Junior Gala Days locked in for 2025
THE dates and venues for the AFL North West’s Junior Gala Days have been finalised.
The first Gala Day will be held on Sunday, May 4, the day after the senior season starts.
The venue for the first event will be hosted by the New England Nomads at Armidale.
From that point the Gala Days will rotate around the North West region.
- Sunday, May 4 at Armidale
- Sunday, May 25 at Tamworth
- Sunday, June 15 at Inverell
- Sunday, June 29 at Gunnedah
- Sunday , July 27 at Glen Innes
- Sunday, August 17 at Tamworth
- Sunday, August 31 – Under 12 and Under 14 Grand Finals
Each Gala Day will start at 9.30am with the non-competitive Under 10 age group playing before the Under 12s start at 10.30am followed by matches for the Under 14s.
This season will see less Gala Days to reduce the amount of travel required. But the Gala Days will see each team play two matches to make sure the young players still get plenty of footy through the season.
Brad Greenshields, Community Football and Competition Manager for Northern NSW, said the altered format comes from a desire in the local football community to make the junior program the best it can be.
“The feedback from parents and club volunteers was that having Gala days approximately every three weeks with no other competitive matches scheduled between them was a preferred model,” Greenshields said.
“This is the third year that the Gala Day format is being used and the 2025 model has been designed with the lessons learned over the first two seasons in mind.”
