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The 1993 AFL season was the 97th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured fifteen clubs, ran from 26 March until 25 September, and comprised a 20-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top six clubs.

The premiership was won by the Essendon Football Club for the 15th time, after it defeated Carlton by 44 points in the 1993 AFL Grand Final.

Foster's Cup

The 1993 Foster's Cup saw Essendon 14.18 (102) defeated Richmond 11.13 (79) in the Grand Final.

Home-and-away season

Round 1

Round 2

• Carlton and Essendon played out the highest scoring draw in VFL/AFL history.

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 105.1
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Gavin Wanganeen of Essendon.
• The AFLPA MVP was awarded to Gary Ablett of Geelong.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Gary Ablett of Geelong.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Michael Long of Essendon.
• The inaugural AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Nathan Buckley of Brisbane.
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Sydney.
• The Reserves Grand Final was won by Melbourne against North Melbourne
• The Section 1 State of Origin was won by South Australia against Victoria
• The Section 2 State of Origin was won by Queensland-Northern Territory against Tasmania

Notable events

• Following the release of the Crawford Report, prepared by insolvency expert David Crawford, the clubs voted to make several significant changes to the administrative structure of the AFL during the 1993 season:
  • Firstly, the AFL Commission was expanded from six members to eight, and was given the power to make most administrative decisions relating to the league unilaterally (as opposed to ratification by a vote of club presidents).
  • Secondly, the AFL Board of Directors, after 96 years of operation, voted itself out of existence.
  • Thirdly, the clubs retained the right to veto any Commission decision by a two-thirds majority.
  • Fourthly, with several Victorian clubs, as well as Brisbane and Sydney, being concerned about their long-term viability at the time, a stipulation was also included that any decisions relating to the expulsion, merger or relocation of any club required ratification by a simple majority of all clubs, and the agreement of the club(s) in question.
• The Brisbane Bears, which despite its name had played its home games in Gold Coast at Carrara Stadium for the first six years of its existence, relocated to Brisbane in 1993. Its first home game at its new home ground, the Gabba, against Melbourne in Round 3 resulted in a win.
• At the conclusion of their Round 4 game against Collingwood, St Kilda's Nicky Winmar responded to racial vilification from the Collingwood cheer squad by declaring, "I'm black and proud of it!" while raising his jumper and pointing to his skin, an image which has since become famous. This was also St Kilda's first win at Victoria Park in two decades.
• Brisbane and North Melbourne both set club-record high scores in this season. North Melbourne's 35.19 (229) in Round 6 was then the fifth-highest score of all time, and Brisbane's 33.21 (219) in Round 8 was then the tenth-highest of all time. The opponent in both of these games was Sydney.
• In Round 18, a piglet with the word "PLUGA" and the number four painted on it was released onto the Sydney Cricket Ground during the match between Sydney and St Kilda; play was held up for two to three minutes as it managed to evade capture from trainers, security guards and players. The idea to release the pig had been devised by a small group of Sydney supporters and players the previous week, and was intended as a tactic to put dangerous St Kilda full-forward Tony "Plugger" Lockett off his game. As it happened, Lockett missed the game with injury, but was reportedly enraged when he saw the incident on television.

References

1. Modra - Mark of the Year 1993
2. Mighty Moment | The Jacket Wave
3. Stephen Linnell (2 March 1993). "Clubs give up their control". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. pp. 38, 34.
4. Stephen Linnell; Patrick Smithers (20 July 1993). "United club stand forces AFL to back down on expulsion power". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. pp. 37–38.
5. "The day a pitch-invading porker made Plugger feel pig sick". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, NSW. 15 July 2006. Retrieved 14 December 2014.

Sources

• 1993 AFL season at AFL Tables
• 1993 AFL season at Australian Football

• 1993 Australian Football League season
• Australian Football League seasons
• 1993 in Australian rules football