2022 Game Day Processes & Competition Information

All participants across the state (Player, Coach, Referee, Team Manager, Physio, Volunteer, Committee Member) who partake in any football related activities (Competitive Outdoor, Social, Futsal, Indoor, MiniRoos, ‘in-house’ MiniRoos, Coaching Courses, Referee Courses) are required to register through the National Registration System – Play Football. 

The primary function of a Club Administrator relates to each Club’s Play Football account, and is to set up Registration Packages for the club’s members (Players, Coaches, Managers, Volunteers) and to decline, approve, accept the registration of each of the club’s members. 

Club admin users can access Play Football via this link: https://www.playfootball.com.au/club 

Any participant who wishes to move to a new club must first be de-registered from their current club via Play Football. Only once the de-registration process has been completed can a new registration be created. Once a de-registration has been requested, the player’s club is required to approve (within 7 days) before Football Queensland can approve. Registrations cannot be simply transferred from one club to another. 

The Football Queensland Competitions team uses GameDay (formerly Sports TG). GameDay contains the Competition Management functions to allocate teams to FQ competitions and coordinate fixtures for clubs. 

Club administrators can access GameDay via this link: https://passport.mygameday.app/login/ 

Each club (as the main user) must have already created and be operating a ‘GameDay Passport Account.’ A ‘club administrator’ account can then be attached as an ‘Admin User’ to their club’s GameDay Passport account. 

The primary function of a club administrator (Admin User) in GameDay is to be able to view all their club’s allocated fixtures across any competition that their club’s teams participate in (home/away, venue, date, and time). 

The changes made in the administrative side (back end) of the GameDay system are reflected in the front-end (public facing) interface of the system.

For a player to appear in the GameDay system (both on the admin side and public facing website), the player must be registered and approved in Play Football.  

Every 24 hours, Football Australia transitions all newly approved player registrations from Play Football to GameDay (note that Play Football and GameDay are two distinctly separate systems operated by different parent companies).

In 2022, all competitive competitions (U13 – Senior) across Queensland have transitioned to an online teamsheet process called ‘FQ Teamsheets’. The teamsheet system has been split into three separate regions that align with Football Queensland competition conferences: 

• NQ Teamsheets (for all clubs and competitions in Far North & Gulf, Northern and Whitsunday Coast) – https://nq.fqteamsheets.com.au/Login   
• CC Teamsheets (for all clubs and competitions in Central Coast, Wide Bay and Sunshine Coast) – https://cc.fqteamsheets.com.au/Login 
• SEQ Teamsheets (for all clubs and competitions in South East Queensland – Metro, Darling Downs and South Coast) – https://seq.fqteamsheets.com.au/Login 

Please note each of these Teamsheet databases are independent, with all imported data stored independently of each other and not connected. 

The Australia Cup and Kappa Women’s Super Cup are national and statewide competitions respectively and are housed within the ‘SEQ Teamsheets’ database due to the number of SEQ teams participating in these competitions. This means that managing the data and import functionality is simpler to operate. 

To import fixtures, player registrations and referee appointments into each Teamsheet database, a manual import is required to be completed by Football Queensland. This is completed and delivered through the administrative login of each of the Teamsheet systems through a download function from each of the supporting systems like PlayFootball and GameDay. This process occurs at regular intervals daily for each system in the state.

For a club administrator to have ‘club’ access to each of the Teamsheet databases, they will be required to request access from Football Queensland. The club administrator will then be able to assign ‘team access’ to each manager/coach for each respective team within their club. Individuals with team access will be able to manage their team and their teamsheets for each fixture. The login ID required for access to the TeamSheet web address logins (URLs) outlined above is a member’s National Football Australia number.

If a referee has not been appointed within the required time for a Schedula import which occurs prior to the weekend, a referee will not appear as a Match Official for any fixture within FQ Teamsheets. If this occurs, a referee can assign themselves to a fixture, by also logging into the relevant Teamsheet database/URL, using their FA number, and adding themselves using a ‘matchcode’ which is available from each team manager/club or FQ.

Once a game or fixtured round is complete, the following individuals are required to ensure results are correctly loaded into the system.

If the game was officiated by an FQ referee:

1. 1. 1. FQ referee (within 1 hour of final whistle for Professional Leagues, within 24 hours for Community Leagues)

Both home and away team managers (or Club Administrators) are then required to review the result and confirm that what has been entered (goalscorers, disciplinary, result) is accurate and correct, and approve the teamsheet which will be marked as Final.

If the game was officiated by a club referee, coach or parent:

1. 1. 1. Home team administrator/manager/club referee

The away team manager/administrator is then required to review the result and confirm that what has been entered (goalscorers, disciplinary, result) is accurate and correct, and approve the teamsheet which will be marked as Final.

If any of these individuals fail to enter and submit their teamsheet information, results will not be posted into the ladder system and be reflected online in GameDay.

When the data for a fixture is entered correctly (by all 3 submitters) the match result will appear publicly on GameDay within 24 hours of the fixture being submitted.  

If your match is not showing on GameDay it is because all 3 parties (Referee/Club administrators) have not yet posted their information.

To reduce the burden on clubs, and reduce the data inputs required by volunteers, Football Queensland has deployed the services of two Virtual Robot (VR) solutions for the 2022 season. 

This VR solution functions continuously (24/7) and uses technology to replace the manual input of all results, data, goals, and disciplinary information from the FQ Teamsheet system into GameDay. There are no FQ staff involved in the processing of Teamsheet information and the use of VR ensures match data is published to web and available for public view as soon as possible after each teamsheet has been submitted by the referee and club administrators associated with each fixture. 

Critically, for this VR process to occur promptly and for data to be displayed correctly, players must not be suspended or incorrectly registered and must be able to be located within the GameDay system. If a player or team error arises, the VR will not be able to input the data for that specific fixture and will automatically move to the next fixture that contains correct data within that competition (causing that game to be missing a result). The VR will then send FQ an ‘Exception report’ which details why/how the submission was not posted, what error occurred and what is required to fix it. 

When the match data for a fixture is entered correctly (by all 3 submitters) the match result will appear publicly on GameDay within 24 hours of the fixture being submitted.  

If your match is not showing on GameDay within 24 hours, it is because all three parties (referee/club administrators) have not yet posted their required information. 

So far this season, only 4% of match results across the state have not been available online. In each of these cases this is due to match data not being entered via FQ’s Teamsheet system. 

Match data, results and other ladder information cannot be posted by the Virtual Robot or displayed in GameDay by Football Queensland if the information has not been provided by clubs and referees.

The FQ Teamsheet databases do not have a public facing website or landing page that deliver a clean display of results, statistics, and ladders. Consequently, the competition management system GameDay retains and displays these statistics. This ensures that FQ has data redundancy with two databases housing this information: FQ Teamsheets and GameDay for each competition conference (geographical region).

The Match Official appointment system for the 2022 is ‘Schedula’. Schedula is a subsidiary of GameDay and is integrated with GameDay. 

To ensure referees can be appointed to a fixture, Schedula must first copy across all relevant fixtures from GameDay once they have been correctly entered. These fixtures are entered at the Competition level of the admin side of GameDay. Fixtures are then synchronised across Schedula immediately once fixtures have been ‘Published.’ 

For a referee to appear in Schedula and be deemed ‘available’ to fulfil appointments, the referee must be registered, qualified and approved (meet FA/FQ Code of Conduct, Social Media Policy and Blue Card requirements) by FQ.  

They will then transition to the relevant FQ competition region (e.g. Sunshine Coast, Darling Downs) within Schedula and will be required to update their day-to-day commitments and availability for the FQ Support and Appointments Officer for each region, who can then appoint the referee to suitable fixtures. 

Referee registration numbers in Queensland are currently the highest they’ve ever been, however there is still not a sufficient number of referees across the state to cater to the fast-growing number of participants and teams. 

Football Queensland is continuing to focus on the recruitment, retention and development of match officials across the state in order to grow this area of the game by providing additional support to referees at all levels, including through the recent appointment of referee staff in new roles in every region. 

95% of matches played in the Metro region are being covered with referees. On average, 89% of matches played across the state so far this season have had a referee appointed to them. These coverage rates are record numbers for Football in Queensland and significantly higher than previous years.

COVID-19 continues to have a significant impact on the number of referees available for matches each week, with approximately 8-10% of the referee pool currently unavailable each week due to COVID-19 isolation. This will continue to be a challenge for the foreseeable future, affecting the appointment of referees to some matches at all levels.

All coaches, managers and team officials over the age of 18 must have an ID card for the 2022 season to gain access to the technical area as part of Football Queensland’s ‘No Badge, No Bench, No Ref Room’ initiative.

This member protection initiative has been introduced by Football Queensland and forms part of broader child safety and protection measures that increase visibility and reassurance for parents and participants while reinforcing safeguarding children measures.

Implementing broader policies and integrated measures that keep children safe are Football Queensland’s highest priority. Safeguarding the young participants who are part of our game is considered by FQ to be of far more importance than any minor inconvenience that may be experienced by individuals who are required to apply for a blue card. 

For this reason, the submission of current Working with Children details is mandatory when registering as a coach, manager or team official in Play Football in order to receive an ID card for the 2022 season. 

No, it is the responsibility of the club to verify Working with Children details for all coaches, managers and team officials over the age of 18 and ensure that these are current, correct and updated in the club’s Blue Card Services Organisational Portal.

An ID card will not be issued to an individual if the blue card details are missing or are entered incorrectly.

Individuals with exemption cards are required to provide their exemption number details which will be listed on their ID card.

Football Queensland is continuing to work through the ID card production and distribution processes for registered team officials across the state. 
 
Due to delays in obtaining the required information to produce the cards, the No Badge, No Bench, No Ref Room commencement date has been postponed for a short time as we continue to work with clubs across the state to obtain the necessary information. 
 
Football Queensland will provide a further update once this information has been received and the remaining ID cards have been printed and distributed. 

When linking an individual to your club, you must check the individual’s outcome status to ensure they have a valid blue card before commencing work with the club.

The No Card No Start laws mean a person must have a valid blue or exemption card before they start in child-regulated work. You should familiarise yourself with the below outcomes:

Valid card: this means a blue or exemption card has been issued and is active. This person can work with children.

Application in progress: this means a blue or exemption card application is in progress. This person cannot work with children.

However, a person can work or continue to work with children if they applied for an exemption card, or are a current holder that renewed on time.

Application pending: this means the applicant has only verified their identity online but has not applied. This person cannot work with children.

Clubs should encourage individuals with an application pending outcome to continue with their application. Alternatively, if the individual is no longer proposing to work with your organisation, please delink them.

Click here to view more resources and information on the Blue Card Services Organisational Portal.

Throughout the 2020 and 2021 season, a number of clubs had raised ongoing player welfare concerns with FQ regarding a worrying trend in players’ loads and injuries across U16 and U18 NPL cohorts. 

At the end of the 2021 season, the Football Queensland Technical and Competitions teams reviewed the two NPL Junior Boys Competitions in South East Queensland and confirmed the observed trend in player loading throughout these competitions. 

More than 400 players (more than 60%) across the U16 and U18 cohorts are also involved in the GPS and AIC 1st XI, 2nd XI and 11A/10A programs and both clubs and schools were unaware of their respective commitments. This loading added further stress on the players’ football commitments but also increased injury risk and was a factor when coaches for both clubs and schools were selecting their teams for fixtures. 

As appropriate, in exercising its legal duty of care, Football Queensland met with both the GPS and AIC Football Directors and in November 2021 met with NPL Junior clubs’ Technical Directors and Presidents to consult and discuss the welfare concerns.  

Several options were proposed as a trial for the 2022 season to alleviate load and stress on players and parents. The schools and clubs proposed the idea of facilitating 8 mid-week fixtures (4 home and 4 away) for the Term 2 school calendar only and this was understood, voted on and unanimously agreed by clubs. 

At the conclusion of the 2022 season this will again be reviewed, considering all factors including travel, player safety and welfare, player loading and participation numbers in both competitions. 

Following club consultation and written feedback from clubs post the 2021 season and ensuring we continue to consider and initiate change at the request of our clubs, stakeholders and players, Football Queensland agreed with clubs to implement a grading process for the Men’s and Women’s Metro League Competitions for the 2022 season.  

As there are 18 rounds (+ 2 weekends for Finals) allocated for the Metro League competitions, and ensuring there was enough data on hand to make grading determinations, the 2022 season includes 4 grading games and 14 competitive fixtures (leagues of 8, 7 home fixtures, 7 away fixtures). 

Unfortunately, with the devastating flooding in SEQ, as well as extensive forfeits due to COVID-19 restrictions, not all teams were able to complete their four grading games. With the impediment of time in ensuring teams were graded in preparation for the 2022 start of Metro League competition, teams were placed into their respective leagues using the results of games that were played, with the previous season’s placings considered.  

Football Queensland will again request feedback from players and clubs at the conclusion of the 2022 season to determine whether grading should occur in 2023 and to determine the number of rounds desired by clubs/players. This may include the competitions playing 18-22 fixtures, but not necessarily playing a home and away 2-round season. 

MiniRoos hubs are ultimately determined on a ‘nomination’ basis from each club. At the beginning of each MiniRoos season, clubs are requested to nominate their MiniRoos (5-12) teams into respective U6-U12 competitions and the relevant competitive level (Quokkas, Wallabies, Kangaroos).  

The Football Queensland Competitions team reviews all MiniRoos nominations received from a geographical perspective and then determines which clubs geographically proximal to each other have nominated into the same ‘competitive’ level, placing them in hubs. 

At the conclusion of the 2021 season, Football Queensland received overwhelming feedback from clubs, that for clubs in the Metro Brisbane region that were nominating teams in the same age group and competitive level (due to high volume e.g. Club A nominates 2 x U10 Kangaroos), their preference was for these teams to be placed in different hubs where possible to ensure they are able to play different teams to the ones they can play at a club/training session. 

MiniRoos hubs are built and determined based on nominations, so if a club based on the North side of Brisbane nominates into the Quokka competition but no other nearby clubs also nominate into that competition, they may be required to travel a little further for their away fixtures (noting that in an 18-game season, 8-10 games will be played at home). Often there are clubs that are on the edge of geographical boundary hubs and may be required to fill other hubs nearby for the benefit of the clubs in that competition. 

The fixturing of MiniRoos leagues by the Football Queensland Competitions team is completed without an entry fee or competition administration fee and cost. 

You can locate your FA registration number in your PlayFootball account. 

All players in the Football Australia and Football Queensland model are required to register via PlayFootball (the National Registration System for 2022). Clubs who run in-house MiniRoos are bound by the National Registration Regulations and any club player (4-99) must be registered and active in PlayFootball prior to taking the field for their team/club. This ensures those players are an FA/FQ member and able to access the framework through which their clubs participate under their affiliation agreements. 

Should any incidents (child safety, insurance, member protection, grievances) occur, players are required to be registered to lodge their concerns.  

The registration cost for all players is to ensure they are provided annual access to football as a registered member of FQ and does not pertain to any competitions they may play in. MiniRoos competitions are administered without cost to the clubs/players.

The ‘affiliation agreement’ is required to be completed annually by every one of the 320 football and futsal clubs across Queensland. In doing so, clubs are affiliated to FQ and bind their club to the Federated system as an affiliate club under Football Australia. Affiliated clubs are subsequently permitted to access and play federated football whilst they adhere to and comply with the terms of affiliation which in the main, stem from nationally stipulated governance requirements. 

Once affiliated, clubs are linked to mechanisms under FQ’s constitution and by-laws, permitting clubs to participate in the governance structure of the game including voting in their zone at AGMs, alongside affording them other rights of affiliation including accessing FQ’s broad range of competitions and carnivals, gaining access to coach education, member protection, child safety and the many other services found within the FQ Services Guide.  

Additionally, clubs affiliated to FQ are permitted to apply for funding from government due to their affiliation to the recognised state sporting body. The annual affiliation process also enables FQ to update the constantly evolving information derived from 320 clubs’ boards and committees across the state and ensure they are complying with their legislative and regulatory compliance requirements, which helps reduce the overall risk profile of the game.

Licence agreements are for a much smaller number of clubs who choose to participate in the advanced pyramid competitions offered within a member federation. As these advanced competitions include more complex elements with commercial and professional contracts involved, intellectual property rights, higher standard of facilities and technical requirements, licences provide additional contractual terms over and above those contained within affiliation agreements and commensurate with that advanced level of football. 

The Advanced Club Assessment process exists for those licensed clubs within the advanced space, in a transparent and structurally rigorous way, to manage the implementation of best practice technical outcomes and lift the standard of advanced clubs over time in a nationally consistent way. The assessment process allows the governing body to better link and align advanced clubs with the talent ID and development pathway across the state in line with national development requirements. 

Advanced Club Assessment scores and outcomes are used to allocate advanced junior clubs into the NPL Academy, NPL Development and FQPL Development leagues. 

The established and agreed communication protocol for football in Queensland is structured so that football clubs are the official conduit between their members (participants) and Football Queensland. Therefore, the lines of communication, in the initial instance, should always exist between yourself and your club committee to raise anything related to competitions, referees, pathways or club matters.  

Each club has up to five approved contacts who liaise directly with Football Queensland (Competitions, Region Managers) regarding any enquiries throughout the season. A significant amount of information and communication from Football Queensland on all football matters is provided regularly via eDM, email and phone to these approved contacts who may disseminate this information as required to club members or stakeholders. 

In the majority of cases, your club would already be in possession of the answer to your enquiry or should they not, will be able to pass on your enquiry on your behalf to obtain any information that is being sought. 

Club committees represent football clubs and are responsible for the decisions of clubs, which is why they are the communication interface with the governing body.  

If you have questions or alternative positions around structures, leagues or FQ positions, please direct these to your club committee. In the vast majority of cases, the current policies in football are a direct result of a position taken by your club committee. Football Queensland cannot directly engage with individuals on policy matters unless your club committee has authorised you to act on their behalf. 

If your enquiry is in relation to a concern that pertains to your club, you are welcome to contact Football Queensland on 3208 2677 to discuss the process by which you would lodge this concern. 

The regrading of teams is based on an assessment process including results and requests (from appointed club spokespeople) throughout any given competition (including Competitive, MiniRoos, Community Leagues). 

Several factors are taken into consideration when the FQ Competitions team action such requests. These can be, but are not limited to: effects on schedules and already existing fixtures, how many fixtures may need to be made up to keep a division equitable and viable, the effects on competition sizing when moving teams in and out of divisions. 

The purpose of regrading is to transfer teams who have demonstrated that they cannot compete competitively in their current division, and is not specific to teams who have ‘won’ all of their games or ‘lost’ all of their games. Ultimately, we often see there are teams within a division that may compete with 2 or 3 teams but not the entire division. 

If your club officials wish to request to regrade a particular team, this request needs to be made in writing through appointed club contacts to the Football Queensland Competitions team.