2018 VAFA Media & Communications Report

Nick Armistead

As the size of the competition expands in both men’s and women’s football each year, so too does the output from VAFA Media as we aim to provide comprehensive coverage of our Association through a wide-ranging number of digital, social, print and broadcast platforms.

In line with VAFA Media’s strategic objectives to increase player participation and provide an overarching platform to showcase our clubs and their own media offerings, new initiatives were implemented in 2018 while pre-existing assets were expanded and improved upon to allow greater coverage of, and to, the VAFA community.

VAFA Women’s Statistics & Match Filming

VAFA Media ventured into the world of publicly accessible live match day statistics with the introduction of the VAFA Live Official App for the William Buck Premier women’s competition. Powered by Complete Sports Management, the three-tiered mobile application collected and provided in-depth information; including, news, live scores, match centre, team and player stats, match reports, live ladders, goal kickers and post-match on-camera interviews. Now we have successfully showcased the capabilities of the VAFA Live Official App, the aim is to provide the same resource for the men’s competition in a bid to provide greater coverage for players, clubs and supporters alike. Further to this, the VAFA filmed the four weekly William Buck Premier women’s games and uploaded them directly to VAFA TV, increasing the number of weekly match videos to 19. The William Buck Premier women’s grand final was live streamed to the VAFA website and Facebook page in addition to the William Buck Premier and Premier B men’s deciders.

VAFA Podcast

New to VAFA Media’s arsenal was the For the Love of the Game podcast released each Wednesday throughout the season. Joe Pignataro, Brian Waldron and I aimed to deliver thorough previews and reviews of VAFA action, create thought-provoking discussion and promote clubs with weekly interviews. Players, coaches and officials contributed significantly to the success of the first-year venture, with 31 guests from 26 episodes; including, Michael Christian, Danny Frawley, Nat Edwards and Daniel Harford among a host of VAFA representatives. Accessible on VAFA.com.au and via iTunes, the podcast registered over 5000 full listens and created regular engagement and discussion with the VAFA Twitter community. The podcast would not have been possible without Joe and Brian as their enthusiasm and vast knowledge of the competition helped to ensure a professional product. Joe, as the host and producer, worked tirelessly and I thank them both for their contribution.

VAFA Tragics

In 2018, the Tragics was reformatted to allow for greater engagement from the VAFA community with newly-formed segments and weekly guests. Participation from the playing community increased exponentially, with 24 guests on 21 episodes – three times more than 2017 – assisting in additional club publicity. The ‘Best Use of Social’ segment allowed the Tragics to actively promote the work of clubs and their media personnel at an average of 3.7K Facebook video views per week, while they successfully promulgated the reduction of dim sim prices from club canteens via the unlikely social movement #dimsimgate. It proved a light-hearted but successful engagement tool with players and clubs taking it upon themselves to tweet and tag the price of dim sims from various VAFA canteens. Numbers-wise, we saw significant increases in views on both YouTube (full episodes) and Facebook (segments). Andrew Leonard’s contribution as co-host cannot be underestimated as he continually strove to improve the show with ideas, opinions and the utmost professionalism.

Amateur Footballer

Alisha Min joined the VAFA staff in April as the Media, Marketing and Events Officer and oversaw the production of the first full-colour Amateur Footballer. Teamed with exceptional photography, community stories, sponsor promotions and match reporting, the weekly editions of the Amateur Footballer were a firm reminder of what can be achieved by a group of dedicated staff and volunteers. It is a credit to Alisha and her team of scribes who produce high quality content in such a tight timeframe each week. The VAFA, however, is not immune to the current state of print media as we experienced another decline in Amateur Footballer sales. The challenge of improving its perceived value to clubs and sponsors remains a key focus for VAFA Media in 2019 and beyond.

VAFA Website

VAFA.com.au continues to drive the highest engagement of all VAFA Media platforms and channels, with more than 3m page views annually. In April, the website transitioned to a new hosting platform to increase speed, improve stability and overall performance. The layout of the home page was revamped to enhance useability; including, a redesigned featured news section, featured videos and additional links for easier access to the VAFA Podcast. Despite hitting the 3m page views target again this year, we experienced a drop-off from 2017 due to issues with SportsTG’s live scores page and subsequently needing to redirect traffic away from the VAFA website. While this did not improve the user experience on match days, it meant the VAFA website did not lag in conjunction with SportsTG’s. Measures are currently being put in place to safeguard the availability of match results irrespective of outsourced programs and we will continue to work closely with SportsTG to ensure an improved user experience for all. Outside of live scores, fixtures and results, it is pleasing to note VAFA.com.au registered 422,000 more-page views across all other sections of the website than in 2017.

VAFA Media Awards

For the first time, VAFA Media presented four awards at the 2017 AGM and Awards Dinner in a bid to recognise the significant contribution of clubs’ media volunteers. Such was the interest, 2018 will mark the first-ever VAFA Media Awards Luncheon as we hand out six awards at Elsternwick Park on December 13. The 2017 winners are below:

• Best Photograph (Action) – Mark Chapple (Oakleigh AFC)
• Best Photograph (Character of the Game) – Phyllis Quealy (Fitzroy FC)
• Best Online News/Feature Story – Suzanne Madeley and Gabrielle Murphy (Fitzroy FC)
• Best Use of Digital Media – St Mary Salesian

VAFA Media Days

The Media Days were held over two days on March 15 & 16 with more than 80 players and two umpires representing their clubs at TH King Oval. I thank St Kevin’s OB and Stonnington Council for the use of the first-class facility, and Tristan Manas from Project 628 who filmed the two-day marathon for the third successive year.

Social Media Followers in 2018

Facebook – 10,052 (14.8% increase)

Twitter – 6,301 (5.7% increase)

Instagram

• @vafahq – 3438 (38.50% increase)
• @vafawomens – 1829 (74% increase)

Acknowledgements

VAFA Media is made up of a large contingent of dedicated volunteers, each of whom I would like to personally thank for their involvement throughout the 2018 season; Ken Petruco and the team at 96.5 Inner FM, Glenn Scarborough (North-West FM), Andrew Leonard and Lucy Lechich (VAFA Tragics), Joe Pignataro and Brian Waldron (FTLOTG Podcast), Aditya Vishagan (Women’s Statistician) and our dedicated Amateur Footballer Scribes. The engagement of our playing community was at an all-time high in 2018, and I’d like to thank the clubs and, more specifically, the players for making themselves available across a variety of media platforms throughout the year. Finally, the staff and Board at HQ who consistently provide feedback and support to ensure VAFA Media’s continued success.