Thousands of teenage boys have walked away from their local footy clubs in the two years since Covid struck.

The number of teen players in suburban and regional Victoria is down six per cent from 2019 — approximately 5000 players — forcing the AFL to focus on youth participation as one of its highest priorities.

A Saturday Herald Sun investigation has revealed some clubs are struggling to field teams in junior and senior footy teams, while hundreds of volunteers have failed to return.

Umpire numbers have also plummeted across the state leaving a gaping hole and question marks on how some games will go ahead.

Leagues are considering reverting to 16-a-side in lower grades to help offset the player shortage.

With local footy returning today across country Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne, clubs and communities need support.

Executive General Manager of Game Development Rob Auld told the Herald Sun the governing body’s “main focus needs to be getting participation back up and running”.

He said junior boys, aged between 10 and 18, had recorded the “biggest area of decline” compared with figures from pre-pandemic levels.

Auskick numbers are also down about six per cent with some programs not starting until after the upcoming school holidays.

Across all age groups though there are more 120,000 registered players across the state ahead of today’s first bounce — more than compared to the same time in 2019.

AFL clubs are doing their bit to encourage greater junior participation with the Western Bulldogs announcing they would cover the league registration fees of 5000 under 8 to 16s Western Region league footballers - at a cost of more than $100,000.

“Youth footy is where we’ve got some work to do,” Mr Auld said.

“In terms of senior footy, the numbers are closer to pre-pandemic levels to where they are in youth.

“One of the focuses of local footy in 2022 is to restore the confidence in households of having continuity and certainty in the season.

AFL coaches and captains have joined the call to arms to get participants back in the game.

with the AFL asking club captains and senior players to create messages and send them to junior competitions, encouraging missing players to rejoin their local clubs.

“The AFL players appreciate and understand how critical the support for grassroots football is for the future of the game,” Mr Auld said.

“They all had their start at either community clubs or school teams and when we met with the captains a few weeks ago, they were incredibly supportive of their local clubs and the support that local volunteers provided them.

“They know it is a great environment for young people and want as many back playing as possible.”

Coaches including Damien Hardwick, Chris Fagan and first-year Collingwood mentor Craig McRae have been involved in webinars with more than 8000 community coaches, providing insight and advice.

“The coaches have been an incredible support to community clubs and I can’t thank them enough,” Mr Auld said.

“It was fantastic to hear the AFL coaches engaging first-hand with community coaches and talking through every aspect of leading and coaching a team.”

The AFL’s commitment to boosting participation numbers includes the launch of the Golden Rego Giveaway with prizes on offer for any player, coach, volunteer or administrator who registers with a club for 2022.

It also promised an additional $8m community football support package in December.

The game’s governing body will cover accreditation fees for coaches, sport trainers and umpires this year.

Mr Auld said 30 volunteer support officers, costing $1.6m, would be employed to help clubs “turn the lights back on”.

“It’s one of our most exciting and important initiatives in Victoria,” he said.

“It will help clubs reboot. These people are paid by the AFL to help ease the burden on volunteers by guiding them through all the black and white details of running a club.

“We want to make the lives of these people easier. In pre-season terms, the volunteers haven’t done a full pre-season in two years. They’re coming back to getting their clubs up and running again which is a big job.

Despite admitting there will still be bumps along the way for footy clubs, Mr Auld said the outlook was much brighter than some people might have expected.

“Community footy is very important to the AFL. It’s a huge priority,” Mr Auld said.

“We need to continue working with leagues and clubs in the short-term to boost participation but in the long-term make sure we’ve got the right support in place.

“Community footy is as well placed as it has been to enjoy a fantastic period of time. But I’m not sitting here with rose coloured glasses saying it is all fine.

“Footy has such an important part in reconnecting communities, it’s more than about the game at the minute.

“Victoria needs footy to get itself back together.”

Several country clubs have been open in their battles to get started in 2022 including Benalla (Goulburn Valley league) and Port Fairy (Hampden league).

Meanwhile Yarroweyah, which plays in the Picola District league in Victoria’s north, will field only a reserves side after it launched a desperate plea for players just three weeks out from the start of the season.

“We would have loved to have a senior side but we weren’t in a position to,” club president Geoff Benson said.

“From last year we had over 20 retirements and being in a small town with six clubs in a 30km radius makes it hard to close those gaps.

“If AFL Victoria continues to bring down the salary cap as well it’s going to make it a lot easier for us. There are some instances where potential recruits are asking how much we can pay them. It’s like ‘hang on don’t you want to know about the club and what we stand for’.

“We’re known as a family club and that’s how we want to sell ourselves.

“Our town only has about 290 people living here and if the footy club goes, I’d hate to think of the repercussions.”

The pinch has also been felt by clubs in Melbourne.

Southern league club Hampden Hammers have dropped from Division 2 to 4 due to a player shortage, while Jacana will only have a senior side in the Essendon District competition.

In the Outer East, Officer senior coach Doug Koop said player depth has been hurt.

“Covid’s had a massive effect,’’ he said.

“Blokes are just saying, ‘nah I’m going to work instead of playing footy’. There is still that uncertainty.’’

Gembrook Cockatoo coach Brad Coller said some players at his club are still undecided if they will pull on the boots on the eve of round 1.

“There are a couple of boys still deciding if they will play or not, which from what I hear around the traps is very common at the moment,’’ he said.

“Motivation for the players is probably at an all-time low due to the circumstances.

“It’s been a tough pre-season. It’s been a tough three years, the boys have done three pre-seasons for eight games.

“It’s taken a toll — everyone just wants to start playing.’

However, junior numbers in the same competition are on the “rise” according to league chief executive Aaron Bailey.

“We’re about 12 to 14 teams up from last year and our team numbers in terms of our other competitions are very similar.

“One thing we’re certainly seeing is teams may have had 30 (players) but now they have 25 or 20 but we think people will come back to the game as the season starts and they feel more confident of it going ahead.

“Certainly from our perspective all indications are our participation numbers will mirror last year.”

Essendon District league club Hadfield said it was experiencing a similar situation as it prepares to field an under 18s men’s side for the first time since 2016.

President Alan Kerr said the team came after a group of about 15 players approached the club with an interest to play.

“We were focusing on our other teams and didn’t believe it was going to happen,” he said.

“The majority of our older senior guys, who are in their late 20s, played for our 18s a long time ago so it’s a real launching pad for careers.

“There are several clubs in the surrounding area which means it can be a real battle for junior and senior players.”

After AFL chief executive Gill McLachlan said community footy was “6000 umpires short” in March, associations across the state have experienced an upturn.

Paul Carter, president of the South Gippsland Umpires Association, said his organisation had recruited more than 10 new umpires.

He said social media advertising and events including a “bring a friend night” had played a significant role in the uptake of officiating.

“We’ve sold it as a way of keeping fit and making some money in the process,” he said.

“Building relationships with the clubs has been important for us, whether it has been going along to training sessions and explaining the new rules or officiating their intraclub practice matches.

“We’ve had between 40 and 50 members on the training track which is almost more than 20 compared to previous years.”

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