Mildura to host South Australian junior soccer event

THOUSANDS are expected to flock to Mildura in August with Football Federation Sunraysia hosting the South Australian Junior Soccer Association Championships.

The August 29-30 championships will pit country associations against each other in a carnival format across junior grades.

Football Federation Sunraysia (FFS) general manager Susan Watts said playing numbers alone would likely reach four figures, not including parents, team managers, coaches and officials.

“There will be 1000 kids playing there probably,” Watts said.

FFS is hoping to capitalise on the fixture to incorporate the final of the Sunraysia-Riverland Senior Men’s Challenge that weekend in its draft 2020 season.

“We were thinking because the Riverland guys would come here to play in that, we might try to do the final –  which you would hope would be a Riverland team versus a Sunraysia team –  on the Saturday night under lights or the Sunday afternoon after the SAJSA Championships finish,” Watts said.

While the Sunraysia soccer season calendar is yet to be formally adopted there are set to be a few changes for the three domestic competitions throughout the season, particularly in the senior men.

Football Federation Sunraysia’s season is divided into the Knockout Cup, the S-League season itself and a finals series.

In the Senior Men there is a proposal to expand the finals series to Champion’s League-style home-and-away ties over three weeks, with clubs utilising their home grounds.

In this format, should teams be deadlocked after two legs away, the goals count doubles as a tiebreaker.

The grand finals will still be held on September 20, with the Senior Men’s finals series starting on September 6 while all other grades have the final round of their S-League season.

To compensate for the change in schedule the Senior Men are set to have two Thursday night rounds on June 4 and July 2 (rounds six and nine).

At the start of the season the Senior Men are also proposed to play their Knockout Cup as a round robin on May 3, while all other grades will play over three weeks with their cup grand finals on that day.

In terms of divisions, Watts said at the moment there were three teams for an over 35s’ competition – with the possibility of a fourth.

FFS is also hoping to have an under 16 girls’ competition on top of a continuing under 13 girls’ competition.

“They will be half pitch,” she said.

“Girls can play in the under 16 mixed competition if they want – that’s full pitch.

“It’s really about giving girls a different opportunity to play at a different level, and we can build on that down the track.

“My goal would be in the long run to have under 12, under 14 and under 16 girls – only competitions, then the girls can choose whether they play with the boys or just play with the girls.”