Victoria ahead of Canberra? Surely not!

Junior Age Categories
• season commences: 16/17/18 october, 2009
• 11 ‘round’ home & away competition
• 9 competition weeks
• 2 gala rounds – 1 country-based & 1 metro-based
o gala rounds will coincide with w-league fixtures
• season concludes: 11/12/13 december, 2009

A lot of micky mouse football goes on in Canberra for the 36 weeks of the year when the junior season doesn't run. Yep that's right 36 weeks of non-competitive football and yet we are somehow supposed to be producing quality players, boys and girls.

So it's interesting at what is happening in Victoria. An eleven week season starting in October.

We might not get 18,000 players out for the summer season, but I reckon you get the players who were dead keen wouldn't you?

And don't tell me we can't get the grounds, we wouldn't get the players, can't organise it,..coz I'm sick of can't....nad six-a-side is great fun but a 16 games junior season ain't enough if your into football and want to improve.

And god help us if we want to keep with Victorian kids in coming years.


Following an extensive review of the inaugural 2008-09 summer league competition, FFV is delighted to announce some exciting improvements for Season Two!

Competition Name
To better reflect the representative nature of the competition and to recognise the talent the league attracts, the summer league competition will become known as ‘Victorian Champions League’. ‘Summer League’ served the FFV well in year one as a working name and helped to educate the football community on playing all-year-around. However, whilst it acknowledges the time of year that the competition runs, it fails to appropriately recognise that participants in this league are Victoria’s representative football talent. By re-branding the league to ‘Victorian Champions League’, the FFV believes its young talent, destined to be future champions, is more appropriately recognised.

Competition Branding
In addition to the branding being undertaken at zone level, to give each zone colours, a distinctive name and/or nickname and logo, the FFV has worked graphic designers to create a new ‘Victorian Champions League’ logo. This will be used in league promotional material and play an important role in setting the champions league apart from other football competitions in Victoria, further recognising it as the talented player league it is.

Competition Format
recognising that many of the teething issues in year one were the result of season length and fixturing, ffv has created a new competition format for the champions league.

Key format detail can be summarised as follows:

Open Women & u18 boys
• season commences: 16/17/18 october, 2009
• 11 ‘round’ home & away competition
• 9 competition weeks
• 2 gala rounds – 1 country-based & 1 metro-based
• season concludes: 11/12/13 december, 2009
• top ladder position crowned “Champions League Premiers”
• finals weekend: 18/19/20 december, 2009
• finals format: Saturday – semi-finals; sunday – grand-finals & classifications
• grand final winner crowned “Champions League Champions”

Junior Age Categories
• season commences: 16/17/18 october, 2009
• 11 ‘round’ home & away competition
• 9 competition weeks
• 2 gala rounds – 1 country-based & 1 metro-based
o gala rounds will coincide with w-league fixtures
• season concludes: 11/12/13 december, 2009
• catch up weekends: 18/19/20 december & 22/23/24 january
• top ladder position crowned “champions league premiers”
• 3-week finals series: 26/27/28 january; 5/6/7 & 12/13/14 february
o all teams play in all 3 weeks of finals
o refer attached document for finals series format explanation
• grand final winner crowned “champions league champions”

Some of the highlights of this structure are as follows:
• open women & u18 boys conclude pre-Christmas to ensure absolutely no clashes with pre-season for vpl & wpl clubs/other senior competitions
• junior competition concludes 8 weeks prior to April national championships and well before the junior season commences to avoid pre-season clashes
• all teams play each other only once, creating a fairer draw than inaugural season
• two gala weekends to showcase the competition firstly in regional, and then in metro locations and coinciding with w-league fixtures to create opportunity for summer league participants to support the w-league
• opportunity for teams to be ‘premiers’ pre-Christmas (top of ladder), and fight for the right win the ‘championship’ (winner of finals series) post-Christmas
• seeded pool set up for finals series which gives slight advantages to higher ranked teams, whilst also giving opportunity for lower teams to ‘surprise’
• all teams playing off for ‘rankings’ in the finals series, with a focus on final selection opportunities for state squads over these three weeks
• two ‘catch up’ weekends (late December ’09 and late January ‘10) to allow for any missed games to be re-scheduled to minimise forfeits, etc.
• season commences 1 week earlier than last year, but finishes 4 weeks earlier
• home and away hosting honours operate on a 2-year basis for equity purposes
• metro gala round hosting honours to also operate on a 2-year basis for equity purposes

Zone Committees & Incorporation
the FFV has resolved to continue the second year of the league with FFV staff as the appointed ‘directors’ of each of the zone companies. Current or re-formed working committees will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of each zone, with elections to formally appoint directors from within the zone being held over until 2010 when zone’s achieve 80% club membership. Ffv will continue to work with zones and their respective clubs to reach this membership target. Interested clubs should contact ffv for more information. Over the coming weeks, FFV will circulate application forms for working committee members for each zone. All existing committee members who wish to remain involved will need to complete the application, as will parties interested in joining their respective zone’s working committee.

Keep an eye on the new FFV website for more information on summer league as it comes to hand.