Football Federation Sunraysia looking at over-35 league

FOOTBALL Federation Sunraysia (FFS) is considering introducing an over-35 division for the 2020 season.

FFS general manager Susan Watts said the organisation had been undergoing discussions about what the potential move from a straight senior men’s grade and reserve men’s format to include an overage grade would entail.

“We would like to do over 35s, that’s been something I’ve been trying to do for a couple of years,” Watts said.

“We’ve just got to work out what numbers we’ve got and what we could do. We haven’t decided what is what yet.”

Watts said under the current format players over the age of 35 were competing against players who had graduated from under-16s who were not yet playing senior men – on the field and for spots in sides.

“At the moment a lot of the over 35s are playing reserves and that stops the junior players coming up,” Watts said.

She reported the league’s numbers had increased over the year, with about 60 new players for 2020.

“We’ve got a bulge coming through of 10, 11, 12 year olds so the thing I’m trying to get people to think about is what are we going to do with those kids in two or three years time,” Watts said.

She said the FFS was also looking at expanding its junior girls grades.

“We would like to do an over 35s and we would like to provide two girls-only competitions,” she said.

“In previous years we’ve only had one, so we would like to have two age groups for girls and then there’s senior women as well.”

Meanwhile, in senior men’s, the Sunraysia-Riverland Cham-pions League will run again between Sunraysia clubs and Riverland opponents – to be played May 24 and June 21 with semi-finals on July 26.

The grand final could be potentially on the weekend of August 29-30 when Sunraysia hosts the South Australian Junior Soccer Association Country Championships.