Hi all and welcome to Rd 5 News Blog.

I hope everyone had a successful spring carnival and  enjoyed themselves.  Round 5 suggested that the carnival may not have been good to some as a few players struggled to play within the boundaries of our competition. Please take a deep breath and remember why we're out there, no one enjoys a heated game and it should not be up to the umpires to control players.  Umpires will make mistakes just as the players do, the last thing we want to do is send players off, but as a last resort we will have no other option if blokes continue to play outside the rules and display unsportsmanlike behavior. 

Please help the umpires by;
- Not creating a contests. ( if you can't get there without making contact pull up )
-Accepting Decisions (even if you believe they are totally wrong...get on with it )
-Keeping banter between the opposition friendly. 
-Displaying Sportsmanship ( hand back the ball, Don't deliberately go over mark, be honest if you were last to touch the ball, shake hands before/after the game)
- Enjoying yourself'  (have a laugh with opposition, team mates and umpires.)
- Reading the rules and playing within them. (check website)

To finish my rant, can  I make myself perfectly clear AFL9s is a "non contact" sport, this means no contact, full stop. We have tags for tackling so there is no reason to contact your opposition when grabbing a tag. backing into players under the flight of the ball is also seen as contact, players believe that because they are in front when backing up they should get the free, this is not the case. The player initiating the contact will be penalized weather in front or at the back. There is no shepherding grabbing or blocking, each player shall play the ball on it's merits. As pointed out above please read the rules and play within them.

Under 35YO Players
As you know each team is allowed 2 under 35 players on the field at any one time. The rule was originally set up to allow dads to play with sons. That rules has been relaxed a little and  teams are using young blokes as fill ins. This is fine for now and will be reviewed at the end of season.

Footy Boots
Some players are still rolling up with footy boots, only Grass cats or hockey style runners are appropriate. This does not include blades. We will be policing footwear over the remainder of the season as it may impact on our future ground hire.

Swearing 
Given the close proximity to housing and specifically in the case of Wesley a secondary school, please refrain from swearing as much as possible. I understand that one or two may slip out, through frustration but please do your best to keep it down. ( swearing at opposition is totally unforgivable and will be an immediate send off. )  

Public Notices
SOLWAY PRIMARY SCHOOL has a Community Fair on SAT NOV 15 - B/W 12 - 5PM
Click here for more info

Travis Gillett  runs a marketing business, working from home in Elwood. He offers services such as:

• Graphic Design/Branding (including everything from business cards to corporate branding & designing of shopping center kids’ change rooms)
• Video Production
• Signage Design (vehicle or shopfront)
• Social Media Management & re-design of business pages
• On-hold phone recordings

Click here for more info

That's all, until next week, 'watch your contact"
R40s