Thank you to Victorian community footy

A message from AFL Victoria to everyone across Victorian community football:

Victoria has endured a challenging 18 months and while the latest lockdown tested many, it was fantastic to see community football back across the state on the weekend.

Our great game roared back to life with around 1200 clubs and 90 leagues in action, most for the first time in about a month after a small number of regional competitions played the week prior. Tens of thousands of Auskickers also returned to the field which was fantastic for kids and families.

In regional areas the crowd cap of 1000 outdoors saw many people head to their local clubs, and while we hope to have spectator limits increased further, it was a significant step in the right direction in bringing communities back together through football.

People in metropolitan Melbourne seemed to have largely played by the rules and respected the government’s restrictions on community sport, which hopefully means we can see clubs thriving and spectators at their local football clubs soon in the numbers we’re used to.

Leagues and clubs did a fantastic job in effectively communicating what the restrictions were and how important it was that they were adhered to, to help ensure the game can get back to normal soon.

AFL Victoria will continue to work closely with the Victorian Government and advocate on behalf of the game for what we hope will be a further easing of restrictions. More information will be provided to leagues and clubs as soon as it is made available by the government.

While we wait for more information, AFL Victoria wishes to say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone involved in community football – the leagues, clubs, players, coaches, umpires, volunteers and supporters.

It hasn’t been an easy time and while we can’t get complacent about the pandemic, the Victorian football community has played a big part in ensuring we have much to look forward to for the remainder of the 2021 community football season.