Australian Football League

The Australian Football League (AFL) is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football. The term is sometimes mistakenly used as the name of the code itself.

The AFL premiership season currently consists of 24 home and away rounds, followed by the finals series and the season concludes with the AFL Grand Final at which the winning team receives the premiership cup.

The AFL was formerly known as the Victorian Football League (VFL). It was renamed the Australian Football League due to the VFL's governing body's decision to market the competition as an officially national league in 1990. This was following expansion into New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia in the 1980s.

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).^[1] The AFL is also recognised as the world governing body of Australian football by the majority of larger international leagues.^[2]

The AFL is the most attended sporting league in Australia^[3] and one of the two most watched sports in Australia.^[4][5] It is also currently the third-most attended professional sports league in the world in terms of attendance per match, with an average attendance of 38,417.^[6] It is also the most financially strong sports league in the country due to substantial media and corporate sponsorship arrangements.^[7]

In national terms, however, Australian football is not the most popular sport in all areas of the country. 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.^[8]

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 Football Club 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. In 2011, the Gold Coast Football Club joined the AFL, while Greater Western Sydney will expand the competition to 18 teams in 2012.^[9]

Current clubs

• * denotes club record membership
• ** post merger
• *** club was founded in Melbourne as "South Melbourne Football Club", but relocated to Sydney in 1982.

Recent expansion

Early in 2008, a meeting held by the AFL discussed having two new teams enter the AFL competition.^[43]

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 before being promoted to play in the AFL Premiership from 2011. On 31 March 2009 the AFL issued a provisional licence to the Gold Coast Football Club. The team debuted in the TAC Cup as planned in 2009. Their nickname, the Suns, and their playing colours were unveiled on 22 July 2010.^[44] Their first official match against other AFL teams was on 19 February 2011, when they played against both the GWS Giants and the Sydney Swans in a triangular NAB Cup season-opener, comprehensively defeating the GWS Giants and narrowly winning against Sydney.^[45] In the AFL premiership season, their debut game was against Carlton at the Gabba on 2 April 2011, which was the second round of the season as they had a bye in the first round.^[46]

Greater Western Sydney Football Club was granted a licence in 2010 and is due to enter the league in 2012. The introduction of a club from Western Sydney has been met with much scepticism, as it is seen to be disadvantaging other clubs in its push to be successful in the first 10 years, as well as being an unreasonable geographical situation from which to draw an AFL fan base.^[47] Nevertheless, they made their professional debut against other AFL teams on 19 February 2011, when they played against Gold Coast and Sydney in a triangular NAB Cup season-opener, losing both matches by a significant margin.^[48]

The AFL has also considered a bid from the Tasmanian government for a licence for a Tasmanian team. In April 2009, the Premier of Tasmania, Paul Lennon, had a meeting with the AFL to discuss the possibility of a new team based in Tasmania.^[49] Canberra and Darwin are also sometimes suggested as future locations for teams. However it has been ruled out by the AFL primarily on economic and demographic grounds.^[50]

Former clubs

Since the Australian Football League commenced in 1897 as the Victorian Football League, only one club has left the competition, Melbourne University Football Club They last competed in 1914 and withdrew the following season due to the start of the First World War and did not reapply to join the league after the war ended. They still compete to this day in the Victorian Amateur Football Association. Two other clubs, the Fitzroy Football Club (Fitzroy Lions) and the Brisbane Bears merged in 1996 to form the Brisbane Lions.

In 1982, South Melbourne Football Club relocated to Sydney to become the Sydney Swans and in 1997 the Footscray Football Club was renamed to the Western Bulldogs. From 1999 to 2006 North Melbourne were known as simply the Kangaroos. These changes are not considered by the AFL to have created new clubs, but just changes in name or location.

Stadiums

† These teams are part-time tenants through commercial/promotional agreements.
~ Greater Western Sydney will play 4 games a year in Canberra for 10 years, under an agreement with the ACT government.^[51]
^ 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 two regular season matches at Marrara Stadium for seasons 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, including a new 60,000-seat stadium in Perth and a "boutique stadium" in Melbourne,^[52] as well as redevelopments of Bellerive Oval in Hobart,^[53] Adelaide Oval in Adelaide,^[54] and Eureka Stadium in Ballarat.^[55]

Players

The AFL has tight controls over the player lists of each club; each club can have a senior list of 40 players plus up to ten 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 the 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 2011, this is set at A$8,212,500 with a salary floor of A$7,596,562.50 for 2011 (except for the Gold Coast expansion team, whose salary cap will be A$9,212,500 with a salary floor of A$8,596,562.50). Salaries of draft selections are fixed for two years. Salaries for senior players are not normally released to the public, although one report put the average for 2011 at $211,000^[56] and the top few players can expect to earn up to $1,000,000 a year.^[57]

The breaches of the salary cap and salary floor regulations outlined by the AFL are exceeding the TPP, falling below the salary floor, not informing the AFL of payments, late or incorrect lodgement or loss of documents, or engaging in draft tampering. Penalties include fines of up to triple the amount involved ($10,000 for each document late or incorrect lodged or lost), forfeiture of draft picks and/or deduction of premiership points; the latter penalty has never been implemented for any of the breaches that have occurred.

In 2002, Carlton were fined $987,500 and barred from receiving priority picks, from the first two rounds of the National Draft for two years and from the 2003 pre-season draft after an AFL investigation found that they had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap totaling $1.37 million between 1998 and 2001. The fine was an Australian sporting record until the Melbourne Storm NRL team were fined $1.689 million in 2010 for gross long-term salary cap breaches.

Demographics

There were 801 players on AFL club senior, veteran, rookie and international lists in 2011, including players from every state and mainland territory of Australia.^[58]

Indigenous Australian players

There were 78 players of Indigenous Australian descent on AFL club lists in 2011, comprising 9.74% of the overall playing population.^[59]

International players

There were 12 players recruited from outside of Australia on AFL lists in 2011, including 10 from Ireland, all converts from Gaelic football drafted as part of the Irish Experiment. The other two players are Seamus McNamara (Collingwood) and Mike Pyke (Sydney), recruited from the United States and Canada respectively.

There were also another five overseas-born players who emigrated to Australia at an early age on AFL lists.^[60]

An International Rookie List and International Scholarship List were introduced in 2006. The International Rookie List comprises up to two players between the ages of 15–23 who are not Australian citizens. These players may remain on this list for up to three years before they must be transferred to the senior or rookie list. For the first year, payments made to international-rookie-listed players fall outside the salary cap. The International Scholarship List gives AFL clubs the option of recruiting up to eight players from outside Australia (other than Ireland). Irish players are required to either be placed on clubs' senior or rookie lists.^[61] There are currently 14 international scholarship players.^[62]

Season structure

Premiership season

The Toyota AFL Premiership Season, contested between the 17 teams from around Australia, lasts for 24 rounds and begins in late March. For the 2011 AFL season, each team will play 22 games, and have two byes. 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 24 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 and 2nd vs 3rd), the two winning qualifying finals teams progress directly into the two preliminary finals in the third week, with the other four teams playing in elimination finals (5th vs 8th and 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 large triangular flag which is blue with a white border and has the AFL logo on it as well as the word "premiers" and the year – there is a new one manufactured every year which the winning club 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.^[63]

The grand final has traditionally been played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the last Saturday in September. Recent exceptions to this were in 1991, when the MCG was being redeveloped and the grand final was played at Waverley Park, and 2000 when the grand final was played in early September as the Sydney Olympics started on 15 September. In 2011, due to the expanded season, the grand final was played on 1 October.

Premiership cup

A trophy cup, known as the premiership cup, and the 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 award 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

Some rounds of the season are named as themed rounds, 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 the Sydney Swans.

NAB Cup

The NAB Cup is a national pre-season competition played and completed prior to the commencement of the premiership season. It has been contested each season since 1988.

The pre-season competition has mostly been contested as a four-week Knock out tournament, although with the expansion beyond sixteen clubs in 2011, the first week was replaced by a three-team round-robin of half-length matches. Teams play exhibition matches on weekends after being eliminated. The competition has frequently been used to trial rule changes.

The final was played at Waverley Park most years until the ground was sold by the league in 1999. Since then, the finals have been mostly played at Docklands Stadium, but interstate clubs can earn the right to host the final, and three of the finals have been played in Adelaide. The player judged best on the ground in the final is awarded the Michael Tuck Medal, in honour of the footballer who played more league matches (426) than any other.

History

Competition timeline

Before the VFL

Australian rules football dates back to 1859. Melbourne Football Club was formed on 14 May that year. At a couple of meetings over the next week or so, at the Parade Hotel in East Melbourne, a group of about seven men, including Tom Wills, W.J. Hammersley and J. B. Thompson, wrote the first rules for Australian 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.

Individual awards

Major annual awards

• Brownlow Medal
• Coleman Medal
• AFL Rising Star
• Leigh Matthews Trophy
• AFLPA Awards
• AFLCA Awards
• Norm Smith Medal
• Jock McHale Medal
• Michael Tuck Medal
• Mark of the Year
• Goal of the Year (Australia)
• AFL Army Award
• All Australian Team
• Club Best and Fairest Awards
• Herald Sun Player of the Year
• Lou Richards Medal (Sunday Footy Show player of the Year)

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.

Records

• 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) lost to 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)
• Highest score
  Geelong 37.17 (239) defeated Brisbane Bears 11.9 (75)
  Carrara Stadium, 3 May 1992
• Largest crowd
  Carlton v Collingwood – 121,696
  MCG, 26 September 1970 (Grand Final)
• Largest home and 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) and 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
  Collingwood - 1921
  (to the end of the 2010 season)
• Most games won in a season
  Essendon – 2000
  24 (incl. finals)
• Undefeated in a home and away season
  Collingwood
  1929
• Most grand final appearances
  Collingwood - 43
• Most consecutive grand final appearances
  Melbourne - 7 (between 1954 and 1960) and Hawthorn - 7 (between 1983 and 1989)
• Most finals series appearances
  Collingwood - 78
• Most consecutive finals series appearances
  Hawthorn - 13 (between 1982 and 1994)
• Most consecutive preliminary finals appearances
  North Melbourne - 7 (between 1994 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 finals played in a career
  Michael Tuck (Hawthorn) – 39 games
• Most grand finals played in a career
  Michael Tuck (Hawthorn) – 11
• Most premierships won in a career
  Michael Tuck (Hawthorn) – 7
• 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 finals
  Gordon Coventry (Collingwood) – 112 goals
• Most goals in a game
  Fred Fanning (Melbourne) – 18 goals, 30 August 1947
• Most goals in a season (including finals)
  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
• Tallest player
  Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) 211 cm
  Peter Street (Geelong/Western Bulldogs) 211 cm
• Shortest player
  James "Nipper" Bradford (North Melbourne/Collingwood) – 154 cm
• Heaviest player
  Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) – 124 kg
• Longest kick
  Fred Fanning (Melbourne) – 106.15m (116 yards, 3¼ inches)
• Heaviest suspension
  Doug Fraser and Alex Lang (Carlton) – 99 matches (bribery) from 1910 to 1915
• Heaviest suspension for an on-field incident
  Fred Rutley (North Melbourne) – 89 matches (2 x kicking, 3 x striking and melee involvement) from 1925 to 1930
• Heaviest fine imposed on club
  A$987,500 imposed on Carlton 2002 (gross salary cap breaches)
• Heaviest fine imposed on player
  A$40,000 imposed on Simon Goodwin of Adelaide in 2007 (gambling on AFL matches), also imposed on Rhan Hooper of Hawthorn in 2009 (multiple discipline breaches)
• Heaviest fine imposed on coach
  A$15,000 imposed on Grant Thomas of St Kilda in 2005 (criticism of umpires), also imposed on Alastair Clarkson of Hawthorn in 2009 (confrontation with Essendon player Matthew Lloyd and abusing an interchange steward)

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.^[64]

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 composed 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, see 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 (e.g. 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:

¹ Finals total and Finals average include Grand Final crowds.
² Record.
³ Capacity reduced due to MCG refurbishment.
⁴ Crowd for the drawn Grand Final.
⁵ Crowd for the Grand Final Replay, played one week after the drawn Grand Final.

Television

Australian television

For the 2007 - 2011 seasons, the official free-to-air television partners of the AFL were the Seven Network and Network Ten. They owned the rights to all eight matches per round, but had on-sold four of those to pay-TV providers Foxtel and Austar, meaning only two were actually shown on each free-to-air network. Fox Sports screened the other four matches live across Australia and replays for all eight matches. From 2002 - 2006, the Nine Network, Network Ten and Fox Footy Channel along with their affiliated broadcast partners held the rights to Australian Football League television coverage. All Matches involving teams from Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia have been screened to viewers on free-to-air channels in their home states (including matches covered by Foxtel) during this time, as well as in past broadcast agreements.

From 2012, the AFL competition will expand to 18 teams with a new team, the Greater Western Sydney Giants (also known as the GWS Giants) joining the competition following on from the debut of the Gold Coast Suns team in 2011. On Friday 30 October 2011, the AFL released its fixture for 2012 and announced that the 2012 home and away season will be played over 23 rounds, with three 'multi-bye' rounds of only six games. The reduced rounds - 11, 12 and 13 - will allow six teams to have a bye in each week of the three-week period. The multi-bye format has been chosen over the traditional split round as a means of giving players a break during the season. [4]

On Thursday 28 April 2011, the AFL announced that the Seven Network and Foxtel and Telstra had successfully won the rights to broadcast the 2012 - 2017 seasons on their respective networks. Telstra won the rights to broadcast one live match per week via IP Television and on their Telstra Mobile service. The deal was confirmed when the Seven Network, Foxtel and Telstra agreed to pay $A1.253 Billion to the Australian Football League to broadcast every match of every round and all of the Finals Series across their platforms. [5]

The reasons for the increased in media rights revenue came from the addition of extra matches due to two more teams joining the competition, Foxtel being granted permission by the Federal Government to bid for nearly all matches to show live, plus an increase from four to five matches shown exclusively on their platform each round, high demand for content from Telstra and the Seven Network`s desire to retain AFL rights by bidding more than Nine Network and Network Ten.

As part of the agreement, Austar will broadcast Foxtel`s AFL coverage in the regional areas of Australia that are not part of Foxtel`s service area. Regional free-to-air broadcasters Prime7, GWN7, Seven Queensland, Southern Cross Television and WIN Television will show Seven's coverage in their respective areas.

Foxtel and Austar will broadcast every match from every round of the AFL pre-season tournament, the AFL premiership season and every match of the AFL Finals Series (except for the AFL Grand Final) live across Australia. Matches will be shown live and on replay, along with magazine shows and other australian rules football themed programming through on a re-launched 24-hour a day AFL TV channel to be known as Fox Footy. Live Match coverage will also screen across Australia on Fox Sports when other games are screening on Fox Footy. Coverage will also be available via Foxtel`s IP television service (Foxtel on T-Box).

The Seven Network and affiliated stations will simulcast four games from every round of the regular premiership season on Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon with Foxtel and Austar. Games played on Public Holidays such as ANZAC Day and the Queens Birthday will also be broadcast by the Seven Network. Seven will simulcast the AFL Finals Series live with Foxtel and will broadcast the AFL Grand Final exclusively live, with Foxtel broadcasting the Grand Final on replay. Under the terms of the new agreement, the matches that are broadcast by the Seven Network and their affiliates will vary for different regions of Australia.

Matches will be broadcast live into Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory on the free-to-air (digital-only) multi-channel: 7mate. Matches will be broadcast either live or on delay into all other states on the primary channel (Seven Network and affiliates Prime7, GWN7 and Southern Cross Television). WIN-TV will show matches for viewers in the Riverland, Mount Gambier and Limestone Coast regions of eastern South Australia only, on a digital multi channel affiliated with the Seven Network`s station in Adelaide, SAS-7.

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 and 60s, 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.

With the launch of subscription television in Australia, AFL match coverage commenced on cable television. Optus Vision bid for and won exclusive pay tv rights from 1996–2001, screening coverage on its own 24 hour AFL channel, branded Sports AFL in Brisbane Sydney and Melbourne (where available). The Sports AFL channel was later closed due to financial issues and relaunched in March 1999 as C7 Sport by the Seven Network with AFL match coverage also transferred to the new channel. C7 Sport became available in regional areas not in the Foxtel or Optus Vision licence area via Austar soon after the re-launch. The AFL coverage was not available through Foxtel at this time as the Seven Network and Foxtel disagreed on the cost of carrying the C7 channel. These issues regarding C7 and AFL broadcsting rights evolved into a court case between not just the Seven Network and News Limited, but Seven against the owners of the Nine Network and Network Ten in the years that followed.

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,^[65] but decided not to outbid their rivals.^[66] The games were split between the networks, with Nine screening Friday Night Football and two matches on Sunday, Ten screened a Saturday afternoon and a Saturday night match, with the remaining four matches shown on Foxtel. Foxtel set up it`s own version of 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 australian rules football.^[67]

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 at the time. After lengthy negotiations, Foxtel agreed to be a broadcast partner and now showed four live matches each week, although no longer on a dedicated AFL channel.^[65] Seven took back the Friday night match and only one game on Sunday, while Ten retained showing two matches on Saturdays. Foxtel showed two games on Saturday and two on Sunday, including a late afternoon or twilight game.^[68]

International broadcast partners

Historically AFL broadcasts in other countries have varied.

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.^[69]

In the 1980s, VFL matches were shown in the United States on ESPN for some time. Some other English speaking countries have shown the game, however it has been since 2008 that channels in other countries began televising matches.

The following countries are ranked by the approximate extent of their current television coverage (and whether it is free to air):

Global

The AFL has stated that it wishes to showcase the footballing code to other countries such as India, China and South Africa so as to create a global following thus creating more exposure for its sponsors in the increasing Asian and African markets.^[70] On 17 October 2010, AFL clubs Melbourne Demons and Brisbane Lions played an exhibition game in front of almost 10,000 people at the Riverside Sports Center in Shanghai. This was the first professional AFL game to be played in China.

The AFL has garnered increased interest in Ireland due to the introduction of the International Rules series played between an AFL picked All Australian Team and Ireland. This paved the way for young Irish footballers to be rostered to AFL teams mainly due to the fact that salaries in the AFL are much larger than that of Gaelic Football although most Irish players fail to make the grade into 1st team football.^[71] This also paved the way for extended news coverage and increased broadcasting in the UK and Ireland.

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 (Jumbo) Shallard, a former Geelong player who went on to have a long and respected career in print and broadcast media. 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 extant 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 and Giants 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 17 AFL clubs excluding Essendon.

The service is also provided to international subscribers. Delayed video is available 12 hours or more after the game.

However, the website is frequently derided by users for its convoluted information architecture and bloated presentation.^[72][73]

Corporate relations

Sponsorship

The following are the official naming sponsors of the VFL/AFL competition:

• Carlton & United Breweries (1980–81, 86, 89–94, 2001–03)
• Holden (1982–83)
• Nissan (1984–85)
• Sportsplay (1987)
• Elder's IXL (1988)
• Coca-Cola (1995–2001)
• Toyota (2004–present)

¹Note: 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.^[74]

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

The following is a list of all the video games from the AFL video game series:

• Aussie Rules Footy (1991) NES
• AFL Finals Fever (1996) Microsoft Windows
• AFL 98 (1998) PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
• AFL 99 (1999) PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
• Kevin Sheedy AFL Coach 2002 (2002) Microsoft Windows
• AFL Live 2003 (2002) Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox
• AFL Live 2004 (2003) Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox
• AFL Live Premiership Edition (2004) Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox
• AFL Premiership 2005 (2005) Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox
• AFL Premiership 2006 (2006) PlayStation 2
• AFL Premiership 2007 (2007) PlayStation 2
• AFL Mascot Manor (2009) Nintendo DS
• AFL Challenge (2009) PlayStation Portable
• AFL Live (2011) Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii

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

• AFL footballers
• Australian Football League Pre-Season Cup Premiers
• AFL Draft
• Sports attendances
• Australian rules football in Australia
• Goal of the Year
• Mark of the Year
• AFL Heritage Round
• History of Australian rules football in Victoria (1853-1900)
• Victorian Football League
• Name A Game

Lists:

• List of Australian Football League night premiers
• List of VFL/AFL presidents
• List of overseas-born AFL players
• List of VFL/AFL players by ethnicity
• List of Indigenous Australian rules footballers
• List of Australian Football League grounds
• List of Australian Football League coaches
• List of Australian Football League premiers
• List of sports venues in Australia
• List of Australian football codes by social media

References

External links

• AFL official site

Statistics and Results

• AlltheStats
• AFL Tables
• Final Siren with comprehensive AFL Statistics 1980–2008
• AFL Statistics by FootyWire
• Comprehensive & unique AFL Statistics by ProWess Sports
• Footystats Diary: AFL records/results/analysis plus news digest
• AFL on Austadiums

Major AFL news Sites

• Aussie Rules Latest News Headlines
• The Age Footy News
• Fox Sports Australia AFL news
• Herald Sun Footy News

History

• Full Points Footy