Our junior players participate in Small Sided Football (SSF) in either mixed or all girl age group teams. SSF is a non-competitive game format that allows players to develop their skills. The number of players and the size of the pitch increases as players move through the age groups.

MiniRoos National playing formats and rules

Winter Season April to August
Teams Mixed and girls teams are formed through social and school friendship groups with the exception of Division 1 graded teams (U8+) which are formed through the Club’s annual grading process.
Training
  • Non-graded teams attend one training session per week and can choose to attend optional development sessions
  • Division 1 graded teams attend one training session and one compulsory development session per week
  • Training takes place at one of BDFC’s grounds- Birchgrove, Easton, Glover St or Cohen Park on a week day afternoon.
Equipment
  • All players are expected to wear the club’s full kit (shirt, shorts, and socks)
  • Players bring their own football boots and shin pads
Coaching Volunteer coaches drawn from our parent and player community provide coaching for our Junior teams. Parents are encouraged to participate as coaches or assistant coaches and will be provided with all the resources required to support their team, including opportunities to complete relevant coaching certificates.
Managing Each team has a volunteer manager drawn from the parents and carers of the team players. For these age groups, the manager’s role is to:

  • Communicate games and training sessions times and locations
  • Manage player cards and game record sheets
  • Pay referee match fees (U10 and above)
  • Assist the team coach in managing game day activities
  • Coordinate the team to complete the teams ground official duties

Volunteer Managers are fully briefed and supported by the Club
Ground Official Duties In 2020 the club has changed the format of the ground official volunteers.

Each Balmain home team needs to provide ONE volunteer for EVERY HOME game, EVERY WEEK however only for the one game prior to their HOME GAME.  This means if you are playing at one of Balmain’s Home Grounds (as the HOME team) at 11am, you will need to provide Ground Official service for that field at 10am (or whatever time the game before yours is scheduled for).

Teams playing the first game of the day do not need to provide a Ground Official – club staff will fulfil this duty for those games and for the last game of the day.

There are national playing formats and rules for small sided games. Additional Information for each age group can be found below:

Age Group Game times – Mixed teams Game times – Girls teams Game Format
U6 & U7 Saturdays
Callan Park
U6 – 8.15am & 9.20am
U7 – 10.30am & 11.30am		 Sundays
Cohen Park
U6 – 7:50am & 8:50amCallan Park
U7 – 9am & 10am
  • Four-a-side games
  • No goalkeeper
  • Mini pitch (30m x 20m)
  • Size 3 Ball
  • Non-competitive format
U8 & U9 Saturdays at home &
away fields from 8.30am-1pm		 Sundays at home &
away fields from 8.30am- 1pm
  • Seven-a-side games
  • Goalkeeper
  • Mini pitch (40m x 50m)
  • Size 3 ball
  • Non-competitive format
U10 & U11 Saturdays at home &
away fields from 8.30am-1pm		 Sundays at home &
away fields from 8.30am-1pm
  • Nine- a-side games
  • Goalkeeper
  • Half pitch
  • Size 4 ball
  • Non-competitive format

For more information on Junior teams contact the coordinator for your age group