Foxtel Cup

Foxtel Cup

Upcoming season or competition: 2014 Foxtel Cup
Sport	Australian rules football
Inaugural season	2011
No. of teams	16 (2011-12), 10 (2013), 9 (2014)
Country	Australia
Most recent champion(s)	West Adelaide
Most titles	Williamstown (1), Claremont (1), West Adelaide (1)
Qualification	Invitation
TV partner(s)	Fox Footy
Official website	Official Foxtel Cup website

The League Championship Cup^[1] (officially branded under the sponsor's name – the Foxtel Cup^[2]) is an annual Australian rules football club knockout cup competition involving clubs from the various state league competitions from around Australia. The tournament is organised by the Australian Football League (AFL).

The competition was first held in 2011, featuring sixteen teams from around the country who qualified based on their finishing positions in their previous state league season. Matches were played mostly as curtain-raisers to AFL Saturday night games, or occasionally as a stand-alone game in the same timeslot, and are televised on Fox Sports in a late-afternoon slot between afternoon and night AFL matches.^[3] Prizemoney for the competition is about $250,000, with $40,000 going to the winner.^[4] Clubs play Foxtel Cup matches during their bye weeks in their respective state league fixtures.

Williamstown became the inaugural Foxtel Cup champions when they defeated Claremont by 21 points in the Grand Final at Patersons Stadium.^[5] Claremont went one better the following year to become 2012 Foxtel Cup Champions defeating Werribee by 44 points at the same venue.^[6] The reigning Foxtel Cup champion is West Adelaide who defeated East Fremantle by four points in the 2013 Grand Final at AAMI Stadium.

Qualification

For the inaugural Foxtel Cup in 2011, the AFL invited the three highest ranked teams from the South Australian National Football League, the Victorian Football League and the West Australian Football League; the top two teams from the Queensland Australian Football League; and the top team from AFL Sydney and the Tasmanian Football League – based on those leagues' 2010 seasons. The Greater Western Sydney Football Club (which was playing in the NEAFL in 2011 as preparation for entering the Australian Football League in 2012), and the Northern Territory Football Club received special invitations.^[7][8]

However, despite the SANFL signing on to be part of the Cup competition, its top three clubs – Central District, Norwood and Woodville-West Torrens – all rejected their invitation to compete,^[9] citing lack of prizemoney, sponsorship conflicts, salary cap implications, schedule concerns and removing the focus from their SANFL premiership ambitions.^[10] Eventually, the SANFL positions in the competition were taken up by West Adelaide, North Adelaide and Port Adelaide Magpies, none of whom even reached the SANFL finals in 2010.^[11] In 2013 it was announced that the SANFL's top three teams of the 2012 season, Norwood, West Adelaide and North Adelaide, had committed to play in the Foxtel Cup in 2014. At the time of the announcement midway through the 2013 SANFL season the three teams were again the top 3 on the SANFL premiership ladder, showing that among South Australian clubs, the Foxtel Cup was gaining recognition.

The AFL announced on 1 August 2011 that public interest and television audiences well-supported the inaugural year of the Foxtel Cup and as a result the competition would continue for the next five years.^[12]

Results

2011 Foxtel Cup

Grand Final

GF (AFL Rd 20) 6 August 2011 3:05 pm WST[13]	Claremont	38–59 stand alone game	Williamstown	Patersons Stadium, Perth match report
	1.2 (8) 2.2 (14) 5.5 (35) 5.8 (38)	match report	2.1 (13) 4.3 (27) 6.4 (40) 9.5 (59)	Attendance: 1,405
		Goals
	Beau Wilkes 2, Jack Bradshaw, Chad Jones, Gerrick Weedon		Nathan Djerrkura 2, Christian Howard 2, Jordan Roughead 2, Ed Barlow, Andrew Hooper, Jason Tutt	|
		Bests
	Kane Mitchell, Andrew Foster, Gerrick Weedon, Brett Jones Lewis Stevenson, Thomas Swift		Ben Jolley, Jordan Roughead, Mitch Wallis, Christian Howard, Nathan Djerrkura 2, Matthew Panos	|

2012 Foxtel Cup

Grand Final

Grand Final (AFL Rd 19) 2 August 2012 19:35 WST	Werribee	55 - 99 stand alone game	Claremont	Patersons Stadium, Perth match report
	3.0 (18) 5.4 (34) 5.4 (34) 8.7 (55)	match report	4.3 (27) 7.3 (45) 11.7 (73) 15.9 (99)
		Goals
	Ben Warren 3, Levi Greenwood, Leigh Harding, Ben McKinley, Scott Sherlock, Ben Speight		Thomas Lee 6, Jack Bradshaw 2, Nick Suban 2, Alistair Gillespie, Alroy Gilligan, Jeremy McGovern, Jarryd Morton, Ian Richardson	|
		Bests
	Levi Greenwood, Ben Speight, Matthew O'Dwyer, Ben Warren, Leigh Harding, Ben Ross		Thomas Lee, Nick Suban, Jeremy McGovern, Alroy Gilligan, Rory Walton, Ian Richardson	|

2013 Foxtel Cup

Grand Final

Grand Final 6 August 2013 20:35 EST	East Fremantle	28 - 32 stand alone game	West Adelaide	AAMI Stadium, Adelaide match report
	0.3 (3) 0.4 (4) 1.10 (16) 2.16 (28)	match report	1.2 (8) 4.5 (29) 4.7 (31) 4.8 (32)
		Goals
	Hancock, Stephen		Beech 2, Silverlock, Still	|
		Bests
	Peake, O’Brien, Bayliss, Stephen, Dodd		Schmidt (Coles Medalist), Beech, Mangan, Silverlock, Caire	|

Coles Medal

The Coles Medal is awarded to the best player afield in the Foxtel Cup Grand Final.

Participating clubs

Guernsey	Club	Nickname	Location	State League	Cup championships	Cup appearances
	Ainslie Football Club[14]	Tri- Colours	Ainslie, ACT	NEAFL Eastern Conference	0	2011 - 2012
	Aspley Australian Football Club[15]	Hornets	Carseldine, Queensland	NEAFL Northern Conference	0	2014
	Belconnen Football Club[16]	Magpies	Belconnen, Australian Capital Territory	NEAFL Eastern Conference	0	2014
	Box Hill Hawks Football Club[17]	Hawks	Box Hill, Victoria	Victorian Football League	0	2014
	Burnie Football Club[18]	Dockers	Burnie, Tasmania	Tasmanian Football League	0	2012 - 2013
	Claremont Football Club[19]	Tigers	Claremont, Western Australia	West Australian Football League	1	2011 - 2013
	Clarence Football Club[20]	Kangaroos	Clarence, Tasmania	Tasmanian Football League	0	2011
	East Fremantle Football Club[21]	Sharks	East Fremantle, Western Australia	West Australian Football League	0	2013
	East Perth Football Club[22]	Royals	Leederville, Western Australia	West Australian Football League	0	2011, 2014
	Greater Western Sydney Football Club[23]	Giants	Blacktown, NSW	Australian Football League Expansion club	0	2011
	Labrador Australian Football Club[24]	Tigers	Labrador, Queensland	NEAFL Northern Conference	0	2011
	Launceston Football Club[25]	Blues	Launceston, Tasmania	Tasmanian Football League	0	2012
	Morningside Australian Football Club[26]	Panthers	Hawthorne, Queensland	NEAFL Northern Conference	0	2011 - 2012
	Mount Gravatt Australian Football Club[27]	Vultures	Mount Gravatt, Queensland	NEAFL Northern Conference	0	2012
	North Adelaide Football Club[28]	Roosters	North Adelaide, South Australia	South Australian National Football League	0	2011
	North Ballarat Football Club[29]	Roosters	Ballarat, Victoria	Victorian Football League	0	2011
	Northern Bullants Football Club[30]	Bullants	Preston, Victoria	Victorian Football League	0	2011
	Northern Territory Football Club[31]	Thunder	Darwin, Northern Territory	NEAFL Northern Conference NT representative	0	2011 - 2013
	Norwood Football Club[32]	Redlegs	Norwood, South Australia	South Australian National Football League	0	2013 - 2014
	Port Adelaide Football Club (SANFL)[33]	Magpies	Alberton, South Australia	South Australian National Football League	0	2011 - 2012
	Port Melbourne Football Club[34]	Borough	Port Melbourne, Victoria	Victorian Football League	0	2012 - 2013
	Prospect State Football Club		Prospect, Tasmania	Tasmanian State League	0	2014
	Queanbeyan Football Club[35]	Tigers	Queanbeyan, New South Wales	NEAFL Eastern Conference	0	2013
	South Adelaide Football Club[36]	Panthers	Noarlunga Downs, South Australia	South Australian National Football League	0	2012
	Southport Australian Football Club[37]	Sharks	Southport, Queensland	NEAFL Northern Conference	0	2013
	Subiaco Football Club[38]	Lions	Subiaco, Western Australia	West Australian Football League	0	2012
	Swan Districts Football Club[39]	Swans	Bassendean, Western Australia	West Australian Football League	0	2011
	Sydney Hills Eagles Australian Football Club[40]	Eagles	Rouse Hill, NSW	NEAFL Eastern Conference Sydney AFL representative	0	2011 - 2012
	Werribee Football Club[41]	Tigers	Werribee, Victoria	Victorian Football League	0	2012 - 2013
	West Adelaide Football Club[42]	Bloods	Richmond, South Australia	South Australian National Football League	1	2011 - 2014
	West Perth Football Club[43]	Falcons	Joondalup, Western Australia	West Australian Football League	0	2012, 2014
	Williamstown Football Club[44]	Seagulls	Williamstown, Victoria	Victorian Football League	1	2011 - 2012, 2014

Stadiums

Adelaide	Adelaide	Blacktown	Darwin
AAMI Stadium Capacity: 51,224	Adelaide Oval Capacity: 36,000	Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney Capacity: 10,000	TIO Stadium Capacity: 15,000
Gold Coast	Hobart	Launceston	Melbourne
Metricon Stadium Capacity: 25,000	Bellerive Oval Capacity: 16,200	Aurora Stadium Capacity: 20,000	Etihad Stadium Capacity: 56,347
Melbourne	Perth	Sydney
Melbourne Cricket Ground Capacity: 100,018	Patersons Stadium Capacity: 43,500	Sydney Cricket Ground Capacity: 46,000

References

External links

• Official Foxtel Cup website
• Official AFL Canberra website
• AFL Northern Territory
• AFL Queensland State Site
• North East Australian Football League - official website
• South Australian National Football League – official website
• Official Sydney AFL Site
• Tasmanian Football League Website
• Victorian Football League – official website
• Western Australian Football League – official website