Player Registrations

The online player registration system is now up and running for the 2009 season.
We apologize for the delay.

ALL players need to register and agree to the waiver PRIOR to playing any game for their club. We know clubs have already started and with the system not working earlier that would be impractical to adopt and impossible to enforce this year. Players are required to at least sign a hard copy waiver before playing any game to be covered under the League’s Liability Insurance program.

Clubs can direct payers to the regsistration button to the left on the usfooty.com hompepage ....OR ....clubs can manually register multiple players at one time by sending a check for multiple regsitrations along with the names of the players they are mass-registering along with the check.

These are the player regsistration fees for 2009:
 
      -          $40 per player  - if paid before June 30 ..(NOW EXTENDED TO JULY 31)
      -          $50 per player -  if paid between August 01 - August 31
      -          $60 per player -  if paid between September 01- September 30
      -          $75 per player -  if paid after September 30, including registrations at Nationals.

      -          The fee includes participation at the 2009 Nationals
      -          No rebates if registered player does not attend Nationals.
      -          No discounts for students, first year players or women this year.
      -          No “name exchanges”. Once a player is registered that payment cannot be transferred to another player.

This is a USAFL Player - 2009 Season Registration (which includes participation at 2009 Nationals). The loadings are designed to encourage teams to register as many players as early as they can. If someone “comes out of the woodwork” later in the season, conveniently before Nationals, and they gain an exemption from the 3 point qualification system, that's fine, they can play, but they are going to pay more than the player who registered early and has been contributing to their club and USFooty all year.  

Here are the steps:
1. Clubs should be getting players to sign hard copy waivers as soon as possible, just to be safe. Keep them and bring copies to Nationals.
2. Send checks for total player registrations to the USAFL, 1550 Larimer St #195, Denver CO 80202
3. List the name of each player you are regsitering and state if they are a National or Non-National. A “National” is a player born in the USA. A Non-National is a player not born in the USA. We will be checking proof at Nationals. 
5. Clubs can send in as many “group registrations” as you like.  

Buck's Stops Here

_{Alistair MacGlashan, Anthony Sacco, Nathan Buckley and Alan McConnell in Chicago, IL.}   

Two lucky members of the Chicago Australian Football Association were fortunate enough to catch up with a few visitors from the AFL over the weekend in the Windy City. Alistair MacGlashan and Anthony Sacco (both one-eyed Magpie Supporters) managed to meet with AFL Game Development Manager David Matthews and AFL legends Nathan Buckley and Alan McConnell while traveling through Chicago.

A great supporter of USFOOTY, this was not the first visit to Chicago for David who spent some time in the City of Big Shoulders with Kevin Sheedy and Kevin Morris after the 2004 USAFL Nationals.  For Nathan and Alan it was their first time in Chicago.

David, Nathan and Alan are currently visiting the Univeristy of Notre Dame in South Bend Indiana, followed by further engagements on the east coast.

Nathan Buckley is one of the most highly decorated AFL players of all time. Six Copeland Trophies (Collingwood Best and Fairest), the 1993 Rising Star Award (Rookie of the Year), the 2002 Norm Smith Medal (AFL Grand Final B.O.G.), numerous All-Australian and International Rules Caps and of course the 2003 Brownlow Medal (AFL Best and Fairest) are just some of the awards he has won.  He payed 280 games for Brisbane and Collingwood (Captain 1999-2007) after a brief stint in the SANFL where in 1992 he won the Magarey Medal (SANFL B& F), the Port Adelaide B & F, the SANFL Grand Final B.O.G. while winning a Premiership with the Port Adelaide Magpies. 

He is currently in an assistant coaching position with the AIS-AFL Academy squad and is also coaching the Vic Country under-16s.  Nathan has numerous media comitments in particular with 3AW Football.

Alan McConnell is the AIS/AFL Academy High Performance Coach. Prior to his appointment to this role, McConnell, a former Western Bulldogs player who played 38 games with the club between 1980-82. He spent six years with Fitzroy from 1991-96, including stints as club senior coach before its merger with the then-Brisbane Bears, and seven years as a Geelong assistant coach from 1997-2003.

Most recently Alan was recognised with an Australian Sports Commission 2009 Australia Day Achievement Medallion.

USAFL to form Aussie All-Stars team

As part of the upcoming International Footy weekend to be held in Mason, Ohio on August 1st and 2nd, 2009 the USAFL will be forming a special Aussie All-Star team. The team will play two games over the course of the Weekend.

Saturday August 1st: 
USAFL Aussie All Stars v Canadian Aussie All-Stars.
USAFL American Revolution v Canadian North Wind

Sunday August 2nd:
USAFL Aussie All-Stars v Canadian Northwind
USAFL American Revolution v Canadian Aussie All-Stars.
 
We are doing this for a few key reasons:
 
1/. We need new and better competitions for our National teams. At the 2008 International Cup the Revolution has not improved at the rate of the other nations. If we can play an all Aussie team then it will improve the team
 
2/. We want to ensure that our Aussie players get the chance to play on the best possible team against the best possible competition.
 
This will become an Annual event so we want to ensure a good team to get us started.
 
Mason, Ohio is the site of this year’s National Championships. It has easy access from Cincinnati, Dayton or Columbus airports. Accommodation has been organized thru the Revolution.  We've secured a hotel rate of $119/night (double or triple) at the Kings Island Resort and Conference Center in Mason, OH.  Its about 5 - 10 minutes to the field.  We highly suggest you stay at this hotel. 

To make a reservation call the reservation line at 1-800-727-3050 and ask for the group name July/Aug meeting US Footy. It is important you distinguish this from Nationals in October.
 
If you are interested please email Jason Becker at jason.almighty@gmail.com. Jason is an assistant coach on the Revolution and will be coordinating the team during the weekend.

Please, respond if you are interested ASAP so we can coordinate numbers. If you are a non-Aussie and would like to play please contact Jason and we will create a stand-by list. The intent is to create an Aussie team like we did for Pittsburg in 2003 and for the AFL curtain raiser in LA in 2006.
 
We look forward to a great weekend of Footy.

USAFL Office Manager

I have been in the Office Manager role since the end of February in a part-time capacity. I will be stepping aside at the end of this month to concentrate on my full-time job (that I have still been doing) and raising my new 5 week old son. We have a new person, Amie Kennedy and a new role “League Administrator”, starting in the first week of July.

Up until February this year the USAFL Office Manager had been a full-time position. It is the only paid position (not counting our accounting contractor).

At The USAFL Board meeting in February the board members, like every other organization in this current climate, reviewed every dollar coming in and out of the organization. As a board member at the time I volunteered to take on the role part-time after our previous Office Manager (Meaghan) left in January to see first hand what we could conceivably achieve on a reduced hours basis without reducing the level of service provided to clubs.

We have decided to keep this role as a part-time position. The role will be more of a portal for information to flow through and kept track of. A one-stop shop for all incoming enquires and outgoing dissemination of information. Probably what the role was originally intended to do but over time evolved into a dumping ground by all ….for all. More specific tasks will be distributed to the relevant volunteer board & portfolio members for completion. Please do not expect this role to be the “jack of all trades” role that many of us have come to expect. Your enquires will be handled, just be patient and realistic. The new role will be more effective than what the previous role had developed into….and it will be more cost effective for the League. As Albert Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results!”  We want different results.

We appreciate your patience during this period of transition for the League. I have enjoyed getting an inside view of the comings and goings of the clubs and wish you all the best for the remainder of the season. I look forward to catching up with you at Nationals in October.

THE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED FROM JUNE 19 TO JULY 6.

Thanks,
James