Alinta Energy Gippsland League has expanded again in the lead up to season 2023 with the implementation of a number of new roles and programs to continue to develop and grow the organization and benefits for the member clubs. The latest edition to the program schedule is courtesy of partner iSports and will deliver a full statistical analysis of each senior match including team stats, individual player stats and video files for our coaches and umpires to analyse the games. It will be a region first and bring the League in line with many of the top competitions around the state and country with all senior matches filmed and provided with statistics in season 2023.
During the off season the organization grew it’s resourcing to include five key off field business operations roles. The League also introduced a new leadership roles for the board of management with Andrew Livingstone stepping into the chair role and Jodi Galea moving into the vice chair position. Alinta Energy Gippsland League has invested heavily in becoming a leader in the gender equality space and Galea’s appointment into the vice chair role along with the introduction of a female board quota into the constitution is a great step forward for not just the League but community sport in Gippsland. South Gippsland Shire Director of Economy and Community Renae Littlejohn became the newest member of the board of management when she was unanimously elected at a February meeting of the board and clubs.
The off-field business operations introduced three key new roles for season 2023. Brandon Milburn became the second full time role appointed as he steps into the newly created League Operations Manager position. His role administering the on-field competitions and providing added club support is already reaping benefits early into the tenure. Former AFL Umpire and EFNL Head of Umpiring Peter Carey’s role is assisting the Alinta Energy Gippsland League with the operational requirements for football umpiring and the relationship with the five umpiring panels who officiate matches for the League. Peter will also play an active role in the tribunal structure for season 2023.
The League has also appointed a netball umpire development role that will play a key role in developing the member club umpires and delivering a netball umpire program aimed at delivering new umpires for the League. Robyn English steps into the role and in a first, this role will oversee a further three on the ground resources in each of the East, Central & West regions while Robyn will provide on the ground support to the Southern region.
These three new roles will join current General Manager Daniel Heathcote and Netball Coordinator Carlie Dwyer. Carlie has been in various roles with the League for over a decade and will be expanding her current Netball Operations Coordinator role in 2023 to help deliver some key programs. Daniel will be entering his 8th season overseeing the business operations of the Gippsland League and will continue to lead the off-field team.
“It is great to be in a position where we can invest and implement more assets and programs especially in the umpiring and volunteer resource space. Being able to grow the organization and our support to the member clubs and volunteers without any further financial cost to the clubs is a significant goal to have achieved” said General Manager Daniel Heathcote
“As a League it is a focus to deliver actions on our words and strategic vision by introducing a second full time role, expanding our netball administration resourcing, implementing umpiring roles for both football and netball while continuing to provide additional programs to the clubs”
We also welcome several new business partners who are aligning themselves with the League and a number of new initiatives set to continue to push the Alinta Energy Gippsland League ahead of its counterparts. We would like to welcome our returning naming rights partner and major sponsor Alinta Energy and Loy Yang B Power Station. Also in a huge positive for the League Evans Petroleum will continue their partnership along with our long term partner TRFM. We welcome two new major partners with Optus joining the League to support our TV and netball product and also Virtue Homes who are another key supporter of our football and netball products on and off the field.
This year not only has this publication been added to the schedule but a new and exciting representative program with Virtue Homes All Star weekend scheduled for May 20th. This event will showcase some of the best junior and up and coming talent within our League and provide a great opportunity for our stakeholders to get together during the season. We have also invested a large amount of dollars and resources into assisting umpiring including both a football umpiring resource and a netball umpiring resource that will oversee three more netball umpiring resources provided by the League.
In terms of the fan experience the League has committed to filming and live streaming every senior football match this year via Optus GLTV. That's all games including finals available live and on demand for fans that can’t get to the games. We also are investing in regular filming of netball matches in a first for the region thanks to Optus.
Off the back of a successful return to competition in 2022, the League is excited to deliver several key areas of support and programing to assist the member clubs and their volunteers in the future. Some of the key initiatives including transitioning the netball administration system to PlayHQ at the request of the clubs, introducing added representative sport including an Intraleague event, implementing a match review panel along with League funded equipment programs.
“In 2022 we were able to supply our clubs new runner, trainers and water carrier uniforms. This season we will be supplying new volunteer football umpire tops, netball umpiring tops, additional runners shorts and access to new training netballs thanks to our major partner Optus” said Heathcote
