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This is a page about the national league in Australian Rules Football. For information about the rules and history of the game see the Australian Rules Football page.

The Australian Football League is the national competition in Australian Rules Football. It was formed through the expansion of the Victorian Football League, during the 1980s and 1990s.

Administration

• CEO: Andrew Demetriou
• AFL Tribunal chairman: Gordon Collis

General description

A 16-team, single division competition, the season is based around a 22-week "home-and-away" (regular) season starting in March through to August. The top eight teams play off in a series of finals culminating in the AFL Grand Final, always held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (with the only recent exception being Waverley Park in 1991 whilst the MCG was undergoing redevelopment), and usually held on the last Saturday in September. Before the regular season commences, a knock-out Cup competition is played, over the years it has had several incarnations as the Escort Cup in the 1980's, the Fosters Cup in the early-mid 90's, the Ansett Australia Cup in the late 90's, the Wizard Cup from 2001 until 2005, and as of the 2006 season it will be known as the National Australia Bank Cup. In 2005, the premiership was won by Sydney Swans, beating West Coast Eagles 58-54.

In Victoria, where a majority of teams are still based and in the traditional Australian Rules football states of South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania, much of the citizenry takes an obsessive interest in the competition. Massive crowds attend many of the games.

Australian Rules Football is the dominant football code in every state and territory in Australia, except New South Wales, A.C.T. and Queensland (where Rugby League dominates).

All players are now full-time professionals; however, since only a few elite players can expect to earn enough to support themselves for the rest of their lives, many study during their playing careers. The clubs, whilst still owned by their large membership base, are large businesses.

Current teams

(Note: Many clubs play several "home" matches at alternate grounds.)

Current Stadiums

• Melbourne Cricket Ground - 100,000 (MCG's capacity will be 100,000 by April 2006)
• Telstra Stadium - 83,500
• Telstra Dome - 53,400
• AAMI Stadium - 51,500
• Sydney Cricket Ground - 44,000
• Subiaco Oval - 43,000
• Brisbane Cricket Ground - 42,600 (Recently upgraded from 37,000 to 42,600)
• Skilled Stadium - 27,000
• Aurora Stadium - 19,891 (Aurora Stadium will have a capacity of 25000 by 2006)
• Manuka Oval - 15,000
• Marrara Oval - 15,000

Notable VFL/AFL records

• Highest score: Geelong; 37 goals, 17 behinds (239 points), Carrara Oval, May 3, 1992.
• Highest winning margin: Fitzroy, 190 points, Waverley Park, July 28, 1979.
• Largest Crowd: Carlton v Collingwood, 121,696, MCG, September 26, 1970. (Grand Final.)
• Largest Crowd for game played outside Victoria: Sydney v. Collingwood, 72,393, Telstra Stadium, Sydney, Australia. 2003.
• Largest Crowd for game played outside Australia: Melbourne v. Sydney, 32,789, B.C. Place, Vancouver, Canada. 1987. (Australian Football Exhibition Match.)
• Most premierships: 16; Carlton (the most recent being 1995) and Essendon (2000).
• Most consecutive premierships: Collingwood, four, 1927-30.
• Most games won in a season: Essendon, 2000, 24 wins (and one loss).
• Most consecutive wins: 23; Geelong, Round 12 1952 - Round 13 1953.
• Most games played in a career: Michael Tuck (Hawthorn), 426 games.
• Most goals in a career: Tony Lockett (St Kilda/Sydney), 1,360 goals.
• Most goals in a game: Fred Fanning (Melbourne) (Round 19, 1978), 18 goals.
• Most consecutive matches: Jim Stynes (Melbourne), 244 games.
• Most consecutive matches from debut: Jared Crouch (Sydney), 182* games.
• Tallest Player: Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle Football Club 2003-), 211 cm.
• Shortest Player: Danny Craven (St Kilda 1989-92, Brisbane 1993-95), 162 cm.
• Heaviest Player: Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle 2003-), 124 kg
• Longest Kick: Albert Thurgood (Essendon) 107 yards (98.48m) (1899)

Former teams

• University (Withdrew in 1915 )
• Fitzroy (Merged with the Brisbane Bears after the 1996 season to form the Brisbane Lions)
• South Melbourne (Moved to Sydney in 1981 to become the Sydney Swans)
• Brisbane Bears (Merged with Fitzroy after the 1996 season to form the Brisbane Lions)

Team Rivalries

Games in which teams with rivalries typically draw large crowds and interest regardless of both teams positions on the ladder. Collingwood is a famous club in the league because it is a rival of almost all other traditional clubs and also known as the 'team people love to hate'.

Traditional Rivals

• Carlton vs Collingwood - arguably the greatest and longest standing rivalry in the competition. Two working class clubs in close proximity, fuelled by the 1970 Grand Final in which Carlton extinguished hopes of Collingwood breaking a premiership drought. Games between these two clubs regularly attract large crowds regardless of whether they are both at the bottom of the ladder.

• Richmond vs Collingwood- arising from Richmond's supporters mocking the stereotype of working class Collingwood and their tactics.

• Melbourne vs Collingwood- as per Richmond vs Collingwood but additionally fuelled by a narrow loss to Collingwood which stopped Melbourne from winning a fourth flag in a row in 1958.

• Essendon vs Collingwood- arising from the inaugural ANZAC day clash and Essendon's loss to Collingwood in the 1990 Grand Final. Games between these sides draw large crowds.

• Essendon vs Carlton As is the case with two successful sides in any competition, fans of each club love to defeat the other.

Local Derbies

• Adelaide vs Port Adelaide - known as The Showdown (or less commonly: The South Australian Derby)

• West Coast vs Fremantle - known as The Western Derby

Newer Rivals

• Brisbane Lions vs Sydney - two frontier states for the AFL, also speculated that the AFL is trying to use the Rugby League State of Origin rivalry between Queensland and New South Wales to draw crowds to games between these teams.

• Melbourne vs Geelong - the first 2 clubs in the league. Melbourne CEO Steve Harris once made comments about how Melbourne people never like to travel to Geelong. This rivalry was manufactured by the AFL in the recent AFL Rivalry Round concept. Also known as the 'Victoria Derby'.

• Essendon vs Hawthorn - the two most dominant clubs in the 1980s contested the Grand Final on several occasions.

• Brisbane Lions vs Essendon The two sides who clashed in the 2001 Grand Final, has since developed into a great rivalry thanks to respective coaches Leigh Matthews (Brisbane) and Kevin Sheedy (Essendon), with several famous clashes already.

• Brisbane Lions vs Collingwood The Brisbane Lions defeated Collingwood it the 2002 and 2003 Grand Final, which caused Grand Final Rematches and great rivalry between the two teams. This continued onwards with many Lions fans disliking Collingwood, and their President Eddie McGuire.

• Brisbane Lions vs Port Adelaide The two sides who dominated the AFL from 2001-2004, they had identical winning percentages over the four years, however the Lions won three titles (2001-2003) while Port developed a reputation as choakers in big matches until they won the 2004 title, defeating Brisbane in that decieder, matches between the two are always hard fought encounters.

• West Coast Eagles vs Essendon The rivalry started when Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy celebrated a victory by running down from the coaches box to the ground waving his jacket around his head. Now the fans of the victorious team in these clashes celebrate the victory by waving their jackets.

• St Kilda Football Club vs Geelong Currently Victoria's two best teams. Both have reasonably young teams making their mark in AFL.

Past Rivals

• St Kilda vs South Melbourne - two clubs shared the same geographical area until the Swans moved to Sydney. These teams play for the 'Lake Trophy'.

• Collingwood vs Fitzroy - as with St Kilda and South Melbourne, these clubs shared the same geographical area until Fitzroy merged with Brisbane and began a new rivalry with Collingwood from successive Grand Final encounters.

Future Expansion

Occasionally, there is talk in the media and amongst fans of increasing the number of AFL teams from outside Victoria. Several areas have been discussed as possibilities, most often Tasmania, western Sydney, North Queensland, the Gold Coast, Canberra, Darwin and even New Zealand; but the AFL have a stated aim to keep the competition in its current 16-side form. It is generally thought that if the AFL expands into a new area, one of the less financially well-off Victorian clubs will re-locate, rather than an entirely new club being formed. The Western Bulldogs and Kangaroos are most often considered candidates for re-location, and some theorise that their respective name changes in the 1990s were in anticipation of such a move. Having experimented with "home" games in Western Sydney, the Kangaroos play regular premiership season games at Manuka Oval in Canberra, and the Bulldogs have played in Cairns and Darwin, leading to more speculation that they are attempting to build a supporter base in those areas for future re-location.

Mergers have also been an option for the AFL, as was seen with the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy Lions in 1996. If two Victorian teams merge then it makes room for the 16th team to come from an interstate city. Amongst the likely candidates for this are the Southport Sharks (Gold Coast, Queensland) or a Tasmanian team based in Hobart or Launceston. Note, however, that since the backlash to the 1996 Melbourne Hawks merger attempt, the AFL has been significantly less willing to actively persue the amalgamation of two Victorian-based clubs as an option.

Australian Football Hall of Fame

For the centenary of the VFL/AFL in 1996, the Australian Football Hall of Fame was formed. Its members not only consist of those who have contributed to the VFL/AFL, but from Australian football in general (in such leagues as the SANFL and WAFL). That year 136 Australian Rules identities were inducted, including 100 players, 10 coaches, 10 umpires, 10 administrators and 6 media representatives. "Legend of the Game" status was conferred on several players, with further players being named in the years since.

The original legends (in alphabetical order):

• Ron Barassi Junior
• Haydn Bunton Senior
• Roy Cazaly
• John Coleman
• Gordon Coventry
• Jack Dyer
• Graham Farmer
• Leigh Matthews
• John Nicholls
• Bob Pratt
• Dick Reynolds
• Bob Skilton
• Ted Whitten Senior

Later additions:

• Ian Stewart (added 1997)
• Gordon Coventry (1998)
• Peter Hudson (1999)
• Kevin Bartlett (2000)
• Barry Robran (2001)
• Bill Hutchison (2003)
• Jock McHale (2005)

Team of the Century

To celebrate the 100th season of the VFL/AFL, the "AFL Team of the Century" was named in 1996.

Jim Elder was also named as umpire.

Since the naming of this side, all 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.

Merchandising

The AFL run a chain of stores that sell various merchandise from all teams. The merchandise is also avaliable from other retailers.

Video Game Licences

There are several computer/video games licenced to use the AFL / Australian Football sports brand:

• Australian Rules (1987) C64
• Aussie Rules Footy (1991) NES
• AFL Fever (1996) PC
• AFL 1998 (1999) PC/ PSX (PAL)
• AFL 1999 (2000) PC/ PSX (PAL)
• Aussie Rules Coach (2001) PC
• Kevin Sheedy Coach (2002) PC
• AFL Live 2003 (2003) PC/ PS2/XBox (PAL)
• AFL Live 2004 (2004) PC/ PS2/XBox (PAL)
• AFL Premiership 2005 (2005) PC/ PS2/XBox (PAL)

See also

• Australian Rules Football
• List of Australian Rules footballers
• List of Australian Football League premiers
• WikiProject AFL
• Brownlow Medal
• Coleman Medal
• 2005 AFL Finals Series
• Footy tipping
• AFL Premiership 2005 (Playstation 2 game)

External links

• AFL Official Site
• Complete VFL/AFL results
• AFL Fan Forum
• AFL Premiership 2005 Review (PS2 Game)
• The French footy teams site
• FootyStats Diary
• Herald Sun Footy News

Australian Football League clubs

• Australian Football League
• Sports governing bodies in Australia