess of 270klms. Add to this that some of the Hay locals are still up to an hour out of Hay, it certainly makes for an early start to the day for the juniors sides that have to be on the ground by 10.10am. Add to this, some players travelling from Melbourne and Bendigo to participate. Even Hay’s nearest neighbour within the League is Moulamein, a distance in excess of 120klms. This year the competition is shaping up as a very even season, with 6 sides currently separated at the time of writing by just one game. The evenness of the League is certainly creating much discussion, as to who will eventually make it to the final four. Some clubs are still trying to top up before the June 30th deadline for clearances. Inter-league football has not been part of our League for a number of years until a couple of years ago; the reintroduction has been welcomed by many players as it gives them the chance to play at the next Level of football. Speaking to a number of players they have embraced the challenge to play with what are normally their opponents and form new relationships on and off the field. The squad members play and train under a different coach and adapt quickly to different game plans. Previously in our Inter- league matches we have won one and lost one, the win against the Colac District League buoyed the confidence of the players to become more involved. To the Kyabram League and in particular Tallygaroopna Football Club, a big thank you for hosting these matches and to all volunteers who had gone out of their way to prepare the ground and facilities. I would like to wish all players participating today good luck and an injury free day. Also to the netballers playing today, I feel that this is a great concept to involve them as well. We all know that netball is an integral part of all our Clubs & Leagues. To the Administration by the AFL Victoria in both RAC’s, the co-ordination has been done particularly well and to all Umpires officiating today, another big thanks. Next to Grand Final selection I am sure these events add to your career highlights. One thing that I have learnt over many years that win or lose, we all will create new friendships today, let’s hope that these friendships will be long lasting.