From the Gridiron Australia web site and also posted to their Facebook page.
The 2016 Gridiron Australia AGM was held on 18 June 2016 at the Holiday Inn Sydney Airport. The current board is:
• Darrin Mitchell (Chairman)
• Shaun Dove (Deputy Chairman, Officiating, AGOA)
• Matt Steel (National Teams, NSW)
• Ben Sinapati (QLD)
• Kevin Wilson (WA)
• Tom Etherton (SA)
• Chris Jackson (TAS, represented at this meeting by Jeff Clarke)
• George Stosic (ACT)
• Chris Josey (Financial Controller)
• Richard Gill (Acting Secretary)We are looking to have a permanent Secretary and National Director of Coaching appointed by the end of August.
There is little doubt that the number one issue that the Gridiron Australia (GA) board must address is the fact Gridiron Victoria (GA) is currently a suspended member of GA.
There are firm opinions within the GV community that there is no need for Victoria to go back into the fold and that GA must come to them.
Victorian players have no idea where they stand, if you are a man or women it would seem that you can represent your country at major events but if you want to play in the under 19 team you can’t. This hypocritical stance is the sort of thing that drives people crazy, is GV in or are they out?
Another issue is the laughable state that International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is in right now, a major competition is going to take place in one week today, Under 19 World Cup and there is not even a draw available… This just seems crazy to me.
There has finally been a website launched for the championships but it has little information on it. IFAF is a joke and Australia should not be sending a cent to that organisation in membership fees or otherwise.
The final big ticket item is the state of the game in Australia the AGL had 4 teams out of 7 State competition and the WAGL had 2 teams out of 3 state competitions (ACT did not run a women’s competition in 205), not a great result.
The National Gridiron Leauge (NGL) will kick off on October and brings professional Gridiron to Australia, what will this mean for the local competitions? Player loss, Increased Interest?
Only time will tell, but the landscape of Gridiron in this country could look very different by the end of the year and the current GA board have a lot of work to do.
