To be eligible for finals (and subject to the operation of Rule -53D) a player must be eligible and registered to represent the club; meet any applicable age requirement; and meet the games qualification in the current season as stated below:
- (i) Senior (men); – – no games qualification.
- (ii) WPC and WDC – a minimum of 2 games for the Club they wish to represent in finals.
- (iii) WRC – a minimum of 3 WRC games and a maximum of 8 higher ranked games.
- (iv) Under 19 – a minimum of 2 games for the Club in any Section PROVIDED THAT a player who has played in 6 or more Open-age games must have played a minimum of 6 Under 19 games.
- (v) Reserve – a minimum of 4 Reserve or Third Section games and a maximum of 10 higher ranked games.
- (vi) Third – a minimum of 4 Third Section games and a maximum of 10 higher ranked games.
- (vii) Club XVIII – a minimum of 4 Club XVIII games and a maximum of 8 higher ranked games.
53D. Rule 53C must be read subject to the following special finals eligibility Rules:
53D.1 AFL, VFL or TAC listed players
- (i) For Men’s Competitions of the VAFA. The qualification is a minimum of 5 games for the team a player wishes to represent in finals, 2 of which must be after 30 June or in the alternative, a minimum of 8 games in total during the season without any temporal limitation PROVIDED THAT an Under-age player may combine Senior and Under-age games in order to meet the 5 or 8 game qualification for Senior finals.
- (ii) For Women’s Competitions of the VAFA. The qualification is a minimum of 4 games for the team a player wishes to represent in finals, 2 of which must be after 30 June or in the alternative, a minimum of 6 games in total during the season.
53D.2 Under-age hybrid teams
The finals qualification for a hybrid team comprising a combination of players from more than one Club (including a Club from another competition as referred to in Rule 44(b)) is a minimum of 5 games for that team.
53D.3 Playing more than one game on a weekend
- (i) If a player plays in more than one VAFA game on the same weekend, only the highest ranked game counts for finals eligibility purposes.
- (ii) If a player plays in an AFL/VFL/TAC game and a VAFA game on the same weekend, the VAFA game does not count for finals eligibility purposes.
53D.4 Clubs fielding more than one team in a Section or Women’s competition (i) Open-age:
(A) If the teams are in different Sections – to be eligible to play finals for the lower-ranked team a player must not have played more than 10 games in the higher-ranked team in the Men’s Competition and 8 games in a higher ranked team in the Women’s Competition.
(B) If the teams are in the same Section:
- (1) a player cannot interchange between teams after 30 June;
- (2) a player can only play finals for his post-30 June team; and
- (3) the games qualification is a minimum of 4 games for the finals team, and more games for the finals team than the other team.
(ii) Under-age:
To be eligible to play finals for the lower-ranked team a player must not have played more than 10 games in the higher-ranked team, unless both such teams are playing on the same weekend (in which case this special Rule does not apply).
53D.5 More than one team playing finals on the same weekend
Where a club has more than one team playing finals on the same calendar weekend the following special games qualifications apply:
- (i) [Senior and Reserve playing] – the qualification for Reserve is a minimum of 2 games in the Senior or Reserve or Third Section.
- (ii) [Reserve and Third playing] – the qualification for Third is a minimum of 4 games in the Reserve or Third Section, and a maximum of 10 higher ranked games.
- (iii) [Senior and Under-age team playing] – the qualification for the Under-age team does not include the 6-game provision in Rule 55C(b)(i) or 55C(c).
- (iv) [Reserve or Third and Under-age team playing] – the qualification for the Under-age team does not include the 6-game provision in Rule 55C(b)(i) or 55C(c) provided the player has otherwise met the games qualification for the Reserve or Third Section, as the case may be.
- (v) WPC and WRC playing – the qualification for either team is a minimum of 2 games for the club.
- (vi) WDC higher ranked team and WDC lower ranked team – the qualification for either team is a minimum of 2 games for the club.
53D.6 Over-age players in Under-age Sections
Over–age players are Not Permitted to play in finals matches in accordance with the Overage Policy as approved by the Board.
The home and away matches of the Under 19 Section (men) shall be open to all eligible and registered players who are aged 19 years or under as at the 1st day of July in each year or where in the opinion of the Board special circumstances exist, such other age and/or qualifying criteria as the Board determines from time to time.
The home and away matches of the Under 19 Section (men) shall be open to all eligible and registered players to represent the Club with which they have been granted a permit provided that players registered after the 30th June in any year to play in the Under 19 Section (men) shall be ineligible to participate in Senior or Reserve matches during the remainder of the season in which they receive a permit to play.
The home and away matches of the Senior, Reserve and Third Sections (men) shall be open to all eligible and registered players to represent the Club with which they have been granted a permit.
The home and away matches of the Club XVIII Section (men) shall be open to all eligible and registered players to represent the Club with which they have been granted a permit.
The Home & Away matches of the WPC, WRC and WDC shall be open to all eligible and registered players to represent the Club with which they have been granted a permit.
The following definitions apply for the purposes of Rules 53B – 53D:
- (i) ‘Games’ refers to VAFA home and away games during the season for which the player has signed the official team sheet.
- (ii) ‘Weekend’ refers to matches scheduled for a particular home and away round, regardless of the day played.
- (iii) ‘Ranked’ refers to the ranking of Sections stated in Rule -53B and the ranking of Sections as is determined by the Board each year
The ranking of Sections for men is Senior, Under 19, Reserve, Third XVIII and Club XVIII; and the ranking of competitions for Women’s is WPC, WDC and WRC -.
