AWFA will be run by a board of directors by mid-2017 after the decision was approved during its annual general meeting on Sunday night.

Football NSW must give the association the final green light, which is expected to happen in April or May next year, before the new model can be officially put in place.

AWFA has been administrated by volunteers since it was first formed in 1973.

Outgoing president Simon Randall said the change is going to be beneficial for everyone involved with AWFA in the long run.

“At the moment we have nine or 10 volunteers doing it, which will become about three or four because the board will look after the policies and rules and regulations,” Randall said.

“In the last year alone, I’ve been averaging 30-plus hours a week on football matters, on top of a full-time job and trying to get the family life and everything else balanced.”

Randall said the decision was popular in the sense that the majority understood the need for change.

“You look at the Ovens and Murray and other leagues and they’re all done in the same manner,” he said.

“They’re not committees anymore because of the time needed to dedicate to it nowadays. 

“The roles are going to be redefined because once the new group of people come in they will be able to take over a lot of the existing roles and delegate responsibilities.

“The board will be there to make sure everything runs right, so it’s basically like a new business.”

Once approved by Football NSW, there will be nominations for the board, as well as nominations to take on new roles within the association.

“Three or four jobs could be combined and then we’d look to up the ante on how we run everything,” Randall said.

“We’re of the understanding our roles could be absorbed, made bigger, or vanquished all together, but a lot of us who are on the board will still be helping out.

“We’ll only have bits to worry about because we’ll be part of the bigger picture, which we believe will be a far better system.”

An interim executive committee consisting of Mark Leman (president), Kiera Hayes (secretary), Rad Sredojevic (treasurer), Belinda Antonello (registrar), Tony Cigana (recorder), Nico Mathews (football operations), Chris Pitt (resources) and Randall (high performance), has been elected until the changeover.

Randall added that the association once again finished in a positive financial position and will be able to hand over a strong bank balance to the new board to be spent on improving all facets off the sport locally.

Cobram Roar was also granted full membership rights from 2017 after joining the competition this season.