Part of the pre-match entertainment at the 2006 AFL Grand Final. Giant banners were unfurled featuring the colours and emblems of (then) all 16 AFL clubs. Locale, First meeting 24 September 1898 Latest meeting Next meeting Broadcasters (1977–1986; 1988–2001; 2008; 2010; 2012–present) (2002–2007; 2009; 2011) (1987) (1987) Stadiums (1902–1941; 1946–1990; 1992–present) (1991) (1942–1943; 1945) (1898–1899; 1944) (1901) (1900) Statistics Meetings total 121 Most wins (16) The AFL Grand Final is an annual match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September or the first Saturday in October at the in, Australia, to determine the (AFL) premiers for that year. The game has become significant to, spawning a number of traditions and surrounding activities which have grown in popularity since the interstate expansion of the Victorian Football League in the 1980s and the subsequent creation of the national AFL competition in the 1990s. The 2006 Sweeney Sports Report concluded that the AFL Grand Final has become Australia's most important sporting event, with the largest attendance, metropolitan television audience and overall interest of any annual Australian sporting event.
The winning club of the receives the AFL's premiership cup and the premiership flag. All players in the winning team receive a gold premiership medallion. Every club has played in the grand final, with the exception of the two recent expansion clubs, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney, and two former clubs, the short-lived University and Brisbane Bears.
This year's AFL grand final should have been a. 2010- Retires from the AFL but releases. Ariana Grande hits back at Twitter troll who accused her of 'milking' Mac Miller's death after she.
See also: 1897–1901: Origins The concept of a 'grand' final gradually evolved from experimentation by the Victorian Football League (VFL) in the initial years of competition following its inception in 1897. During the 19th century, Australian football competition adopted the approach that the team on top of the ladder at the end of the home-and-away series was declared the premiers. However, the fledgling VFL decided that a finals series played between the top four teams at the end of the season would generate more interest and gate money. For, the VFL scheduled a round robin tournament whereby the top four played each other once and the team that won the most matches was declared the winner. However, this method had flaws, so the VFL continued to experiment, playing 'section' matches after the regular season and then a finals series where first on the ladder played the third team and second met fourth.
The winners of these 'semi' finals then met in a final to decide the premiership. The first such final was contested in between the and at the, which Fitzroy won scoring 5.8 (38) to Essendon's 3.5 (23). The second finals format was ultimately discarded by the VFL after the unsatisfactory conclusion to the 1900 VFL season, where Melbourne won the premiership after having finished sixth out of the eight teams after the home-and-away season (ahead of Carlton and St Kilda) with a record of 6-8. The new finals system caused problems in when Geelong finished on top of the ladder but was immediately eliminated when defeated in the semi final. A 'right of challenge' was introduced, giving the team that finished on top at the end of the regular season (the minor premier) the right to challenge if they lost the semi final or the final.
This challenge match came to be called the 'grand final'. The first four grand finals were scattered around various Melbourne venues: one at, two at St Kilda's Junction Oval and one at the. The selection of the venue could depend on the portion of the gate demanded by the ground's landlords. 1902–1914: MCG move The public remained ambivalent to the concept of finals football until the VFL pulled off a coup in 1902. Previously, the MCG was unavailable to football in the early spring months as it was being prepared for the coming cricket season. The VFL convinced the (MCC) to rent the ground for the finals series and the first grand final at what is today considered the home of the game attracted more than 35,000 people to watch down. The success of the finals at the MCG was proven with big attendances every year, and soon all the major competitions around Australia were employing what was known as the ' of finals.
The ' had been instituted by the VFL in 1901, the amended system was instituted by the VFL in 1902. By, a new record attendance of 50,261 was set, on a day when the crowd was so huge that it broke through the fence and filed onto the ground, sitting around the boundary line to watch the action.
This figure was beaten in the when 54,463 saw Essendon defeat. The big finals crowds (and increasing cricket attendances) prompted the MCC to cut down the eleven fifty-year-old elm trees inside the ground and turn the stadium into a concrete bowl, complete with extra stands and standing room.
The record fell again in the last grand final before World War I, when the excitement of first premiership attempt drew 59,479 spectators. 1915–1930: World War I and the end of the challenge final system The war had a considerable effect on the impact of the grand final and attendances plummeted. One critic called for the Carlton team to receive the after they defeated Collingwood in the thrilling, ironically dubbed a 'glorious contest' by famous coach Jack Worrall. But many diggers supported the continuance of the game, and both the and grand finals were notable for the large number of Australian servicemen in attendance, many of whom wore uniform. During the 1920s, the VFL grappled with the problems associated with the 'amended Argus system', specifically that a true grand final was not played if the minor premier won both the semi final and the final. Although new attendance records were set in and, these were for the semi finals, which often drew bigger crowds than the grand final. There was no grand final in; a was trialled, in which the top four contested a, with the top team from the round robin to face the minor premiers in a grand final if required; but, when minor premiers Essendon also won the round robin, no grand final was staged.
The league reverted to the 'amended Argus system' for, when the grand final attracted a new record crowd of 64,288: the match was first VFL premiership win, and a huge contingent from Victoria's second city descended on the MCG to watch their team make history. From 1927 until 1930, Collingwood won four premierships in a row, which remains the league record. In 1927, 1928 and 1930, the biggest crowd of the year was again drawn to the semi final and not to the grand final. This, coupled with the perception that the minor premier could find losing its semi-final to be advantageous, resulted in the league abandoning the amended Argus system after 1931, replacing it with the. 1931–1939: New finals system and start of a golden age The (or 'final four') was introduced for 1931, whereby the semi finals (1 v 2 and 3 v 4) were followed by the preliminary final and then the grand final, with the right of challenge abolished. This proved satisfactory to all, and the new system ushered in a golden age for the grand final.
New records were constantly set and when 75,754 attended the between South Melbourne and, it started the MCC thinking of expansion again. Just months earlier, cricket attendance records were shattered during the ' series between. The MCC decided to build the southern stand, which enclosed almost half the ground and was completed in 1937. That year, the attracted 88,540 and the spectators were sitting five deep along the boundary line. Somehow, the following year, 96,834 people turned up and squashed in to watch the. At the time, Melbourne's population was about one million, which meant that on grand final day, almost one tenth of the city was at the game.
1940–1953: World War II and after. The VFL grand final in 1946 from the stands of the Football served as a distraction for people on the home front during the war, particularly during the darkest days between 1941 and 1943. The Australian government requisitioned a number of VFL grounds, including the MCG. Therefore, the grand final was staged at Princes Park (Carlton) in, and, and at St Kilda's Junction Oval in when Fitzroy won its last premiership on the second hottest grand final day on record. The 1943 clash was a thrilling contest, Richmond defeating Essendon by five points. The 1942 and 1945 matches were marred by violence, and the latter game has gone down in history as. An amazing crowd of 62,986 crammed into the Carlton ground for this game, which was played just weeks after the armistice with Japan was declared.
So when the MCG was finally relinquished by the government in August 1946, there was great expectation in the buildup to the grand final, where Essendon booted a record score to defeat Melbourne. Attendances were back to 1930s levels by 1947 and 85,815 turned up to see by a solitary point; a similar crowd a year later watched the Bombers and Demons play the. Melbourne won the replay the following week. The sight of thousands sitting between the fence and the boundary line, first seen in the late 1930s, was now usual at the grand final.
Spectators were admitted on a first-come basis, and thousands took to lining up outside the stadium in the days before the match to gain the best vantage point when the gates opened on the morning of the match. Some reservations were raised about spectator safety as the MCG was clearly being filled above its capacity. 1954–1961: Melbourne Olympic Games and ticketing As the MCG would be used as the main stadium for the, the ground was upgraded again with a new stand and extra capacity.
Construction work restricted the crowd at the when 80,897 people saw Footscray win their historic first flag. Eight thousand more witnessed the, before the stand was fully completed. The was seen as a dry run for the opening ceremony of the games two months later, but no one was prepared for the outcome.
Officially, 115,802 fans turned out to see Melbourne take on Collingwood for the second year in a row, but contemporary reports state that anywhere between twenty and thirty thousand people were turned away. Some gained admittance by storming the gates, while others perched precariously on the roof of the southern stand. The old record had been shattered by almost 19,000 but the chaos outside the ground prompted the VFL to introduce a ticketing system for the first time. Attendances now hovered around the 100,000 mark during the coming years. Melbourne dominated the era with seven straight grand final appearances (for five flags), playing Collingwood three times and Essendon twice. The, when Collingwood upset a Melbourne team attempting to equal the Magpies' proud record of four consecutive premierships, was arguably the greatest upset recorded in the biggest game of all. The Demons made amends by winning the next year, when the premiership cup was presented for the first time.
Previously, the crowd descended on the arena at the end of the game, and the players were variously chaired off the ground or walked to the dressing room. The presentation of the cup gave the after-match a ceremonial focus and allowed the attention to settle on the premier team.
Following the 1956 introduction of television to Australia, there were repeated calls for the grand final to be telecast live, but the VFL refused on the basis that the crowd numbers might be affected. A delayed telecast was allowed for the, when Hawthorn won for the first time, but thereafter only a videotaped replay was shown. 1962–1983: Second golden age In contrast to the 1950s when a few teams were monopolising grand final places, the 1960s was a decade of variety. Between 1961 and 1968, seven teams won the flag and a number of classic encounters were played.
In the, a thrilling finish enabled Melbourne to win their last premiership to date by four points. Two years later, in arguably one of the most famous grand finals of them all, by one point, and their players went for an impromptu lap of honour with the cup, a tradition that endures. In the, Geelong and Richmond played a match of the highest standard, with the Tigers winning in the last minutes to end a long premiership drought. The next season, Carlton also ended a long run without success and set a record as the only winning team to score fewer goals than the opposition as they. By now, the MCG had been expanded again so that record crowds were set in 1968, 1969 and 1970.
In what is commonly referred to as the greatest of all-time, the saw Carlton come back from a 44-point half time deficit to beat Collingwood; it was watched by an all-time record crowd of 121,696 people. Most of the matches during this period had something to remember: Hawthorn's comeback to win in, Carlton's record score in the highest scoring grand final ever played in, Richmond's two wins over Carlton in and in very physical encounters,. In the memorable, North Melbourne came from 27 points down at three quarter time to play the second drawn grand final in history (the first since 1948). The momentum continued on the first Saturday in October, when they defeated Collingwood in the replay. After the 1981 grand final, the old scoreboard was removed to. The MCG installed a new electronic colour scoreboard in 1982. By the start of the early 1980s, Collingwood had lost eight grand finals in a row since winning its 1958 premiership.
The term ' began to be used at this time to describe the team's inability to win grand finals. 1982–1999: National team competition The 1980s saw a sustained period of dominance by Hawthorn, who appeared in every grand final from 1983 to 1989, winning four of them in 1983, 1986, and back to back in 1988 and in 1989 contest. The, a high scoring and very physical encounter in which Hawthorn defeated Geelong by six points, is considered to be one of the greatest of all time. With the transformation of the VFL into the Australian Football League in 1990, and the move to a truly national competition, there emerged a new era in which non-Victorian based clubs now competed for the Premiership. Won the inaugural AFL Premiership in.
Between 1992 and 2006, non-Victorian clubs won ten out of fifteen premierships. The first club to achieve the feat was in and, and won back-to-back premierships in. Was the only other club to win two grand finals in the 1990s, and respectively, as no team dominated the era.
21st century. Sydney Swans supporters celebrate a goal at the 2006 AFL Grand Final The years 2007 to 2011 saw a dominant appear in four out of five grand finals, winning three premierships. The only match to not feature Geelong was in 2010, when and played the third draw in grand final history, with Collingwood winning the subsequent replay by 56 points. After 2011, established itself as a dominant force, finishing runners up to in 2012 then winning the 2013, 2014 and 2015 premierships against,. On 19 April 2016, the AFL announced that drawn grand finals will be resolved by the use of two five minute extra time periods, with the siren not being sounded to end the second period until the tie is broken, abolishing the use of a full replay. On 12 April 2018, the AFL, and (MCC) announced that the would continue to host the grand final until at least 2057.
Notable grand finals. – Late in the last quarter, Fitzroy skipper marked a pass from teammate about thirty metres from goal with his team three points behind Collingwood. As he went back to line up his kick, the final bell rang. Brosnan's shot missed, but was so close that a Collingwood defender later claimed that he could hear the ball's lace brush the goal post. – A massive brawl broke out between Collingwood and Carlton players during the last quarter. A number of players were felled and four players were reported (the first in grand Final history), yet the fight kept going. Umpire settled matters by blowing his whistle and bouncing the ball.
Most of the combatants looked on, stunned, as the game recommenced without them, so they had no option but to forget about the fight. The match is generally considered to have initiated the. – Playing in their first grand final, St Kilda struggled, kicking just one goal in the first three quarters against Fitzroy. But they came charging home in the last by closing a 25-point gap to one point with a few minutes remaining. A St Kilda player marked very close to goal on an angle and made a bad mistake by following a pre-game tactic of handballing. His intended target was covered, the Saints lost the ball and Fitzroy booted two goals to seal the match.
– With South Melbourne making a late charge at Carlton, the Blues led by six points when a long kick into South's goal square was contested by a pack of players. Just metres from the goal mouth, Ern Jamieson, Carlton's full back leaped straight into 's back, but Umpire Harry Rawle called play on and the ball was cleared. Moments later, the final bell rang. Had Bollard received a free and kicked it from point-blank range, the game would have ended in the first finals draw.
– Collingwood had hit the front by a single point. In the final minute of play, South Melbourne went forward and a long kick into the teeth of goal by Gerald Ryan of South spilled from a pack of players.
South Melbourne rover came rushing through and rather than attempt to pick the ball up, soccered it off the ground for a goal that won the game. – Richmond led Carlton by four points in a low scoring game played on a very wet day. Both teams were covered in mud as Carlton mounted a series of attacks in an attempt to get a winning goal. In the dying minute, a Carlton player passed toward teammate Alec Duncan, who was close to goal. Somehow, Richmond's Max Hislop hurtled across to Duncan and punched the ball from his grasp to save the premiership for the Tigers. – Collingwood defeated Richmond in atrocious conditions, 2.13 (25) to 1.7 (13).
It was the lowest scoring game, grand final or otherwise, played during the 20th century. – Collingwood won its record fourth consecutive VFL grand final in succession, the 'Machine Team', under the tutelage of the legendary, creating a record which has not been matched in ensuing seasons. – Star full forward was forced to withdraw from the grand final after he was hit by a truck in trying to cross the road the day before the game. Pratt had booted 362 goals in three seasons. Without him the Swans lost to Collingwood by 20 points, despite having as many scoring shots as the Magpies. – Known as 'the bloodbath', the game was marred by constant brawling and fighting. Carlton defeated South Melbourne 15.13 (103) to 10.15 (75); ten players were reported and received a combined 73 weeks of suspension.
– In the first drawn grand final, Essendon's inaccurate kicking led them to draw 7.27 (69) to Melbourne's 10.9 (69). Melbourne easily won the replay 13.11 (89) to Essendon's 7.8 (50). – A Collingwood outfit which had been badly beaten by Melbourne only two weeks earlier held sway in an 18-point victory over Melbourne to deny the Demons a fourth consecutive premiership, successfully defending their club's record of four consecutive premierships. – After an historic six consecutive years at the top of the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season, Melbourne won their 5th premiership in seven years, with a convincing win over Collingwood in wet conditions, in which the Demons more than quadrupled the Magpies' score 8.14 (62) to Collingwood's 2.2 (14). – In their first grand final, Hawthorn defeated Footscray to claim their first VFL/AFL premiership. This was, until 2016, the last grand final for the Bulldogs. – Collingwood, playing Melbourne, looked set for a victory in the last quarter after 's goal put them up by two points.
Back pocket kicked his first goal in 5 years to snatch back the lead and the match for Melbourne by 4 points, just moments from the final siren. – St Kilda won their first premiership in 69 years of competition, defeating Collingwood by a solitary point. With only moments left, the two sides were locked level. Finally, the point that gave the club its first and to date only premiership in its history.
– Carlton makes history by overcoming a 44-point deficit at half-time to defeat Collingwood by 10 points by the final siren. Takes the late in the second quarter, and the attendance of 121,696 remains the largest crowd of all time. – Carlton and Richmond scored a combined 50.27 (327) under the changing brand of football, then the highest scoring game of all time, and still the highest-scoring grand final of all-time.
– win their first grand final – the last of the 12 VFL teams to do so. – The resulted in a draw between North Melbourne and Collingwood. In a grand final replay the following week, was victorious.
– Carlton defeats Collingwood by five points. (Carlton) was awarded the inaugural Norm Smith Medal as best on field; Harmes famously tapped the ball from the boundary line to the goal square for his teammate, to kick the winning goal. – (Richmond) became the first player to win the despite being on the losing team. – The grand final between Hawthorn and Geelong was one of the closest and hardest fought in years, and nicknamed the 'Battle of '89'. Noted for its toughness, the game saw injuries and incidents involving (famously knocked out by a solid shirtfront from but continued to play) and (played three quarters with a punctured lung), and many players were hospitalised after the game. – broke a 32-year drought and ended the famous 'Colliwobbles', winning the first grand final of the new AFL era. – Due to the major construction of the Southern Stand at the, the grand final was played at.
– West Coast became the first non-Victorian team to win a premiership, defeating Geelong by 28 points. – North Melbourne defeat the Sydney Swans and receive the only gold-coloured premiership cup in history when the league commemorates the. – In defeating North Melbourne, Adelaide won back-to-back premierships in their second year under, becoming first club in modern times to win the premiership after finishing lower than fourth on the premiership ladder after the home-and-away season. Won the Norm Smith Medal for the second consecutive year, the first to achieve the feat. – Brisbane defeated Collingwood by 50 points to win its third premiership in a row, the first club to achieve the feat since Melbourne in 1955–1957, and the first interstate club to achieve this. – Sydney defeated West Coast by four points in a tight, low scoring game to win their first premiership since 1933 (when they were South Melbourne), ending a record drought of 72 years.
A late, game-saving pack mark in defence by became an iconic finals moment. – Geelong defeated Port Adelaide by a grand final record margin of 119 points to win their first premiership since 1963. – The grand final between St Kilda and Collingwood was drawn, the third drawn grand final in VFL/AFL history. Collingwood won the grand final replay the following week by 56 points, breaking a 20-year premiership drought in the process. This proved to be the last replayed grand final, as from 2016 forward the AFL announced that drawn grand finals would be decided on the day through the use of extra time.
– Hawthorn became just the second club in the modern era to win three premierships in a row, defeating the West Coast Eagles in the hottest conditions ever recorded for a VFL/AFL grand final. – The Western Bulldogs (Footscray) appeared in their first grand final since 1961 against the Sydney Swans, winning three consecutive finals from a record seventh position on the ladder to progress through to the grand final. The Western Bulldogs defeated the Sydney Swans by 22 points, winning their first premiership since 1954. Qualification and prize The two grand finalists qualify via play-offs at the end of the season.
In the, the eight teams finishing highest on the ladder after all the home and away rounds qualify for the four-week-long finals series culminating in the grand final. The team that finishes the regular season at the top of the ladder is said to have won the minor premiership and, since 1991, has been awarded the. Carlton Football Club hoist the 1906 VFL premiership flag at Princes Park in 1907 The premiers are awarded the 'premiership flag', a large which is unfurled at the premiers' first home game of the following season. The current flag is blue with the AFL logo, the word 'premiers' and the year of the premiership.
Although the cup features much more prominently in celebrations immediately following the grand final, the flag has far greater symbolic significance. This is reflected in football parlance, in which speaking of a team winning the flag rather than the cup is much more common: this is possibly the result of history, as the presentation of a flag first occurred in 1895 when the recognised Fitzroy's first premiership win, while the cup was not introduced until 1959 (retrospective cups were awarded by the AFL in 2010 for VFL/AFL premierships in 1897 to 1958).
Trophies The winner of the grand final is presented with the AFL premiership cup. The current premiership cup is silver (with the exception of 1996, when a gold cup was awarded instead of the usual silver one in recognition of the AFL/VFL's 100th season) and manufactured by Cash's International at their metalworks in. The cup was first introduced in 1959 by the VFL, and the AFL has since retrospectively awarded all prior premiership winners trophies based on the current design. Before the 1960s, premiership players received a personal premiership trophy instead of a medallion. The premier is also recorded on the perpetual E.
Wilson Shield, which resides at AFL House. The shield, inaugurated in 1929, was named after, who was the secretary of the Victorian Football League from its inception in 1897 until his retirement in 1929. It was initially discontinued after 1978, when there was no room remaining on the shield for more teams. In 2016, the shield was rediscovered under a stairwell at AFL House. It was refurbished, with extra space being added to bring the shield up to date, and it was reintroduced as a premiership trophy. Prize money is awarded to the victorious club.
However the amount is probably not reflective of the magnitude of participating in the event. It is often assumed simply that the winner of the premiership typically experiences an increase in revenue through increases in membership and merchandise sales.
The current cash prize for the winning club is 1 million. Before 2006, a cash prize to the winning club of 200,000 was awarded (In contrast, the winner of the, the far less important pre-season competition which was held from 1998 to 2013, was awarded a similar amount, 210,000). Following the premiership in 2005, many clubs publicly questioned the prize money, which had not increased significantly for many years and barely covered the cost of participation in the finals series. Before the grand final Brownlow Medal. Main article: The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal, is the awarded to the ' player in the Australian Football League during the regular season (i.e. Not including finals matches) as decided upon by umpires.
It was named after a player and long-serving administrator who was the main advocate in establishing the,. It is awarded at a special dinner on the Monday night before the grand final, recently at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. Grand final parade Since 1977, a grand final parade featuring the players from each team has been held around midday on the Friday before each grand final. The parade was adopted from a tradition which had begun decades earlier in the amateur, and it became increasingly popular during the 1980s. From its inception until 2014, the parade was based in the Melbourne city centre, usually proceeding from along the city's main thoroughfares, turning into, and ending at the steps outside the.
The parade featured the players from the competing sides. The players have in the past appeared on parade; in recent times it has become a of open-top vehicles (weather permitting).
When the Friday of the parade was declared a public holiday in Victoria in 2015, the AFL determined that the traditional city route no longer made sense with most office buildings set to be vacant. The route now begins at the Old Treasury Building, heads south down Spring St, east along Wellington Parade, and ends within Yarra Park outside the MCG. Since 2007, the parades have generally attracted in excess of 100,000 fans each year (except in inclement weather). Crowds have historically been smaller in years when no Victorian clubs contested the grand final – such as between 2004 and 2006, when crowds ranged only from 40,000 to 75,000.
A record crowd of 150,000 people attended the first public holiday parade in 2015. Some of the estimated seventy five thousand people who lined the streets of Melbourne for the 2006 AFL Grand Final parade Grand Final Breakfast The has been held annually since 1967.
Various football personalities, and politicians are in attendance for a lead up to the grand final. It is broadcast live on Fox Footy. The first Grand Final Breakfast was held in 1967 at the Southern Cross hotel, as a valuable fundraising event. The inaugural guest speaker was the VFL's Administrative director Eric McCutchan. The event rose to prominence in the 1970s when the breakfast began to be televised across Victoria, and was officially endorsed by the VFL as the official pre-match Grand Final function.
Since then the event has grown into a significant money raiser for North Melbourne, and the guest list has grown to include Prime Ministers, State Premiers and other celebrities. Although many clubs hold their own Grand Final Breakfasts, the North Melbourne Breakfast was the first breakfast and is currently the only breakfast to be officially endorsed by the AFL.
This ensures a guest list that reads as a 'who's who' of Australian business, sport, entertainment and politics. The breakfast includes a Grand Auction, with all proceeds being donated to the Starlight Children's Foundation. Pre-match entertainment.
And players lining up for the national anthem at the. Many big Australian and international stars have performed or appeared as pre-match entertainment at the grand final. The game has often been criticised for poor pre-game entertainment; in particular, performances by in (half time entertainment) and in have been singled out as poor performances by the entertainers involved. Each team's club song is performed live as part of the pre-match entertainment (with the recorded version also played as the team enters the field). For a time, many or all of a selection of traditional football and Australian songs (, and ) were performed each year, although this has fallen out of favour.
Is performed when teams and the umpires are on the field, and lined up on the wing. Halftime and post-match entertainment In addition to having pre-match entertainment, the AFL grand final has also included half-time and post-match entertainment. The post-match entertainment that follows the grand final takes place after the presentations and player celebrations have concluded, and unlike the main match, is free and open to the general public, with anybody invited to attend, regardless of whether they attended the match or not.
Since 2012, the post-match shows are sponsored by, with the post-match shown named the Virgin Australia Premiership Party as a result. The post-match entertainment has been provided by and (2012), and (2013), and (2014), and (2015), and (2016), (2017), and (2018). Half-time entertainment has been absent since the, with the entertainment occurring pre-match. Sprint race. The sprint as the competitors cross the finish line.
Of North Melbourne was the winner. Since 1977 a running race has taken place on grand final day between various players who are not taking part in the game.
In 1977–78 it was a long-distance race run over a mile with each league club able to nominate up to two entrants. In 1979 the race was changed to a 100 m sprint with one player per club taking part. Between 1979–87 the two clubs participating in the grand final had the option of providing one of their players who missed selection in the match, but generally chose not to do so, meaning the sprint was usually contested by a field of 10 players during this era. The race was not held from 1988 to 2001 but was reintroduced in 2002 (along with a goalkicking contest, which only lasted one year). With the number of league clubs having grown to 16 during the break in competition, a new format was adopted with the players now split into two groups of eight for the heats (held before the grand final), with the top four from each heat advancing to the final (held at half-time of the grand final).
In recent years a system has also been introduced; however this has not been used since the 2013 grand final. Year Sprint winner Football club 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 Sprint not held Sprint not held 1987 1988–2001 Sprint not held Sprint not held 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 James Shirley 2017 2018 Godfrey Okereneyang Venue and schedule.
The grand final has always been played in on a Saturday afternoon, and all but nine have been played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The venues used on the other nine occasions were:. – 1898, 1899 and 1944 (due to the MCG housing US troops during World War II). – 1900. – 1901. – 1942, 1943 and 1945 (due to the MCG housing US troops during World War II).
– 1991 (due to construction work on the Great Southern Stand at the MCG) The current agreement (as amended in 2018) between the, the MCG Trust, the AFL and the stipulates the AFL grand final will be played at the MCG every year until at least 2057. The grand final has traditionally been played on the last Saturday in September each year, and is often referred to in popular Australian culture as the 'One day in September'. In this regard, 24 grand finals have been played in October (most recently in 2016), and 10 grand finals have been played on another Saturday in September (most recently in 2000 to avoid a clash with the soccer tournament at the ).
The earliest grand final date has been 2 September (in and ), and the latest grand final date has been 20 October (in ). In 2015, the Friday before the grand final became a gazetted in Victoria, following an election promise by the incoming state government, under the of. Numbering of grand finals Officially, the AFL gives its grand finals the same ordinal number as the season: e.g. The 1996 grand final was regarded as the 100th grand final, due to it being the 100th season. This is inaccurate to some extent:. There was no grand final match in and, as the finals systems in use in those seasons allowed the premiership to be awarded after a finals tournament without a grand final being required. Under the finals system in use from 1898 to 1900 and the in use from 1902 to 1923 and 1925 to 1930, 'Grand Final' was a term given to a challenge match between the minor premiers and whichever team won the section of the finals.
In 1899, 1904, 1906–08, 1911, 1918 and 1927–28, the minor premiers also won the knock-out phase, meaning that they were awarded the premiership without a true grand final being required. In these cases, the last knock-out match has been retrospectively considered to be the grand final. There were three played after drawn grand finals: these occurred in 1948, 1977 and 2010.
In 2016, the AFL replaced grand final replays with two five-minute halves of extra time, followed by an untimed third period of golden point extra time if required. Individual awards Norm Smith Medal. For a complete description, and a list of winners, see. The Norm Smith Medal is presented to the player judged as best on the ground during the grand final by a panel of experts. The award is named in honour of premiership player and coach, who died in 1973. It was first awarded in, to 's, a great nephew of Smith.
In time the award has come to carry great prestige as an individual prize. Other awards The coach of the winning team receives the Jock McHale Medal, named in honour of Collingwood coach who holds the record of winning eight premierships as coach. The medal was first awarded in 2001, and was retrospectively awarded to all premiership-winning coaches starting from 1950, the first season after McHale's retirement from coaching. The leading goalkicker or goalkickers in the grand final receive the Jack Collins Medal, named after who kicked seven goals in 's grand final victory in 1954.
The award was first presented by the AFL Premiership Players' Club in 2010, and was also awarded retrospectively to leading goalkickers from previous grand finals. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
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