Sandover Medal

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The Sandover Medal is an Australian rules football award, given annually since 1921 to the best and fairest player in the West Australian Football League.

After each match, the three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game) confer and award a 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point vote to the players they regard as the best, second best, third best and so on in the match respectively. Voting wasn't always done this way. From 1930-1984 3, 2 and 1 point votes were given, and prior to 1930 there was only one vote per game.

Just like similar "fairest and best" awards, for example the Brownlow and Magarey Medals, if a player is suspended for a reportable offence throughout the season then they become ineligible to win the award. This in effect is where the "fairest" element of the award comes in.

On the awards night, the votes over the home and away (regular) season are tallied and the eligible player with the highest number of votes is awarded the medal. In the past, ties were decided on a countback system, but since 1985 it is possible for multiple medals to be awarded in the event of a tie.

Prior to 1930 when only 1 vote per game was given, and hence a countback was not possible, the WAFL president would cast a deciding vote to decide the winner.

Players that had missed out on a medal due to the countback system were awarded them retrospectively in 1997.