The 2020 season has been one like no other due to the impact of covid-19.
Football has prevailed despite the disruption this year and the Football Far North Coast (FFNC) census reveals that 5937 players registered to play football this season. This is below the 7100 players that participated in each of 2018 and 2019 seasons, however we are confident that participation will rebound quickly next year. There were 501 registered team officials and 227 registered volunteers across the 23 member clubs and we applaud their respective contribution to the game.
Season 2020 saw an increase of 1.8% (from 24.1% to 25.9%) to the female participation rate in the MiniRoos (age 5-11) demographic with 761 female players registered. The female participation rate for junior players aged 12-18 was 30.8% (1235 males, 550 females) and remained above the national average of 24%.
Efforts to recruit and retain match officials continues to be a perennial issue and there were 25 fewer match officials registered (139 match officials in 2019; 114 match officials in 2020). There is more to be done locally despite Football Far North Coast being broadly acknowledged by other zones as leading the way in formulating and implementing sound strategies to support the role of match officials. The fact that we concede that the outcomes are not yet effective enough is evidence of the obstacles that exist in achieving required outcomes.
FFNC has distributed a specific club census to each respective club.
THANKS AGAIN to everyone for the contribution made to delivering a football experience this season and we look forward to returning to some normality in 2021.
