Alcohol
By order of the GRFL no BYO alcohol will be allowed into any venue of the GRFL while football and netball is being played. Any person not complying with this rule will be denied admittance and/or may be asked to leave.
This is to enable responsible serving of alcohol to be adhered to from the club premises.
Smoking
Outdoor Smoking Ban at Sporting Venues during underage sporting events
Legislation has been passed by state government banning smoking in outdoor public areas where children under 18 are likely to be, this includes sporting venues during organised underage sporting events.
This legislation commences 1st April 2014.
AFL Victoria and WorkSafe AFL Victoria Country have been working with the Department of Health – Tobacco Control Section to provide assistance in enabling a smooth introduction of this legislation into local community football environments for 2014.
Attached is a presentation outlining the extent of the legislation and examples of how the smoking ban will apply around underage sporting venues and a fact sheet both of which are able to be provided to clubs to assist in informing their members of the introduction of this legislation.
The Department of Health – Tobacco Control Section have developed a range of educational and promotional resources which are available for access through contacting them on tobacco.policy@health.vic.gov.au or phone 9096 0469. Please note that at this stage the order online process shown in the presentation is not operational.
Resources will also be provided to local governments for distribution, however for clubs to be sure of access to resources for display when the ban comes into force it is probably best to make contact with the Tobacco Control section.
One question which has been raised in relation to the outdoor smoking ban is whether clubs or their volunteers are responsible for the enforcement of the ban. It is clearly identified within the presentation that this is not the case and in fact are not authorised to do so. The role expected of clubs is to promote the ban and work towards educating their members of the changes which will now apply.
It is also important that leagues and clubs recognise the change within their own SmokeFree Policies and make amendments accordingly.