World Footy News

The AFL today said it would proceed with the creation of a state-league based knockout competition from 2011 onwards, which will showcase the quality of state league football across the country.

AFL General Manager National and International Development David Matthews said the AFL was intending to develop a new competition which would invite 16 teams from the various state leagues across the country to play in a knockout competition.

All state league competitions confirmed their interest to the AFL this week in being part of the competition, with invitations to teams within each league based on ladder position and the availability of the club to compete.





Mr Matthews said the SANFL, AFL Victoria and the WAFL – as senior state leagues – had each confirmed team representation this week and the AFL was delighted that clubs had been prepared to take up the new opportunity to contest the game across state lines.

“From 2011, our traditional state-league clubs in each league that have built our game’s strength through more than a century of the development of Australia’s only indigenous game, will be able to pit themselves against other state-league players, with four victories required in a straight knock-out contest to claim the title,” Mr Matthews said.

Mr Matthews said that much work still had to be done around the fixturing of games, to ensure that the state-league competition schedules appropriately accommodate the new competition.

A final fixture and other key competition details was still being determined, in consultation with the fixture for each state league, and was aimed to be released early in the new year, along with prizemoney and sponsorship details.