The
Australian Football League
(
AFL) is the major professional Australian
national competition in the sport of
Australian football and is arguably
Australia's biggest sporting competition in terms of membership,
corporate sponsorship and attendances (ranked 4th in the world for
average attendances ).
The league comprises 16 teams which play 22 home and away rounds
between late March and late August or early September. This is
followed by a four-week finals series which culminates in two teams
playing off for the Premiership, in the
Grand Final.
There is also a pre-premiership-season Cup competition played
between the 16 teams in the AFL in February/March, where teams that
win go through to the next round and teams that lose play practice
matches until the competition is finished. The current sponsor is
National Australia Bank.
The organisation which became the Australian Football League was
formed in 1897 when eight teams from the
Victorian Football
Association (VFA, established 1877) broke away to begin the
Victorian Football League.
By 1925 the league had expanded to twelve
teams (all based in Victoria
), with no change until 1982 when the league
commenced its expansion to a national competition by relocating
South Melbourne to Sydney
, New South Wales
. Since then five other non-Victorian clubs
have been added: two each from Western Australia
and South Australia
and one from Queensland
with an existing Victorian club (Fitzroy) merging
with this Queensland based club at the end of the 1996
season.
The league was officially renamed the Australian Football League in
1990 to reflect the new national perspective and is more commonly
referred to by the
acronym AFL. The
VFA took over the
Victorian Football League name in
1996.
The AFL has gained considerable media and financial strength.
Through the
AFL Commission it gained
control over the game at most levels and controls the
Laws of the Game through the AFL
Rules Committee (consisting of members from the
AFL Players Association). The
Commission pushes for all affiliated leagues and bodies to
co-brand with the league (although some state
and local associations have sternly resisted). Additionally the
Commission has pushed for the sport to be co-branded, requesting
affiliated leagues and the media refer to Australian Football as
"AFL", also encouraging participants to "Play AFL".
The AFL is the
most
attended sporting league in Australia . The AFL is currently
the fourth-most attended professional sports league in the world in
terms of attendance per match, with an average attendance of over
38,000 .
In national terms, however,
Australian football in
Australia is not the most popular sport in all areas. In recent
decades, the AFL has increasingly focused on regions behind the
Barassi Line, particularly in
metropolitan areas (its "developing markets") where the league and
sport has traditionally struggled. The league has granted
concessions to teams based in these regions and invested large
amounts of development funding. As a result, participation is
increasing in New South Wales and Queensland.
Clubs
The AFL operates on a single table system, with no divisions,
conferences nor promotion and relegation from other leagues.
Many of the current AFL teams date back to the beginnings of the
sport of Australian rules football, including the very first club,
Melbourne Football Club
(1859), a foundation VFL/AFL club whose founders also first
codified the sport in 1859. The Victorian Football League, commonly
known as the VFL, started in 1897 with eight teams from the
Victorian Football Association (VFA):
Carlton,
Collingwood,
Essendon,
Fitzroy,
Geelong,
Melbourne,
South Melbourne, and
St Kilda.
Richmond and
University entered in
1908, but University disbanded in 1915. In 1925, Footscray (later
known as the
Western Bulldogs),
Hawthorn and
North Melbourne entered the
competition.
It remained in this 12-team single-state
configuration until 1982 when South Melbourne relocated to Sydney, New South Wales to become the Sydney Swans.
The next phase of national expansion occurred in 1987, with the
introduction of the
West Coast
Eagles from Western Australia and the
Brisbane Bears from Queensland.
The league was renamed the
Australian Football
League in 1990 to reflect the expanded nature of the
competition.
South Australia was first represented in 1991 when the
Adelaide Crows joined the league. The
Fremantle Football Club
joined as the second WA team in 1995. After the 1996 season the
Brisbane Bears merged with Fitzroy, creating the
Brisbane Lions in 1996 and the
Port Adelaide Football Club
joined to maintain the league at 16 teams.
Present teams
| Jumper |
Club |
Nickname |
Location |
Training Ground |
Home Ground and (Capacity) |
2008 Official Membership |
2009 Official Membership |
Debut |
Premiership Years |
 |
Adelaide Football
Club |
Crows |
Adelaide , South Australia |
Football Park |
Football Park (51,515) |
48,720 |
46,472 |
1991 |
1997, 1998 |
 |
Brisbane Lions |
Lions |
Brisbane , Queensland |
The
Gabba |
The
Gabba (42,000) |
22,737 |
24,873 |
1997** |
2001, 2002, 2003 |
 |
Carlton Football Club |
Blues |
Melbourne , Victoria |
Visy
Park |
Docklands Stadium (53,355)
Melbourne
Cricket Ground (100,000) |
39,360 |
42,408* |
1897 |
1906, 1907, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1968, 1970,
1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1995 |
 |
Collingwood Football
Club |
Magpies |
Melbourne, Victoria |
Lexus Centre |
Melbourne Cricket Ground (100,000)
|
42,498 |
46,927* |
1897 |
1902, 1903, 1910, 1917, 1919, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1935,
1936, 1953, 1958, 1990 |
 |
Essendon Football
Club |
Bombers |
Melbourne, Victoria |
Windy Hill |
Docklands Stadium (53,355)
|
41,947* |
40,412 |
1897 |
1897, 1901, 1911, 1912, 1923, 1924, 1942, 1946, 1949, 1950,
1962, 1965, 1984, 1985, 1993, 2000 |
 |
Fremantle Football
Club |
Dockers |
Fremantle , Western Australia |
Fremantle Oval |
Subiaco Oval (43,500) |
43,366 |
39,206 |
1995 |
Nil |
 |
Geelong Football Club |
Cats |
Geelong , Victoria |
Kardinia Park  |
Kardinia Park (28,000)
|
37,129 |
37,160* |
1897 |
1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009 |
 |
Hawthorn Football
Club |
Hawks |
Melbourne, Victoria |
Waverley Park |
Melbourne Cricket Ground (100,000)
York
Park (20,000) |
41,436 |
52,496* |
1925 |
1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008 |
 |
Melbourne Football
Club |
Demons |
Melbourne, Victoria |
Junction Oval |
Melbourne Cricket Ground (100,000)
|
29,677 |
31,506* |
1897 |
1900, 1926, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1948, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959,
1960, 1964 |
 |
North Melbourne
Football Club |
Kangaroos |
Melbourne, Victoria |
Arden Street Oval |
Etihad Stadium (53,355) |
32,600* |
28,340 |
1925 |
1975, 1977, 1996, 1999 |
 |
Port Adelaide Football
Club |
Power |
Adelaide, South
Australia |
Alberton Oval |
AAMI Stadium (51,515) |
34,185 |
30,605 |
1997 |
2004 |
 |
Richmond Football
Club |
Tigers |
Melbourne, Victoria |
Punt Road Oval |
Melbourne Cricket Ground (100,000)
|
30,820 |
36,981* |
1908 |
1920, 1921, 1932, 1934, 1943, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1980 |
 |
St Kilda Football
Club |
Saints |
Melbourne, Victoria |
Moorabin Oval |
Etihad Stadium (53,355) |
30,063 |
31,906* |
1897 |
1966 |
 |
Sydney Swans |
Swans |
Sydney, New South
Wales |
SCG |
Sydney Cricket Ground (46,000)
ANZ
Stadium (81,500) |
26,721 |
26,269 |
1897*** |
1909, 1918, 1933, 2005 |
 |
West Coast Eagles |
Eagles |
Perth , Western Australia |
Subiaco Oval |
Subiaco Oval (43,500) |
44,863 |
43,927 |
1987 |
1992, 1994, 2006 |
 |
Western Bulldogs |
Bulldogs |
Melbourne, Victoria |
Whitten Oval |
Etihad Stadium (53,355); TIO Stadium (17,000); Manuka Oval (15,000) |
28,306 |
28,215 |
1925 |
1954 |
- * denotes club record membership
- ** post merger
- *** club was founded in Melbourne as 'South Melbourne
Football Club,' but relocated to Sydney in 1982.
Former teams
| Jumper |
Club |
Nickname(s) |
Location |
Last Home Ground |
Years In Competition |
Premierships |
Reason for Leaving |
 |
Fitzroy Football Club |
Lions |
Melbourne , Victoria |
Brunswick Street Oval |
1897-1996 |
1898, 1899, 1904, 1905, 1913, 1916, 1922, 1944 |
Merged playing operations with the Brisbane Bears to become the Brisbane Lions in 1997. |
 |
Brisbane Bears |
Bears |
Brisbane, Queensland |
The
Gabba |
1987-1996 |
- |
Merged playing operations with the Fitzroy Lions to become the Brisbane Lions in 1997. |
 |
Melbourne
University Football Club or simply as University. |
Blues |
Parkville , Victoria |
Melbourne Cricket Ground |
1908-1914 |
- |
The club was disbanded prior to the 1915 season, due to the
outbreak of World War I, and players'
enlistment in the Australian Imperial Force.
After the club was revived in 1919, it did not apply to rejoin the
competition. |
New teams
In March 2008, the AFL won the support of the league's 16 club
presidents to establish a side on the Gold Coast. In June 2008 it
was announced that the new team would play in the TAC Cup in 2009
[13] before being promoted to play in the VFL in 2010. Since
debuting in the TAC Cup in 2009, the Gold Coast form has been
reasonable and will begin major recruitment ideas in late 2009 and
2010.
On 31 March 2009 the AFL issued a provisional licence to the
Gold Coast Football Club.
The club is expected to enter the league in 2011.
A
Western Sydney team
is being considered for a licence; if this is granted, the team is
expected to enter the league in 2012 or 2013.
Early in 2008, a meeting held by the AFL discussed the issue of two
new teams entering the AFL competition. AFL officials confirmed
that a new team on the Gold Coast and possibly a new team in West
Sydney would enter the competition around 2011 and 2012
respectively.
The West Sydney alternative has been met with much skepticism, as
it seen as disadvantaging other clubs in its push to be successful
in the first 10 years as well as being an unreasonable situation
from which to draw an AFL fan base.
The AFL is also considering a bid from the Tasmanian Government for
a licence for a
Tasmanian team.In
April 2009, Tasmanian premier Paul Lennon had a meeting with the
AFL to discuss the possibility of a new team based in the State of
Tasmania..
Canberra and Darwin are also often suggested as a future location
for teams, however they were ruled out by the AFL at the time
primarily on economic and demographic grounds.
In October 2009, Andrew Demetriou spoke for the first time about
expanding the league to 20 teams - one from Tasmania, and one from
either Western Australia (therefore becoming the third club from
the state), Darwin, or in North Queensland (also the third club
from Queensland). Demetriou stated that Tasmania would be the next
logical place for expansion, meanwhile stating that Western
Australia and Queensland are booming Australian rules football
states.
Stadiums
| Name of Ground |
City |
State |
Capacity |
Current Tenant(s) |
| Melbourne Cricket Ground |
Melbourne |
Victoria |
100,000 |
Hawthorn
Melbourne
Richmond
|
| ANZ Stadium |
Sydney |
New South Wales |
81,500 |
Sydney |
| Etihad Stadium |
Melbourne |
Victoria |
53,355 |
Essendon
St Kilda
Western Bulldogs
North Melbourne
Carlton
Collingwood
|
| AAMI Stadium |
Adelaide |
South Australia |
51,515 |
Port Adelaide
Adelaide |
| Sydney Cricket Ground |
Sydney |
New South Wales |
46,000 |
Sydney |
| Subiaco Oval |
Perth |
Western Australia |
43,500 |
West
Coast
Fremantle |
| The Gabba |
Brisbane |
Queensland |
42,000 |
Brisbane |
| Skilled Stadium |
Geelong |
Victoria |
27,000 |
Geelong |
| Aurora Stadium |
Launceston |
Tasmania |
20,000 |
Hawthorn† |
Carrara Stadium |
Gold
Coast |
Queensland |
18,000 |
Gold
Coast |
| Manuka Oval |
Canberra |
Australian Capital Territory |
15,000 |
Western
Bulldogs† |
| TIO Stadium |
Darwin |
Northern Territory |
15,000 |
Western
Bulldogs^
Melbourne^
Richmond^
Port
Adelaide^ |
† These teams are part-time tenants through commercial/promotional
agreements
^ These
teams are part of a new deal involving the AFL and Northern
Territory Government that will see Melbourne, Richmond and
the Western Bulldogs share 2 Regular season matches at TIO
Stadium for season 2010 and 2011. Port Adelaide will be the away
team in each of these games.
- There are a number of new stadiums proposed to accommodate AFL
matches at various stages of planning. The West Australian State
Government have announced plans for an all new, multi purpose
stadium to be built more or less on the site of the current Subiaco
Stadium. The AFL is currently exploring stadium requirements for
the new Gold Coast team which is anticipated to enter the
competition in 2011, with options including a redevelopment of the
Gold Coast (Carrara) Stadium or the development of a purpose built
stadium on a new site. In addition, the AFL has recently revealed
that it is exploring opportunities for a purpose built 'boutique'
stadium for Melbourne, to accommodate matches featuring Melbourne
clubs which are unlikely to draw attendances large enough to
warrant the use of the existing stadiums at Docklands and the MCG.
The new Gold Coast and Melbourne stadiums are anticipated to be
based on Kardinia Park in Geelong, with modern facilities and a
capacity of around 30,000.
Playing lists
Close up of ruckwork from a Melbourne
vs Western Bulldogs at Docklands Stadium with the roof open in
Melbourne
The AFL has tight controls over the player lists of each club. Each
club can have a senior list of 38 players plus up to six rookie or
veteran players. From 2006, up to two international rookies are
also permitted. Clubs can only trade players during a "trade week"
at the end of each season and can only recruit new players through
the
AFL Draft. The rules for the draft
have changed every few years since it was introduced in 1986, but
the basic philosophy remains in that players are selected by clubs
in the reverse of the order of their positions on the ladder at the
end of the preceding season. That is, the club that finished last
has first draft selection, then the club that finished second last.
However, this philosophy has been compromised by giving priority
picks to clubs which win fewer than four matches during the season
and by allowing clubs to select sons of former players under a
"father - son rule" which itself has been varied over the
years.
A
salary cap (known as the
Total
Player Payments or TPP) is also in place as part of the
league's equalisation policy.
In 2007, this was A$7 million per club. Salaries of draft
selections are fixed for two years. Salaries for senior players are
not normally released to the public, although the average is
estimated at over
A$200,000 and the top few
players can expect to earn up to $800,000 a year.
Infringements by clubs in relation to exceeding the TPP, not
informing the AFL of payments or draft tampering are severe and can
include large fines, loss of premiership points and exclusion from
the AFL draft. However, the AFL has not yet penalised clubs
premiership points for a breach of the salary cap, though it has
fined the Carlton Football Club in 2002 $987,000 for breaching the
salary cap.
Demographics of the AFL
Players by place of origin
Matthew Pavlich, a South Australian
playing for a Western Australian based club Fremantle jumps to mark
the ball at a Victorian oval (the MCG)
The following is the origin of 2007 AFL listed player based on
player's nominated junior clubs.
Similar criteria were previously used for selection in the
representative sides of the now defunct AFL
State
of Origin series.
- Origin of AFL players in 2007
Note that players from Ireland were all converts from other sports as part of the Irish experiment.
Indigenous Australian players
In 2009, there is a total of 82 players of
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
descent on AFL club playing lists, comprising approximately 11% of
the overall playing list.This compares with the 2.3% of the
Australian population who identified themselves as Indigenous in
the 2006 census.
International recruitment
Recruitment from Ireland
A number of
Gaelic footballers from
Ireland have agreed contracts with AFL teams in recent years -
there can be a financial lure as the
GAA
prohibits professionalism. This has caused some concern in the
GAA. The prospect of two new AFL clubs in the
coming years has exacerbated this tension.
Other countries
Reflecting the expansion of the game internationally, in 2009 the
AFL gained its first Canadian player in former rugby international
Mike Pyke.
Additionally, in 2009 the Gold Coast Football Club recruited
two players from Papua
New Guinea
and the Western
Bulldogs recruited two players from Fiji
.
Season structure
AFL Premiership season
The
Toyota AFL Premiership Season, contested between the
16 teams from around Australia, lasts for 22 rounds and begins in
late March. The
McClelland Trophy
is awarded to the team that finishes the home and away rounds in
first position (the minor premiership).At the end of the 22 rounds,
the top eight teams compete in the four-week
AFL Finals Series. In the first week
the top four teams play in Qualifying Finals (1st vs 4th & 2nd
vs 3rd), the two winning Qualifying Final teams progress directly
into a Preliminary Final in the third week, with the other four
teams playing in Elimination Finals (5th vs 8th & 6th vs 7th).
In the second week the two losing teams from the Qualifying Finals
play the two winning teams from the Elimination Finals in the Semi
Finals. The winners of the Qualifying Finals play the winners of
the Semi Finals in the preliminary finals. The two winning
Preliminary Final teams play in the Grand Final in the fourth week
of the finals.The Premiership winning team is the team that wins
the Grand Final.The winning team receives a Premiership Cup - there
is a new one manufactured every year which the winning team gets to
keep with the year engraved on it, Premiership Medallions and a
Premiership Flag.The Premiership Flag is a giant triangular flag
which is blue with a white border, has the AFL logo on it and the
word PREMIERS and the YEAR - there is a new one manufactured every
year which the winning team gets to keep. It is tradition to unfurl
it at the first home game of the season the following year in front
of the home supporters.
The
Grand Final is traditionally played at the Melbourne
Cricket Ground in Melbourne on the last Saturday in
September. Recent exceptions to this practice were in
1991 when the MCG was being redeveloped and the Grand Final was
played at Waverley
Park, and in 2000 when the Grand Final was played in
early September as the Sydney Olympics started on 15
September.
The Premiership Cup
A trophy cup, known as the Premiership Cup, and a Premiership Flag
are awarded to the winner of the AFL Grand Final. In addition, each
player receives a premiership medallion.
The
Premiership Cup is silver (With the exception of 1996 - when a gold
cup was awarded instead of the usual silver one in the AFL/VFL's
100th season) and manufactured by Cash's International at their
metalworks in Frankston, Victoria
. The cup was first introduced in 1959 by the
VFL, and before this, the reward was a pennant known by supporters
simply as "The Flag". The AFL has since retrospectively awarded the
premiers trophies based on the current design. Before the 1960s,
premiership players received a personal premiership trophy instead
of a medallion.
Themed rounds and special matches
Themed rounds have become immensely popular. There are themes such
as Rivalry Round (in which traditional rivals are matched up
against each other), Women's Round and
Heritage Round (where teams play in
old style guernseys). Some matches
are also themed for special events. For example, each year
Collingwood play Essendon in the annual
ANZAC Day match at the MCG and the game
will typically sell-out regardless of the positions of the two
teams on the ladder due to their strong rivalry and huge
followings. Another annual match is the Queen's Birthday game
between Melbourne and Collingwood. As of 2006, Richmond and
Essendon play in the
Dreamtime at the 'G match. There are
separate trophies for the matches between several clubs and former
rivalries such as the Lake Trophy between St Kilda and Sydney
Swans.
NAB Cup
The national Cup competition is a tournament played and completed
prior to the commencement of the Premiership season, which is why
it is also known as the pre-season cup.
The series is played before the premiership season and on all bar
one occasion (1997), the final was played at Waverley Park until
the ground was sold by the league in 1999 (although a number of the
lead-up matches of the 2000 series were played at the ground). The
2000 competition decider was held at the MCG.
Since 2001, all bar
three finals have been played at Docklands Stadium, with the 2001, 2006 and 2008 deciders held at
Football
Park.
The player adjudged best on the ground in the final is awarded the
Michael Tuck Medal, in honour of
the footballer who has played more league matches than any other
(426).
The Pre-season Cup competition is currently a four round format
with a round of 16, quarter finals, semi finals and final. Teams
that win move through to the next round, losing teams are
eliminated and play practice matches until the competition
finishes.
History
Competition timeline
ImageSize = width:720 height:580PlotArea = width:620 height:500
left:92 bottom:50AlignBars = late
BarData=
bar:WB text:Western Bulldogs
bar:WS text:Western Sydney
bar:WC text:West Coast
bar:Un text:University
bar:Sy text:Sydney
bar:St text:St Kilda
bar:Ri text:Richmond
bar:PA text:Port Adelaide
bar:Me text:Melbourne
bar:Ka text:North Melbourne
bar:Ha text:Hawthorn
bar:GC text:Gold Coast
bar:Ge text:Geelong
bar:Fr text:Fremantle
bar:Fi text:Fitzroy
bar:Es text:Essendon
bar:Co text:Collingwood
bar:Ca text:Carlton
bar:BL text:Brisbane Lions
bar:BB text:Brisbane Bears
bar:Ad text:Adelaide
Colors =
id:grey value:gray(0.4)
id:lgrey value:gray(0.8)
id:vlgrey value:gray(0.95)
id:premier value:brightblue legend:Premier
id:spoon value:rgb(0.5,0,0) legend:Last_place
id:rup value:powderblue # legend:Runner_Up # need more data
id:minor value:orange # legend:Minor_Premier # need more data
id:rup&minor value:lightpurple # legend:R-Up&Minor_Premier # need more data
id:future value:rgb(0.94,0.92,0.92)
DateFormat = yyyyPeriod = from:1896 till:2015TimeAxis =
orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10
start:1900 gridcolor:lgreyScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1
start:1897 gridcolor:vlgrey
PlotData=
color:lgrey width:12
bar:Ad from:1991 till:end
at:1997 mark:(line,premier)
at:1998 mark:(line,premier)
- at:1998 mark:(line,rup)
- at:2005 mark:(line,minor)
bar:BB from:1987 till:1996
at:1990 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1991 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:BL from:1997 till:end
at:1998 mark:(line,spoon)
at:2001 mark:(line,premier)
at:2002 mark:(line,premier)
at:2003 mark:(line,premier)
- at:2004 mark:(line,rup)
bar:Ca from:1897 till:end
at:1906 mark:(line,premier)
at:1907 mark:(line,premier)
at:1908 mark:(line,premier)
at:1914 mark:(line,premier)
at:1915 mark:(line,premier)
at:1938 mark:(line,premier)
at:1945 mark:(line,premier)
at:1947 mark:(line,premier)
at:1968 mark:(line,premier)
at:1970 mark:(line,premier)
at:1972 mark:(line,premier)
at:1979 mark:(line,premier)
at:1981 mark:(line,premier)
at:1982 mark:(line,premier)
at:1987 mark:(line,premier)
at:1995 mark:(line,premier)
at:2002 mark:(line,spoon)
at:2005 mark:(line,spoon)
at:2006 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:Co from:1897 till:end
at:1902 mark:(line,premier)
at:1903 mark:(line,premier)
at:1910 mark:(line,premier)
at:1917 mark:(line,premier)
at:1919 mark:(line,premier)
at:1927 mark:(line,premier)
at:1928 mark:(line,premier)
at:1929 mark:(line,premier)
at:1930 mark:(line,premier)
at:1935 mark:(line,premier)
at:1936 mark:(line,premier)
at:1953 mark:(line,premier)
at:1958 mark:(line,premier)
at:1990 mark:(line,premier)
- at:1901 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1905 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1911 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1915 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1918 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1920 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1922 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1925 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1926 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1937 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1938 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1939 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1952 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1955 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1960 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1964 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1966 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1970 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1977 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1979 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1980 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1981 mark:(line,rup)
- at:2002 mark:(line,rup)
- at:2003 mark:(line,rup)
at:1976 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1999 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:Es from:1897 till:end
at:1897 mark:(line,premier)
at:1901 mark:(line,premier)
at:1911 mark:(line,premier)
at:1912 mark:(line,premier)
at:1923 mark:(line,premier)
at:1924 mark:(line,premier)
at:1942 mark:(line,premier)
at:1946 mark:(line,premier)
at:1949 mark:(line,premier)
at:1950 mark:(line,premier)
at:1962 mark:(line,premier)
at:1965 mark:(line,premier)
at:1984 mark:(line,premier)
at:1985 mark:(line,premier)
at:1993 mark:(line,premier)
at:2000 mark:(line,premier)
- at:1898 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1902 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1908 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1941 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1943 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1947 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1948 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1951 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1957 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1959 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1968 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1983 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1990 mark:(line,rup)
- at:2001 mark:(line,rup)
at:1907 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1918 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1921 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1933 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:Fi from:1897 till:1996
at:1898 mark:(line,premier)
at:1899 mark:(line,premier)
at:1904 mark:(line,premier)
at:1905 mark:(line,premier)
at:1913 mark:(line,premier)
at:1916 mark:(line,premier)
at:1922 mark:(line,premier)
at:1944 mark:(line,premier)
at:1936 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1963 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1964 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1966 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1980 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1995 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1996 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:Fr from:1995 till:end
at:2001 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:Ge from:1897 till:end
at:1925 mark:(line,premier)
at:1931 mark:(line,premier)
at:1937 mark:(line,premier)
at:1951 mark:(line,premier)
at:1952 mark:(line,premier)
at:1963 mark:(line,premier)
at:2007 mark:(line,premier)
at:2009 mark:(line,premier)
- at:1992 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1994 mark:(line,rup)
at:1908 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1915 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1944 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1957 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1958 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:Ha from:1925 till:end
at:1961 mark:(line,premier)
at:1971 mark:(line,premier)
at:1976 mark:(line,premier)
at:1978 mark:(line,premier)
at:1983 mark:(line,premier)
at:1986 mark:(line,premier)
at:1988 mark:(line,premier)
at:1989 mark:(line,premier)
at:1991 mark:(line,premier)
at:1925 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1927 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1928 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1932 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1941 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1942 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1946 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1949 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1950 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1953 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1965 mark:(line,spoon)
at:2008 mark:(line,premier)
bar:Ka from:1925 till:end
at:1975 mark:(line,premier)
at:1977 mark:(line,premier)
at:1996 mark:(line,premier)
at:1999 mark:(line,premier)
at:1926 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1929 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1930 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1931 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1934 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1935 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1937 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1940 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1956 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1961 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1968 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1970 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1972 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:Me from:1897 till:end
at:1900 mark:(line,premier)
at:1926 mark:(line,premier)
at:1939 mark:(line,premier)
at:1940 mark:(line,premier)
at:1941 mark:(line,premier)
at:1948 mark:(line,premier)
at:1955 mark:(line,premier)
at:1956 mark:(line,premier)
at:1957 mark:(line,premier)
at:1959 mark:(line,premier)
at:1960 mark:(line,premier)
at:1964 mark:(line,premier)
at:1905 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1906 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1919 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1923 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1951 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1969 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1974 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1978 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1981 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1997 mark:(line,spoon)
at:2008 mark:(line,spoon)
at:2009 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:PA from:1997 till:end
at:2004 mark:(line,premier)
bar:Ri from:1908 till:end
at:1920 mark:(line,premier)
at:1921 mark:(line,premier)
at:1932 mark:(line,premier)
at:1934 mark:(line,premier)
at:1943 mark:(line,premier)
at:1967 mark:(line,premier)
at:1969 mark:(line,premier)
at:1973 mark:(line,premier)
at:1974 mark:(line,premier)
at:1980 mark:(line,premier)
at:1917 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1960 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1987 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1989 mark:(line,spoon)
at:2004 mark:(line,spoon)
at:2007 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:St from:1897 till:end
at:1966 mark:(line,premier)
- at:1913 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1965 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1971 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1997 mark:(line,rup)
- at:2009 mark:(line,rup)
at:1897 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1898 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1899 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1900 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1901 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1902 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1904 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1905 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1909 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1910 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1920 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1924 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1943 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1945 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1947 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1948 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1952 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1954 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1955 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1977 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1979 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1983 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1984 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1985 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1986 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1988 mark:(line,spoon)
at:2000 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:Sy from:1897 till:end
at:1909 mark:(line,premier)
at:1918 mark:(line,premier)
at:1933 mark:(line,premier)
at:2005 mark:(line,premier)
- at:1899 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1907 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1912 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1914 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1934 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1935 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1936 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1945 mark:(line,rup)
- at:1996 mark:(line,rup)
- at:2006 mark:(line,rup)
at:1903 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1922 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1938 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1939 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1962 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1971 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1973 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1975 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1992 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1993 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1994 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1982 mark:(line, grey) shift:(0,-16) text:Moved from South Melbourne
bar:Un from:1908 till:1914
at:1911 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1912 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1913 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1914 mark:(line,spoon)
bar:WC from:1987 till:end
at:1992 mark:(line,premier)
at:1994 mark:(line,premier)
at:2006 mark:(line,premier)
- at:1991 mark:(line,rup)
- at:2005 mark:(line,rup)
bar:WB from:1925 till:end
at:1954 mark:(line,premier)
at:1959 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1967 mark:(line,spoon)
at:1982 mark:(line,spoon)
at:2003 mark:(line,spoon)
color:future width:12
bar:WB from:2009 till:end
bar:WS from:2012 till:end
bar:WC from:2009 till:end
bar:Sy from:2009 till:end
bar:St from:2009 till:end
bar:Ri from:2009 till:end
bar:PA from:2009 till:end
bar:Me from:2009 till:end
bar:Ka from:2009 till:end
bar:Ha from:2009 till:end
bar:Ge from:2009 till:end
bar:GC from:2011 till:end
bar:Fr from:2009 till:end
bar:Es from:2009 till:end
bar:Co from:2009 till:end
bar:Ca from:2009 till:end
bar:BL from:2009 till:end
bar:Ad from:2009 till:end
Legend = left:50 top:20 columnwidth:90
LineData =
layer:back
at:1990 color:orange width:0.5 # change to AFL
TextData=
pos:(150,560) fontsize:L text:VFL/AFL premierships
pos:(560,570) textcolor:orange fontsize:M
text:AFL name adopted
Before the VFL
Australian rules football dates back to
1858, when
Tom Wills
began to record the rules of the code.
Melbourne Football Club was formed
14 May 1859. On 17 May 1859, at the Parade Hotel in East Melbourne,
Wills,
W.J. Hammersley and J.B. Thompson wrote the
first set of written rules for Australian rules football. By 1866,
several other clubs had also adopted an updated version of
Melbourne's rules. In 1877, the
amateur Victorian Football Association was
established.
VFL begins
The
Victorian Football League was
established in 1896 when several clubs broke away from the
Victorian Football Association
which was the first Australian rules competition in Victoria,
second in the country after the South Australian Football
Association. The first games were played in 1897 between the
foundation clubs – Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy,
Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda and South Melbourne. Essendon won the
first VFL premiership.
Although the
Victorian Football League and
the
Victorian Football
Association continued to compete for spectator interest for
many years, the VFL quickly established itself as the premier
competition in Victoria. In the early years Fitzroy and Collingwood
were the dominant teams, but by the mid-1900s Carlton began a
dominating period of three successive flags from 1906 to 1908.
Essendon under Jack Worrall - the first great coach - won a most
convincing victory in 1911 with ten straight wins and surprisingly
defended their flag in 1912 after being erratic during the
home-and-away rounds.
In 1908, Richmond and University joined the VFL. Richmond
eventually succeeded after a slow start, but University, after
three promising seasons, won only one of its last seventy matches
and its already thin ranks were so depleted it disbanded at the end
of 1914.
More information on how war affected the VFL see:
The VFL during the World
Wars.
Between the world wars
The VFL Grand Final in 1945 from the
stands of the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Richmond won its first premierships in 1920 and 1921 but Essendon -
battlers since their 1912 flag - took over as the dominant team
between 1922 and 1926. In 1924 the VFL inaugurated the
Brownlow Medal for the player who received
the most votes from the umpires for the
Best and Fairest player.
In 1925, Footscray (now the
Western
Bulldogs),
Hawthorn and
North Melbourne joined the
VFL. The conditions
attached to joining the League for new clubs were particularly
tough, especially the conditions put on North Melbourne who were
forced to give up their entire playing zone to Essendon. As a
result North along with Hawthorn who remained "chopping blocks" for
a very long period. North Melbourne were not to win more than eight
games in a season until 1944 and Hawthorn only once won more than
seven until 1954. Between them, Hawthorn and North Melbourne
finished in last place fifteen of the twenty-nine years from their
admittance until 1953 – by which time however North had become a
powerful side and finished in the first two on the ladder in 1949
and 1950. In all but two of the fifteen seasons between 1941 and
1955 either Hawthorn or
St.
Kilda finished last. Footscray adapted to the VFL with the most
ease of the three clubs and by 1928 were well off the bottom of the
ladder.
Between the years of 1927 and 1930,
Collingwood FC became the first and so far,
the only, team to win four successive premierships and finish a
season without losing (or drawing) a game. This team became known
as "the machine" because of the organised and consistent way it
played. During this period of success Collingwood became the
greatest club in the nation, possessing the largest and fiercest
supporter base drawn originally from working class districts in
inner Melbourne. With premiership victories in 1935 and 1936 the
Collingwood Football Club had already won 11 premierships, and
remained the most successful premiership club until Carlton began
to lead the premiership tally in 1982.
In the 1930s, Richmond and South Melbourne rivaled Collingwood as
the best team, with Richmond's brilliant defence destroying South's
powerful attack in the 1934 Grand Final. Melbourne, which had won
the premiership in 1926 but fallen off sharply, developed a
powerful attacking side that swept all before it between 1939 and
1941 to win three successive flags; however Essendon, after years
in the wilderness from 1927 to 1939, enjoyed a dominant period with
nine grand final appearances between 1941 and 1951. For more
information on how world wars affected the VFL see:
The VFL during the World
Wars.
1950s
In 1952, the VFL hosted ‘National Day’, when all 6 matches were
played outside of Melbourne.
Matches were played at the Sydney Cricket
Ground, Brisbane Exhibition Ground
, North Hobart Oval
, Albury Sports Ground
and Victorian country towns Yallourn
and Euroa
.
In 1959,
the VFL planned the first purpose built mega-stadium, Waverley
Park, to give it some independence from the Melbourne Cricket Club which managed
the Melbourne
Cricket Ground, Australian rules' spiritual home.
Waverley
Park was planned to hold 167,000 spectators (thus making
it one of the largest stadiums in the world). Land for the
stadium was purchased at Mulgrave, in those days just farmland, but
one day predicted to be near demographic centre of Melbourne's
population.
Geelong was the stand out team at the beginning of the 1950s,
winning the premiership in 1951 then setting a record of 23
consecutive wins starting in Round 12, 1952 and ending in Round 13,
1953. This streak included the 1952 premiership.
After Footscray won its first premiership in 1954 by defeating
Melbourne, Melbourne became a powerhouse, winning five premierships
between 1955 and 1960, including three in a row between 1955 and
1957. In 1958 Collingwood famously defeated Melbourne in the Grand
Final, thereby preventing Melbourne from equalling Collingwood's
record of four successive premierships.
Television coverage began in 1957, with
direct telecasts of the final quarter permitted. At first, several
channels competed through broadcasting different games. However,
when the VFL found that television was reducing crowds, it decided
that no coverage was to be allowed for 1960. In 1961, replays (in
Melbourne) were introduced although direct telecasts were rarely
permitted in Melbourne (other States and Territories, however,
enjoyed live telecasts every Saturday afternoon).
1960s
In the 1960s, television began to have a huge impact, which
continues unabated to this day. Spectators hurried home from games
to watch replays and many former players took up positions as
commentators on pre-game preview programs and post-game review
programs. There were also several attempts at variety programs
featuring VFL players, who generally succeeded in demonstrating
that their skills were limited to the football ground.
The VFL played the first of a series of
exhibition
matches in 1962 in an effort to lift the international profile
of the league.
Hawthorn won its first ever Grand Final in 1961, beating Footscray.
Melbourne's period of success ended with its premiership win in
1964 over Collingwood, after which Carlton famously recruited
Melbourne's champion player Ron Barassi as its captain-coach.
St Kilda won its first
Grand
Final by one point over Collingwood in 1966, and after many
years in the doldrums, Richmond won the Grand Final in 1967,
starting a revival which lasted until the early 1980s. Under
Barassi's leadership, Carlton won the premiership in 1968, its
first since 1947.
With the number of players recruited from country leagues
increasing, the wealthier clubs were gaining an advantage that
metropolitan
zoning and the Coulter
law restricting player payments had prevented in the past. Country
zoning was introduced in the late 1960s, and whilst it pushed
Essendon and Geelong from the top of the ladder, it created severe
inequality during the 1970s and 1980s. Only six teams made the
grand final between 1972 and 1987, as against nine between 1961 and
1967.
1970s
The 1970s saw the opening of Waverley Park, with the inaugural
match being played between Geelong and Fitzroy, on 18 April 1970.
Construction work was carried out at the stadium as the 1970s
progressed, culminating in the building of the now heritage listed
Sir Kenneth Luke stand. The
Queen of
Australia,
Elizabeth II was a guest
at the game and officially opened the stadium to the public.
The 1970s were memorable for being a decade of dominance for North
Melbourne, where they played in 6 consecutive Grand Finals from
1974-1978.
The decade began with the Grand Final between Carlton and
Collingwood attracting a record crowd for a football game in
Australia of 121,696. This game also saw the greatest comeback in
Grand Final history when after trailing by 44 points at half time,
Carlton managed to win by 10 points.
Alex Jesaulenko took one of the most
memorable marks in the sport's history during this game.
Hawthorn defeated St. Kilda in the Grand Final in 1971, beginning a
long period of success that lasted into the early 1990s. The match
was notable for Peter Hudson's famed attempt at breaking Bob
Pratt's long held record of 150 goals in a season. Hudson kicked
three goals in the match, equalling Pratt's season tally.
North Melbourne won its first ever premiership in 1975, then won
again in 1977 in the
Grand Final
replay, following the second ever drawn Grand Final, against
Collingwood. 1977 also saw the commencement of
State
of Origin representative matches, where players were only able
to represent the state of their birth, as opposed to representing
the state in which they were currently playing.
The
1979 VFL Grand Final is
remembered for a controversial goal that sealed the Premiership for
Carlton. After leading by 28 points during the second quarter,
Collingwood had fallen behind by 21 points before mounting a late
comeback. They were trailing by four points in the dying stages of
the match when Carlton's
Wayne Harmes
miskicked, chased the ball towards the boundary line and knocked it
to his team mate
Ken Sheldon who kicked
a goal to give Carlton a 10-point lead. Their eventual winning
margin was just five points. Although Harmes won the inaugural
Norm Smith Medal for the best
player in the Grand Final, he is best-remembered for this incident
as Collingwood supporters still claim that the ball had crossed the
boundary line before Harmes knocked it to Sheldon.
Many rule changes were made during the decade in efforts to
increase the attractiveness of the game:
- A "final five" system was introduced in 1972. The Grand Final
was the highest scoring Grand Final in history, accumulating a
total of 327 points with Carlton defeating Richmond by 27
points.
- The centre diamond and a limit of four players per team at the
centre bounce were introduced in 1973. The diamond was changed to
the square in 1975.
- The two-umpire system was introduced in 1976.
- In 1978 the interchange law was introduced, to allow players to
be able to be interchanged at any time (like basketball), rather
than a one-off replacement (as in soccer).
1980s – national expansion
At the time, there was no national league for Australian rules that
incorporated interstate clubs. The VFL was the most popular and
dominant league around the country in terms of overall attendance
and interest and began expanding its influence into other states.
In 1980, the match of the day was broadcast on television. Interest
around the country followed, and new sides from other capitals
(many with their own local leagues) soon expressed interest in new
licences.
In 1982, South Melbourne relocated to Sydney to become the
Sydney Swans. The
West Australian Football
League and
Queensland Australian
Football League were awarded licences to join the VFL and the
West Coast Eagles and
Brisbane Bears were formed. These
expansion team licences were awarded on
payment of multi-million dollar fees which were not required of the
existing VFL clubs. The first
National
Draft was introduced in 1986. The
West Coast Eagles and
Brisbane Bears joined the league in 1987. The
night premiership, the
Panasonic Cup moved to the pre-season instead of
mid-year.
In 1984, a revival of the
International Rules representative
series against Ireland occurred. In 1987, a
salary cap was introduced. In 1988, the rules
changed to make players awarded free kicks be obliged to kick the
ball, rather than handpass. This rule change was reversed in
1990.
Ross Oakley was appointed CEO of the VFL
in 1986, and immediately set about plans for national expansion of
the competition.
In 1989, the league began encouraging some of the fledgling
Victorian clubs to merge or relocate interstate.
Footscray and
Fitzroy were almost forced into
amalgamation, but a fundraising event from Footscray supporters
stopped the proposed merger at the eleventh hour.
Collingwood played in its third successive Grand Final in 1981, yet
didn't win any of them. This added to Collingwood's already
infamous record in Grand Finals, signified by the term "the
Colliwobbles" - after their Premiership triumph of 1958,
Collingwood lost the next eight Grand Finals in which they played,
often after seemingly having the match in their keeping. They also
finished on top of the ladder twice after the regular season
matches (in 1969 and 1973), only to experience a loss of form in
the finals and miss the Grand Final altogether. "The Colliwobbles"
was introduced after the 1970 Grand Final loss to Carlton.
A bitter rivalry between Essendon and Hawthorn emerged after
competing in three consecutive Grand Finals between 1983 and 1985.
Essendon's win in the 1984 marked the first time since 1966 that a
team other than Richmond, Carlton, Hawthorn or North Melbourne had
won the premiership. The dominance of these few clubs and mounting
financial problems for several clubs resulted in the VFL adopting
an equalisation policy, centred around the player draft and salary
cap measures.
In 1988, Melbourne made its first appearance in a Grand Final since
1964, but it wasn't a memorable return to the big stage. Hawthorn
crushed an underdog Melbourne side by 96 points, the then biggest
Grand Final win in history, a record which stood until 2007.
In what many believe to be the finest VFL/AFL Grand Final of the
modern era, Hawthorn overcame a strong challenge from Geelong in
1989. It was a physical game right from the start when Geelong's
Mark
Yeates ran through
Dermott
Brereton at the opening bounce, bruising Brereton's kidney and
causing internal bleeding. In a courageous display, Brereton
refused to leave the ground and marked and goaled several minutes
later to stem Geelong's attempt to establish superiority. Later
heavy clashes would see
John Platten
knocked out and
Robert
DiPierdomenico suffer broken ribs and a punctured lung. Despite
a Grand Final record nine goals from Geelong's
Gary Ablett, Hawthorn still went on to win
by six points.
1990s – Australian Football League
Former AFL Logo (1990-99)
To reflect the steps towards a national competition, the VFL was
renamed as the
Australian Football League in 1990. The VFL
name disappeared until it was adopted by the AFL's state feeder
competition which was the most recent incarnation of the former
VFA.
Collingwood won the inaugural AFL premiership in 1990, ending a
drought of near misses that had seen the club lose grand finals in
1960, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1977, 1979, 1980 and 1981. By 1990
Collingwood had played in 36 Grand Finals, just under 40% of all
grand finals played.
1990 also saw the
Port
Adelaide Football Club make a bid for an AFL licence. In
response, a team called the
Adelaide
Crows was formed which was awarded the licence and joined the
league in 1991. That same year the Grand Final was played at
Waverley Park for first and only time as the MCG underwent
redevelopment. This game was also the first time that a team based
outside the state of Victoria, Australia -
West Coast Eagles - contested the Grand
Final, only to be outclassed by a Hawthorn side coming to the end
of their era of dominance.
With Adelaide bringing the number of teams to 15, the final six was
introduced in 1991. In 1992, Waverley Park was renamed "AFL Park"
and the West Coast Eagles became the first non-Victorian team to
win a premiership, beating Geelong. 1992 was also the final year
the Brisbane Bears called Carrara Stadium home, as they moved to
the Brisbane Cricket Ground at Woolloongabba (commonly known as The
'Gabba) in time for the 1993 season.
In 1994,
the Fremantle Football Club
was formed in Western Australia to represent the strong history of
Australian Football in Fremantle and played its first game in the AFL in
1995. That year, the first Western Derby was played between
the two Western Australian based teams, beginning a fierce local
rivalry with West Coast dominating until Fremantle broke the
shackles in their 10th meeting in 1999. Carlton made the record
books by winning its 16th premiership after 16 consecutive wins and
only two losses for the entire season.
Some of the rule changes of the decade included:
- In 1994, a third field umpire was introduced.
- In 1994, the McIntyre
Final Eight System was introduced.
- A fourth interchange player was added for the 1998 season,
increasing match day squads to 22 players.
In 1996, the VFL/AFL celebrated its centenary. One round of games
featured a repeat of the games in Round 1, 1897, with players
wearing replicas of the guernseys worn 100 years earlier. Late in
the season, after it looked like the
Fitzroy Lions would succumb to financial
problems and merge with North Melbourne, the AFL dramatically
announced that
Brisbane Bears would
merge with Fitzroy and play as the
Brisbane Lions from 1997. North Melbourne
recovered from being jilted, and became the only team to win the
once-off gold premiership cup by defeating Sydney, which had not
played in a Grand Final since 1945 (when they competed as South
Melbourne).
Later in 1996, an attempt to merge Melbourne and Hawthorn to form
the
Melbourne Hawks made headlines,
but failed to eventuate. Ross Oakley stepped down as the AFL's
Chief Executive and was replaced by
Wayne Jackson.
The AFL also
rejected bids from Queensland club Southport Sharks and the Tasmanian government to enter teams.
In 1997, the
Port Adelaide
Football Club were finally awarded a licence to join the AFL,
coinciding with the Brisbane/Fitzroy merger to keep the league a 16
team competition. The inaugural
Showdown occurred in that year, with
Port Adelaide causing an upset victory over Adelaide who recovered
from the shock and went on to win the first of two consecutive
premierships and become the first side in history to win four
finals in one series to win the premiership. St. Kilda won the
minor premiership and were playing in their first Grand Final since
1971, entering the game as favourite. Adelaide, their opponent,
managed to keep pace with St Kilda in the first half and eventually
overhauled them with a championship final quarter to win the Grand
Final.The Footscray Bulldogs were renamed the
Western Bulldogs, in order to reflect the
club's representation of Melbourne's western suburbs. 1997 was a
year in which the perennial underdogs prospered. St Kilda, the
Western Bulldogs and Adelaide all shot up the ladder, renewing the
spirits of their clubs, and the competition.
In 1998, Adelaide repeated its feat of the previous year to win the
premiership (after losing their first finals match to Melbourne),
beating favourites North Melbourne. North had major goal scoring
problems in the match and had a dismal second half.
Andrew McLeod won his second
Norm Smith Medal in two years, and the
Adelaide Crows became the first team since Richmond in 1921 to turn
their maiden Premiership into a double the following season. The
International Rules series against the
Gaelic Athletic Association was
rekindled in 1998, after the series was erased from the league
fixtures following 1990.
Wayne Carey
skippered one of the league's finest teams, including
Nathan Buckley,
Robert Harvey,
Matthew Lloyd and
Mark Ricciuto.
In 1999,
the league sold Waverley
Park stadium and used the funds in a joint venture to
begin construction of a brand-new stadium situated at Melbourne's
Docklands
. The league announced the last AFL
State
of Origin match (with Victoria thumping South Australia on a
wet day at the MCG), its intentions to instead to focus on the new
national league. Finishing in sixth place at the end of the regular
season, Carlton fought hard in the finals and recorded a remarkable
one-point upset victory in the Preliminary Final against Essendon.
In what was the final Grand Final of the 20th century, the Blues
lined up against North Melbourne who the same year had renamed
themselves as the "Kangaroos" in order to appeal to a national
audience. A competitive game up to half time, the Roos, with thanks
to Norm Smith Medallist
Shannon Grant,
ran away with the game and the premiership by 35 points.
2000s
The AFL logo was again changed in 2000, with a new look for the new
millennium. The competition's two most bitter rivals,
Collingwood and
Carlton, signed off on the 1900s with
the 'Millennium Match', played at the MCG on New Year's Eve. As a
spectacle, the runners up in the previous season's Grand Final
comfortably defeated the 16th placed Magpies, with young forward
Brendan Fevola supplying Blues fans
with a taste of things to come, booting 12 goals.
The first indoor AFL
match was held at Docklands Stadium in round one of 2000. In the first game at
the new venue,
Essendon
crushed
Port Adelaide by
94 points. It was a sign of things to come, as Essendon lost only
one match for the entire season equaling Collingwood's team of 1929
(dubbed "The Machine"), and one of the highest percentages at
159.1%. They faced
Melbourne
in the Grand Final and belted them by 60 points. Skipper
James Hird was awarded the
Norm Smith Medal, capping off a fine season
following three successive injury plagued campaigns; Matthew Lloyd
took out the
Coleman Medal after
breaking the 100 goal barrier for the first time in his career, and
Melbourne's previously unheralded
Shane
Woewodin was a surprise winner of the
Brownlow Medal.
Season 2001 was the first of several seasons of dominance by the
non-Victorian teams. The
Brisbane Lions won the first of
their historic three successive premierships, becoming the first
team north of the Murray River to win a premiership, and
non-Victorian team to win more than two on the trot. The changing
of the guard from Essendon's dominance took place at the Gabba in
round 10 with the Lions overcoming
Kevin Sheedy's men by
28 points. It was the first of the Lions record 19 victories in
succession.
Port
Adelaide,
Hawthorn and
Richmond all made significant
inroads in 2001 and Hawthorn fell short by a mere nine points
against Essendon in the Preliminary Final. Several Bombers
subsequently headed into the Grand Final against Brisbane seven
days later under injury clouds before losing by 26 points.
Brisbane's victory sparked jubilation from fans of
Fitzroy and
Brisbane Bears, who were finally brought
together in arguably the spiritual completion of the 1996 merger.
Lion
Jason Akermanis took home the
Brownlow Medal, whilst Lloyd was again the John Coleman Medallist,
once more notching up his ton in the Qualifying Final, on this
occasion against Richmond at the MCG. The season was also notable
as it was the 45th and final season of the television broadcast
rights remaining in the hands of
Channel
Seven, with Channels 9, 10 and pay-TV operator Foxtel granted
the rights for 2002-2006.
The 2002 season was one of the closest on record and Collingwood
finally emerged from a seven year exile from finals action.
Carlton, too, suffered from winds of change, winning the first
Wooden Spoon in the club's history, a season which terminated the
coaching career of
Wayne Brittain,
John Elliot's ruling as president, and
paved the way for
Denis Pagan to leave
the
Kangaroos for
Optus Oval.
Brisbane, however, were at the peak of
their powers, and along with Port Adelaide vied for top spot on the
league table for much of the season, a battle resolved in the final
round at Football
Park, when Power onballer Roger
James snapped the match winning goal with a minute
remaining. The season began in a media frenzy, with North
Melbourne captain, and arguably the greatest footballer of the
1990s,
Wayne Carey, quitting the
Kangaroos after an off field uproar. In the face of adversity, the
Roos stuck tight, and the famed Shinboner Spirit continued to
prosper, as veterans
Anthony
Stevens,
Glenn Archer and
David King helped
propel their side back into the September action, only to have
their year cut short by Melbourne in the Elimination Final, marking
the end of
John Blakey's career as a
player, and Pagan's 10 year tenure at Arden Street. The
Grand Final between Brisbane and
Collingwood was a close contest from start to finish, with Brisbane
victorious on a sodden, overcast day. The final margin was the
largest of the entire match, making it one of the closest Grand
Finals in history.
Season 2003 was, to an extent, a continuation of the previous
season, in terms of form, however it was also a year of transition,
when
Andrew Demetriou was appointed
as Chief Executive Officer of the league, with
Wayne Jackson (1997-2003)
stepping down from his role.
The season saw one highly emotional moment
on 6 June, when Jason McCartney
returned to play for North Melbourne after suffering
life-threatening burns in the 2002 Bali bombing
; he retired immediately after the game was won
against Richmond. The status quo remained at the top of the
ladder, with Collingwood acting as the premiership favourite for
much of the season, whilst Port Adelaide and Brisbane were snapping
at their heels. At season's end, all six non-Victorian teams filled
positions in the top eight, Collingwood (2nd) and Essendon (8th)
the only Victorian teams to keep a foothold in the helter-skelter
of league football. The Magpies overcame their bogey side, the
Lions, in a tense Qualifying Final, with thanks to
Alan Didak's magical left foot goals late in the
last quarter. Earning a two week break, the Magpies steamrolled the
Power in the Preliminary Final to the tune of 44 points to book
their second Grand Final in as many seasons, which was played
against, once again, Brisbane. The Lions, after their defeat at the
hands of the Magpies in the first week of the finals series, were
forced to take the long road home, accounting for Adelaide on home
soil before overrunning the Swans at Stadium Australia. Sydney had
earned their home Preliminary Final with their shock victory over
Port Adelaide at Football Park in the First Preliminary Final, a
victory which ensured that the Power had much work to do to do away
with their take as 'chokers'.Despite going in as favourites, and
equipped with Brownlow Medallist
Nathan
Buckley, who shared it with Adelaide's
Mark Ricciuto and Sydney's
Adam Goodes, the Magpies Grand Final
preparations were interrupted by the suspension of their centre
half forward,
Anthony Rocca, who was
booked and suspended for two weeks for striking Port's
Brendon Lade the week prior. Collingwood
appeared to be all at sea on the biggest day of the year, in
contrast to their efforts of the previous title tilt, the
experienced Brisbane defeated the Magpies by 50-point. Brisbane
became the first team since Melbourne in the 1950s to win three
consecutive premierships.
The 2004 season saw
St Kilda
lead the competition at the mid-way point, undefeated with 10 wins.
After the break, however, St Kilda struggled to find its best form,
although it made the finals. A closely fought preliminary final
played in Adelaide saw Port Adelaide pip
St Kilda by a single goal for a spot
in the Grand Final. The Grand final was the first in history not to
be contested by a Victorian team. Brisbane were out to get their
fourth consecutive premiership; however, it was Port Adelaide who
took home the cup.
2005 saw a very defensive style of play dominate and the longest
premiership drought in history broken. It was the first time in 72
years, and the first time since they relocated from South
Melbourne, that the Sydney Swans took home the cup. In a tightly
fought contest from start to finish, Sydney defeated the West Coast
Eagles by four points, one of the lowest scoring Grand Finals in
history and the closest final scores since 1966, made possible by a
memorable mark from Swan's defender
Leo
Barry in the dying seconds that halted a late charge by the
Eagles.
A series of new rule changes were introduced for the 2006 season
intended to speed up the game, including allowing the ball to be
brought back into play immediately after a point is scored (instead
of waiting for goal umpires to wave their flag) and limiting the
time allowed for players with a mark to kick for goal to 30
seconds. The Swans and Eagles had built a close rivalry with the
Eagles beating the Swans during the season by only four points. In
the first Qualifying final, Sydney took their revenge by earning a
weeks rest by defeating West Coast 85-84. The Grand Final was
almost identical, with the Swans and Eagles facing off again in the
decider. This time it was the Eagles who triumphed 85-84, exacting
revenge on the Sydney Swans also for the 2005 Grand Final defeat.
Over the past 8 Meetings between the 2 clubs, the total winning
margin was under 10 points.
In 2007,
Geelong had one of
the most dominant seasons in the competition's history. After
finishing the home and away season three games clear in first
place, winning 19 of the last 20 matches including 15 in a row,
having a record nine
All-Australian
players and winning most of the individual awards including the
Brownlow Medal,
AFL Rising Star,
Leigh Matthews Trophy and the
J. J.
Liston Trophy (VFL B&F),
they completed the finals series with only one close match against
Collingwood in a preliminary final. After doing away with an
unexpected Kangaroos outfit in the first week, whom had been
plagued with board instability and pressure to relocate to the Gold
Coast, the Cats faced Collingwood two weeks later in the
preliminary for a close fought match. The Magpies made the
preliminary final only by beating the Eagles in Perth the week
before in extra time. The Grand Final then saw Geelong end their 44
year premiership drought with a record breaking 119 point victory
over
Port Adelaide with
Steve Johnson winning the Norm Smith Medal.
In December 2007, the Kangaroos declined an AFL offer of subsidies
to relocate to Queensland. The AFL then announced that the league
would begin work on a 17th club -
Gold Coast Football Club in 2010 or
2011.
In February 2008 the AFL announced plans to increase the
competition to 18 clubs by 2012, with one team to be at Gold Coast
and one in Sydney's west, both areas with established
National Rugby League teams and where
rugby league is the most popular sport.
However, Tasmania has launched a bid for one of the two licenses on
offer.
In 2008,
Geelong was the
leading club of the league, only losing one match in the home and
away season. At the end of the 22-game season, the Cats were at the
top of the ladder four games ahead of
Hawthorn, who were a further game and
a half ahead of the
Western
Bulldogs. Fourth spot was not settled until the last home and
away round and was finally secured in spectacular fashion by
St Kilda with a 100-point
plus thumping of Essendon. Fifth was the
Adelaide Crows, sixth was the
Sydney Swans, seventh was
North Melbourne,
having been fourth at the start of the round but lost to 13th
placed
Port Adelaide
Power, and eighth was
Collingwood Magpies, who were
fifth at the start of the round but lost to the 14th placed
Fremantle Dockers.
The first week of the 2008 finals went largely as expected, as
Geelong defeated
St Kilda by 58 points,
Hawthorn defeated the
Western Bulldogs by 51 points and
Sydney defeated
North Melbourne by 35 points.
But the upset of the week went to the eighth placed
Collingwood as they defeated fifth
placed
Adelaide by 31 points.
In the second week of the finals, the Western Bulldogs defeated
Sydney by 37 points, and St Kilda defeated Collingwood by 34
points. The third week saw
Geelong defeat the
Western Bulldogs by 29 points, and
Hawthorn defeat
St Kilda by 54 points.
Hawthorn defeated
Geelong (who had previously only lost
one match in the whole season) by 26 points in the Grand Final to
win the AFL Premiership, with
Luke Hodge
of
Hawthorn winning the Norm
Smith Medal for best on ground.
In
2009, the season was widely taken
over by Geelong and St Kilda. But it was St Kilda who had only lost
two games in the season which were to Essendon and the North
Melbourne Football Club. Both Geelong and St Kilda stayed top of
the table, with Collingwood and Western Bulldogs behind.
Collingwood lost to the Saints in the Qualifying Final, while The
Western Bulldogs lost to Geelong. After losing their respective
games and going out of the finals, it was left to Geelong and St
Kilda to fight it out in the
2009
AFL Grand Final. Geelong narrowly defeated St Kilda in a tough
match. Paul Chapman was named Norm Smith medallist, being the only
player to score more than 2 goals on the day.
Individual awards
Major annual awards
Team of the Century
To celebrate the 100th season of the AFL, the "AFL Team of the
Century" was named in 1996.
Jack Elder was declared the
Umpire of the Century to coincide with the Team of the
Century. Since the naming of this side, most AFL clubs have
nominated their own teams of the century. An
Indigenous Team of the
Century was also selected in 2005, featuring the best
Aboriginal players of the previous 100 years from both the VFL/AFL
and other state leagues.
VFL/AFL records
- Highest winning margin in a grand
final
119 points - Geelong 24.19 (163) defeated Port Adelaide 6.8
(44)
MCG, 29 September 2007
- Highest score
Geelong 37.17 (239) defeated Brisbane Bears 11.9 (75)
Carrara
Stadium, 3 May 1992
- Highest winning
margin
190 points - Fitzroy 36.22 (238) defeated Melbourne 6.12 (48)
Waverley
Park, 28 July 1979
- Highest aggregate
score
52.33 (345) - Melbourne 21.15 (141) wdb St Kilda 31.18 (204)
MCG, 6 May 1978
- Highest score in one
quarter
South Melbourne - 17.4 (106) vs. St Kilda 0.0 (0) in 4th
quarter
Lake
Oval
, 26 July 1919
Final score: South Melbourne 29.15 (189) vs. St Kilda 2.6
(18)
- Largest crowd
Carlton v Collingwood - 121,696
MCG, 26 September 1970 (Grand Final)
- Largest Home & Away Season
crowd
Melbourne v Collingwood - 99,346
MCG, 1958
- Largest crowd for a game between a
Victorian and non-Victorian club
St Kilda Saints v Adelaide Crows - 98,828
MCG, 27 September 1997 (Grand Final)
- Largest crowd for a game between
non-Victorian clubs
West Coast Eagles v Sydney Swans - 97,431
MCG, 30 September 2006 (Grand Final)
- Largest International
crowd
Melbourne v Sydney - 32,789
B.C.
Place, Vancouver
, Canada, 1987
- Most premierships
Carlton 16, most recent 1995, Essendon 16, most recent 2000
- Most last placed finishes at the end of the Home and
Away Season
St Kilda - 26
- Most consecutive premierships
Collingwood - 4
1927-1930
- Most games won in a season
24 (incl. finals)
Essendon - 2000
- Most consecutive Grand Final appearances
Melbourne (7 between 1954 and 1960) and Hawthorn (7 between 1983
and 1989)
- Most consecutive Finals appearances
Hawthorn (13 between 1982 and 1994)
- Most consecutive Preliminary Finals
appearances
North Melbourne (8 between 1993 and 2000)
- Most consecutive wins
Geelong - 23
1952-1953
- Most consecutive games unbeaten
Geelong - 26
1952-1953
- Most consecutive losses
University - 51 (1911-1914)
- Most games played in a career
Michael Tuck (Hawthorn) - 426
games
- Most games as club captain
Stephen Kernahan (Carlton) - 226
games
- Most goals in a career
Tony Lockett (St Kilda/Sydney) - 1,360
goals
- Most goals in a game
Fred Fanning (Melbourne) - 18 goals, 30
August 1947
- Most goals in a season
Bob Pratt (South Melbourne, 1934) and
Peter Hudson (Hawthorn, 1971) - 150
goals
- Most consecutive matches
Jim Stynes (Melbourne) - 244
- Most consecutive matches from debut
Jared Crouch (Sydney) - 194 (Ended Rd
13, 2006 due to shoulder injury)
- Tallest player
Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle)
211 cm
- Shortest player
James "Nipper"
Bradford (North Melbourne/Collingwood) - 154 cm
- Heaviest player
Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) -
124 kg
- Longest kick
Albert Thurgood (Essendon) - 98.48m
(109 yards, 1 foot, 3.2 inches)
- Heaviest Suspension
Doug Fraser and
Alex Lang (Carlton) - 99 matches (bribery)
from 1910-1915 (John Bourke of Collingwood was suspended for 10
years plus 16 matches (numerous offences) in the reserves
competition from 1985-1996)
- Heaviest fine imposed on club
AUD$987,500 imposed on Carlton F.C. 2002 (gross
salary cap breaches)
- Heaviest fine imposed on player
AUD$40,000 imposed on Simon Goodwin of Adelaide F.C. 2007 (gambling
on AFL matches), AUD$40,000 imposed on Rhan
Hooper of Brisbane F.C. 2009 (multiple discipline breaches)
Representative football
State football
There is currently no official state representation for AFL players
despite the concept being well supported among fans and calls to
re-introduce a
State
of Origin series.
History of the VFL/AFL's Involvement
VFL players first represented the Victoria representative team in
1897 regardless of their state of origin.
Being the dominant league drawing many of the country's best
players, the
Victoria Australian
rules football team (nicknamed the "Big V" and comprised mostly
of VFL players) dominated interstate matches until the introduction
of State of Origin selection criteria by the
Australian Football Council (of
which the VFL was a member) in 1977.
The AFL Commission assumed control of interstate football in 1993
and co-ordinated an annual State of Origin series typically held
during a mid-season bye round. However after the 1999 series, the
AFL declared the concept of interstate football "on hold" citing
club's unwillingness to release star players and a lack of public
interest and shifted its focus of representative football to the
International Rules Series where it draws a greater television
revenue.
The last time AFL players played interstate football was in the
1999 State of Origin Series when Victoria inflicted a massive
defeat on South Australia in wet conditions in front of a crowd of
26,063. Just 10 years earlier, the same match with a plethora of
star players attracted a crowd of 91,960.
Some past AFL players participate and help promote the
E. J. Whitten Legends Game, however
this event is not affiliated with or promoted by the AFL.
AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match
The AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match was a one-off match held at the
MCG during the first bye weekend of season 2008 as part of the
150th anniversary of Australian Football celebrations to
acknowledge the historical contribution of State Football. In
promoting the match, the AFL declared it as "The game that has been
150 years in the making".
While many fans (particularly those outside Victoria) had hoped for
a traditional interstate series, the AFL instead held an All-Star
event featuring the senior Victorian team against a composite
"
Dream
Team".
While the crowd and television audience for the match was
impressive and the AFL debated the merits of reintroducing state
football, Andrew Demetriou since stated that there is little chance
that even an All-Star match will be repeated.
International Rules Series
For information on the International Rules Series please refer to
the article
International
Rules Series.
Administration
The
AFL Commission is responsible for
the administration of the AFL. It was established in December 1985
after club parochialism and self interest threatened to undermine
the competition.
The Commission's chairman is
Mike Fitzpatrick, a former
Subiaco and Carlton player, and the Chief Executive is
Andrew Demetriou. After playing for North
Melbourne and Hawthorn, Demetriou had a successful business career
before returning to the football world as chief executive of the
AFL Players Association. He
then crossed to the AFL as Manager of Football Operations before
succeeding Wayne Jackson.
The Commission's composition remains almost exclusively Victorian
based with one exception, Bob Hammond from South Australia.
In addition to administering the national competition, the AFL is
heavily involved in promoting and developing the sport in
Australia. It provides funds for local leagues and in conjunction
with local clubs, administers the
Auskick
program for young boys and girls.
The AFL also plays a leading role in developing the game outside
Australia, with projects to develop the game at junior level in
other countries eg South Africa) and by supporting affiliated
competitions around the world (See
Australian football around
the world).
The players of the AFL are represented by the
AFL Players Association.
Audience
Attendance
The following are the most recent season attendances:
| Year |
Home and Away |
Average |
Finals1 |
Average1 |
Grand Final |
| 2009 |
6,375,622 |
36,225 |
615,463 |
68,385 |
99,251 |
| 2008 |
6,512,999² |
37,006 |
571,760 |
63,258 |
100,012 |
| 2007 |
6,475,521 |
36,793 |
575,424 |
63,936 |
97,302 |
| 2006 |
6,204,056 |
35,250 |
532,178 |
59,131 |
97,531 |
| 2005 |
6,283,788 |
35,703 |
480,112 |
53,346 |
91,898 ³ |
| 2004 |
5,909,836 |
33,579 |
458,326 |
50,925 |
77,671³ |
| 2003 |
5,876,515 |
33,389 |
478,425 |
53,158 |
79,451³ |
| 2002 |
5,648,021 |
32,091 |
449,445 |
49,938 |
91,817 |
| 2001 |
5,919,026 |
33,631 |
525,993 |
58,444 |
91,482 |
| 2000 |
5,731,091 |
32,563 |
566,562 |
62,951 |
96,249 |
| 1999 |
5,768,611 |
32,776 |
472,007 |
52,445 |
94,228 |
| 1998 |
6,119,861 |
34,772 |
572,733 |
63,637 |
94,431 |
| 1997 |
5,853,449 |
33,258 |
560,406 |
62,267 |
99,645 |
| 1996 |
5,222,266 |
29,672 |
478,773 |
53,197 |
93,102 |
| 1995 |
5,119,694 |
29,089 |
594,919 |
66,102 |
93,670 |
1 Finals total and Finals average include Grand Final
crowds.
² Record.
³ Capacity reduced due to MCG refurbishment.
Television
Australian television
The official free-to-air television partners of the AFL are the
Seven Network and
Network Ten. They own the rights to all eight
matches per round, but have on-sold four of those to pay-TV
providers
Foxtel and
Austar, meaning only two are actually shown on each
network.
Fox Sports shows the
other four matches exclusively live across Australia and replays
for all eight matches.
In a complicated arrangement, Seven holds exclusive rights to
Friday Night
Football in all the southern states where it is shown at 8:30pm
local time (except Canberra & Tasmania, where in Canberra a
baffling programming move relegated the coverage to 9.30pm on local
Seven affiliate
Prime Television.
While in Tasmania, the Friday night game is shown live on local
Seven affiliate
Southern Cross
Television) In NSW and Queensland (except Gold Coast region
where it is shown live on Seven affiliate
Prime Television), the game is broadcast
live on Fox (effectively a fifth match) through the
Main Event channel, and delayed on Seven at
different times into different regions of the two states. Seven
also shows the Sunday mid-afternoon game live or on delay depending
on the market. Ten shows one Saturday afternoon and one Saturday
night match live or on delay depending on the market, the same as
under the previous deal. Fox however shares first choice of game
for the "match of the day" Saturday afternoon and Saturday night
matches, and have exclusive access to the early Sunday afternoon
game and twilight Sunday game. In Victoria, if the early Sunday
game is played at Canberra, Launceston or the Gold Coast, Seven
replays the match at about 10.30pm that night. South Australia and
Western Australia also have the privilege of most of their local
clubs' away matches being shown live or near live on FTA TV through
Fox, even if Fox is scheduled to show it live.
The Grand Final was broadcast on Ten in 2007, and alternate between
the two FTA networks until 2011, meaning Ten will screen three
Grand Finals to Seven's two. As a consolation, Seven screened the
Brownlow medal count, the
Pre-Season Grand Final and had their choice of the
best finals throughout the finals series in the years they don't
broadcast the Grand Final. Ten will have the same privilege in 2008
and 2010.
Ten have discussed moving the traditional AFL Grand Final to a
twilight time (5:00 P.M) to increase viewers. However, this is
unlikely given community support is against any changes.Ten have
also announced that their Saturday Night and Finals matches will be
shown in full high definition.
Telecast history
1957 was the first VFL season after the commencement of television
in Australia in 1956 to coincide with the Melbourne
Olympic Games.
During the late 1950s, 60s and 70s, all
Melbourne stations (ABV2
, HSV7
, GTV9
and, after
it commenced in 1965, ATV0/ATV10
) broadcast some games. However, in the
late 1950s / early 60s, the VFL was afraid that direct telecasts
may affect attendances and stations were only permitted to telecast
a delayed replay of the last quarter of games. In the 1980s, the
Seven Network was given exclusive
rights to VFL/AFL games.
The only year Seven didn't telecast games
was 1987, when the rights were bought by Broadcom, which on-sold
the rights to the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation
(ABC). The exclusive rights were won
back by Seven in 1988. The games were also shown on cable by
C7 Sport through Optus and Austar but not
Foxtel.
In late 2000, the Seven Network's main rivals, the
Kerry Packer led
Nine
Network,
Network Ten and pay-tv's
Foxtel set up a consortium which bid $500
million for the right to broadcast the
2002-
2006
seasons inclusive. Seven had purchased a guaranteed right to make
the last bid in 1995, but decided not to outbid their rivals. The
games were split between the networks, with Nine screening
Friday Night Football and
two matches on Sunday, Ten showing a Saturday afternoon and a
Saturday night match and the remaining four matches shown on
Foxtel. Foxtel set up a dedicated AFL-only channel, the
Fox Footy Channel, which showed every game
on replay during the week as well as many news,
talkback and general interest shows related to
football.
When the rights were offered again in January 2006 for the
2007 to 2011 seasons, Seven formed an
alliance with Ten and used its guaranteed last bid rights to match
Nine's offer of $780 million to win back the broadcast rights in
what was the biggest sport telecasting deal in Australian history.
After lengthy negotiations, Foxtel agreed to be a broadcast partner
and now shows four live matches each week, although no longer on a
dedicated AFL channel. Seven took back the Friday night match and
only one game on Sunday, while Ten retained showing two matches on
Saturdays. Foxtel shows two games on Saturday and two on Sunday,
including a late afternoon or twilight game.
Global Telecasts
In 2007, after the record domestic television rights deal, the AFL
secured an additional bonus, greater international television
rights and increase exposure to overseas markets, including a 5
year deal with
Setanta Sports, and
new deals with other overseas pay tv networks.
In July 2009 due to Setanta going into administration in Great
Britain, the AFL re-negotiated the broadcast rights for the
Republic of Ireland and the UK. The new
ESPN
UK channel picked up the rights for the UK and ROI. New
broadcast deals with
ESPN for the USA and
TSN for Canada were negotiated
and completed at around the same. This happened because Setanta
could not afford to continue screening the AFL in North America due
to the owners financial problems.
The following countries are ranked by the approximate extent of
their television coverage.
- North America – The United States,Canada and
the British Caribbean receive AFL telecast games but not on
free-to-air channels. In the 1980s, ESPN
telecast a highlights package called Fosters Australian
Rules, and late-night coverage of Australian football
)including live coverage of the Grand Final) became a cult hit on
what was then a fledgling network. When ESPN dropped coverage
Prime Network a regional network of
cable networks (most notable SportsChannel America) picked up the
weekly highlight show along with live coverage of the Grand Final.
Fox Soccer Channel carried the
licence since 2003, but in 2006, announced it was dropping the
coverage of AFL games so that it could focus on soccer. However,
fellow niche-sports network Setanta Sports North America
picked up the rights, and now shows live coverage of the AFL in the
United States and the English speaking Caribbean nations, featuring
at least 3 live games per week. MHz
Worldview also shows a telescoped "Game of the Week" (one of
the Setanta games, with pregame, intermissions, and postgame edited
out) on Monday nights and the one-hour highlights package on
Wednesday afternoons, both on a one-week delay.
Setanta lost their rights for all of North America in early August
2009.
For the
U.S.A.
and English speaking Caribbean
nations, ESPN picked up the
broadcast rights. They show several matches a week on
ESPN360.com, along with a few matches a
season on
ESPN2.In 2009, the AFL Grand Final
will be screened live on
ESPN Classic
from 12.30AM ET.
In Canada
, TSN and
TSN2 now show one match per week.The AFL Grand
Final will be broadcast LIVE on TSN2 from 12.30AM ET/9.30PM
PT. The
AFANA is an organization aimed
at increasing coverage in North America.
- Europe Eurosport 2
– Screens highlights packages plus one match every weekend on
replay.The AFL Grand Final is broadcast LIVE.
- United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland - From
2007, Setanta Sports use to show 2-3
games a week live plus all the finals and the AFL Grand Final LIVE.
In 2008,
selected NAB Cup games were screened.Setanta
and state broadcaster RTÉ
(Rep.of
Ireland and N.Ireland only) televise the International Rules tests between
Ireland and Australia. Irish language broadcaster TG4 (Rep.of Ireland and N.Ireland only) airs highlights
of the previous week's AFL matches free-to-air on Wednesdays and
Saturdays.
Beginning Friday 7 August for the rest of
2009 season and all of the 2010 season,the new ESPN UK channel will broadcast around 3 games per
week during the regular season into the Republic
Of Ireland
and United Kingdom
to Sky Digital and NTL Chorus/UPC Ireland subscribers and Virgin Media subscribers in the UK.
ESPN UK is available in both both Standard
Definition and High Definition.The Standard Definition channel is
also avaialable to
Tiscali TV,
Top Up TV and
BT
Vision subscribers in the UK. Selected matches from the 2009
AFL Finals Series will be shown LIVE.The
2009 AFL Grand Final will be broadcast
LIVE from approximately 0430-0900 HRS
BST on
Saturday 26 September,2009. Replays of this match, most of the
regular season and finals games, will be screened during the
following week.The weekly highlights show called "Toyota Aussie
Rules" will be screened mid-week during the regular season and
finals series.
- Continental Africa/South Africa/Latin Caribbean
regions - ESPN Africa and ESPN Latin Caribbean networks
screen 1 game LIVE or on delay per week. AFL Grand Final broadcast LIVE in Africa,
delayed/LIVE in Caribbean.
- Spain – Canal+
Spain shows highlights packages and delayed coverage of
matches.
No broadcasting agreements have been made for viewers in other
regions of
Latin America.
In 2010/2011,the AFL plan to enter negotiations with all
international broadcasters regarding future broadcast rights
deals.
Radio
The first broadcast of a VFL game was by
3AR in 1923, the year that broadcasting
officially commenced in Australia. The first commentator was
Wallace Shallard, a former Geelong
player who went on to have a long and respected career in the print
and broadcast medias. The VFL/AFL has been broadcast every year
since then by the ABC and (since 1927) by various commercial
stations. The saturation period was the early 1960s when seven of
the eight exant radio stations (
3AR,
3UZ,
3DB,
3KZ,
3AW,
3XY and
3AK) broadcast VFL games each week, as well as
broadcasts of Geelong games by local station
3GL. (At this time, the only alternative
that radio listeners had to listening to the football on a Saturday
afternoon were the classical music and fine arts programs that were
broadcast by
3LO).
Currently, the official radio broadcast partners of the AFL
are:
- Triple M Melbourne
- K-Rock Geelong
- 3AW Melbourne
- FIVEaa Adelaide
- 6PR Perth
- SEN 1116 Melbourne
- 98.9FM Brisbane
- Triple M Sydney (Broadcasts only Swans matches)
- Triple M Brisbane (Broadcasts only Lions matches)
- Triple M Adelaide
Internet
The official internet/mobile broadcast partner of the AFL is
Bigpond. The AFL also provides exclusive
broadband content including streaming video for international fans
via its website.
Bigpond also hosts the
official websites of all the 16 AFL clubs excluding Essendon.
The service is also provided to international fans. Video is
available in as little as 12 hours after the game. Video quality is
reasonable for internet protocol.
However, the website is frequently derided by users in Australia
for its convoluted
information
architecture and
bloated
presentation.
Corporate relations
Sponsorship
The following are the official naming sponsors of the
VFL/AFL competition:
¹
Note: In 2001 CUB and Coca-Cola were joint
sponsors
Publishing and print
The official print broadcast partner of the AFL is
News Limited.The
AFL
Record is a match-day magazine published by the AFL and is read
by around 225,000 people each week.
Membership
The AFL
sells memberships that entitle subscribers to reserve seats for
matches at Docklands
Stadium and Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne. AFL members also receive
priority access to finals. AFL Members can nominate a club to get
priority Grand Final tickets.
Merchandising
The AFL runs a chain of stores that sell merchandise from all
clubs. Merchandise is also available from other retailers.
AFL World
A modern museum called the Hall of Fame and Sensation opened in
Melbourne in 2003 to celebrate the culture of the AFL and to
provide a venue for the
Australian Football Hall of
Fame. The museum, a licensed off-shoot of the AFL, was
originally touted for the MCG, but the Hall of Fame failed to get
support from the Melbourne Cricket Club. The new QV shopping centre
on Swanston Street was then chosen as the location. However,
controversy followed the appointment of an administrator as the
museum began running at a loss. Many blamed high entry prices,
which were subsequently reduced, and the museum remains open to the
public. In early 2006 the name was changed to AFL World. It
features various honour boards and memorabilia as well as a range
of innovative interactive displays designed to immerse visitors in
the experience of elite Aussie Rules. It was closed down in
2008.
Video games
These are computer/video games that were licensed to use the AFL /
Australian Football sports brand:
- Australian Rules
(1987) C64
- Aussie Rules Footy
(1991) NES (first game
to have Adelaide as a playable team); three fictional teams are
included
- AFL Finals Fever (1996) PC (first game to have Fremantle as a
playable team)
- AFL '97 (1996) PC (final game to have Fitzroy as a
playable team)
- AFL '98 (1997) PSone, PC
(PAL) (first game to have Port Adelaide as a
playable team)
- AFL '99 (1998) PSone, PC (PAL)
- Aussie Rules Coach (2001) PC
- Kevin Sheedy Coach (2002) PC
- AFL Live 2003 (2002)
PS2, Xbox, PC
(PAL)
- AFL Live 2004 (2003) PS2,
Xbox, PC (PAL)
- AFL Live
Premiership Edition (2004) PS2, Xbox, PC (PAL)
- AFL Premiership
2005 (2005) PS2, Xbox, PC (PAL)
- AFL Premiership
2006 (2006) PS2 (PAL)
- AFL Premiership
2007 (2007) PS2 (PAL)
- AFL Mascot
Manor (2009) DS
- AFL Challenge (2009)
PSP
- Australian Rules
Football (In Development, 2010) PS3, Xbox 360, PC
(PAL)
Gaming
The AFL is the subject of
footy
tipping and betting competitions around Australia run by
individuals, syndicates, workplaces and professional
bookmakers. In recent years national website based
tipping competitions have started to replace the traditional, but
more labour intensive, office or pub run competitions.
Fantasy football competitions based
on actual player statistics (number of kicks, marks, goals etc) are
also very popular on websites and in newspapers.
See also
References
- AFL wants SANFL name change, 27/6/2008,
independentweekly.com.au
- http://www.playafl.com.au
- V8 Supercars a TV ratings winner
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attendance_figures_at_domestic_professional_sports_leagues
- Record Community Growth; AFL Annual Report
2007
- Wilson, Caroline; Raid on home turf of league;
Realfooty.com.au2008-02-16
- Flanagan, Martin; Go north or south, AFL, not west of the east;
Realfooty.com.au; 2008-05-10
- Stokes, Brett; No way, never, says Demetriou; Hobart Mercury;
2008-04-18
- NSW Game Plan
- Massive pay hike
- www.theage.com.au
- afl.com.au
- Richardson (2002), p. 18.
- Witham, Jennifer; Drought over: Cats win by massive 119 points;
AFL.com.au;29 September 2007
- AFL expansion: 18's enough?
- Fox Sports: Tassie edge closer to AFL licence,
foxsports.com.au, 9 July 2008
- Robertson, Doug; Cornes calls for Origin return; Adelaide Now;
25 February 2007
- Day, Mark (1 Feb 2007); Pay TV strikes a deal on AFL; The
Australian
- Reynolds, Fiona (25 January 2001); Seven gives up AFL rights; PM (ABC radio)
- Live and sweaty; 22 August 2002
- Barrett, Damian (20 January 2007); Foxtel in footy twilight zone; Herald Sun
- AFL seals UK, US TV deal from
heraldsun.com.au
- New AFL Website – Whirlpool forums.
- New AFL website - how bad is it? -
BigFooty
External links
Statistics and Results
Major AFL news Sites
History
Discussion
or Sydney Showground 
, Fox Sports Israel
broadcasts highlights and the AFL Grand
Final LIVE.
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Search
