HOW AND WHEN THE DRAW IS PUBLISHED
Unlike Other Associations across NSW, Sutherland Shire is host to the largest participation based with very limited number of fields in comparison to other NSW Football Associations (in some instances double the number of participants and half the number of available fields). Due to our limited fields and high participation rates, managing the draw becomes a challenging and time-consuming task.
The SSFA draw is currently being prepared; with the need to facilitate home and away fixturing, balancing of field use, and accommodating four differing playing formats on a Saturday. The SSFA has sixty-four (64) fields at its disposal with almost 820 matches to be played each weekend. Be assured that we endeavour to release the draw as soon as possible.
In addition, the Draw is only released a limited period of time in advance due to the following:
- Early in the season, we cannot release the draw past Round 4 due to re-grading occurring at this round.
- Due to regrading in round 4, the draw for round 5 is delayed as teams are required to be manually moved between grades. Therefore, round 5 will not be released until Thursday of that Week (i.e. 2 days before the weekend fixtures).
- Washed Out matches/ weekends cause the draw to have to be reshuffled (potentially week on week) this is due to the SSFA rules whereby the first 9 rounds must be played wherever possible (SSFA Rule 18.D)
- State Cup catch up matches again cause the need for the draw to be regularly changed (as it impacts all fields),
- Fields are regularly called out of play during the season due to excessive wear and tear, safety issues, wet weather, maintenance etc. requiring shuffling of grounds (including games and times)
- Clubs, at their request, are provided an option to alter their ground allocations after Round 9 (which again requires a change to the static data in the system),
- Regrading of MiniRoos teams also occur during the season. MiniRoos regrades all need to be manually entered into the draw system and have a huge impact on field usage (and therefore the draw).
- SSFA teams play home and away, unlike netball, where games are centralised. Varying team numbers and home ground space for each club require weekly load balancing of fields.
- With limited fields in Sutherland, fitting 1640 teams onto 64 fields requires extensive manual adjustments, taking 1.5 to 2 days per week.
A draft theoretical draw is published on the SSFA website and released to the Clubs at the beginning of the season. This theoretical draw does not include game times or locations but otherwise is valid (and is updated once all regrading of teams is completed). The Theoretical Draw, can be located under the ‘About SSFA/ Documents’ Tab on the website (The Draw – Sutherland Shire Football Association – To Be Published in the coming weeks).
We strive to release the draw as soon as possible, understanding the importance for families planning their weekends around matches. If we could release it earlier, we certainly would. However, at this stage participants know that they will be playing on a specific day – generally at a known approximate time when playing at home – and the Theoretical draw is also readily available. But it is not possible to provide any more certainty than that.
Regards
SSFA CEO