Australian Football League facts for kids
General Information | |
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Founded | 1897, Melbourne |
Previous names | Victorian Football League or VFL (1897-1989) |
Current clubs | Adelaide Brisbane Lions Carlton Collingwood Essendon Fremantle Geelong Gold Coast Greater Western Sydney Hawthorn North Melbourne Melbourne Port Adelaide Richmond St Kilda Sydney Swans West Coast Eagles Western Bulldogs |
Stadiums | Melbourne Cricket Ground ANZ Stadium Etihad Stadium Adelaide Oval Sydney Cricket Ground Subiaco Oval The Gabba Skilled Stadium Aurora Stadium Manuka Oval Marrara Oval Carrara Stadium Sydney Showground Stadium |
2015 Season | |
Premiers | Hawthorn 16:11 (107) defeated West Coast 8:13 (61) |
Attendance | 98,633 |
Norm Smith Medalist | Ryan O'Keefe |
Minor Premiers | Freemantle |
Wooden spoon | Carlton Football Club |
NAB Cup | Adelaide |
Brownlow Medallist | Jobe Watson |
Coleman Medallist | Jack Riewoldt |
Total attendance | 6,778,830 |
Average attendance | 32,748 |
Total Finals Series attendance | 538,936 |
Average Finals Series attendance | 59,882 |
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the Australian national league in the sport of Australian Rules Football. The league is the most popular sports competition in Australia. In 2012, nearly 6.8 million people watched a game in a stadium.
The league started in the city of Melbourne, and was known as the Victorian Football League from 1897 to 1989. In the 1980s, the league expanded outside the state of Victoria into New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, and entered South Australia in 1991. With the league becoming more national, the VFL changed its name to the Australian Football League in 1990.
As of the latest season of 2012, the league's 18 teams play against each other in 22 games over 23 rounds between late March and early September. These matches are followed by a series of finals matches which end up in the two best teams playing off for the premiership in the AFL Grand Final, one of the largest domestic club championship events in the world.
The chief executive, titled "Commissioner", is Gillon Mclachlan.
Contents
The clubs
National Competition
In the most recent 2012 season, there were nine clubs from Melbourne, one from Victoria's second largest city, Geelong, two teams from South Australia's capital of Adelaide, two from the Perth area in Western Australia, two from Queensland and two from Sydney, New South Wales.
AFL is the dominant league in television, print and radio news in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania. Also Australian rules football has more people playing than any other football code in these states and territories.
The AFL is becoming more popular in the states of New South Wales and Queensland. This happened after the finals wins by the Brisbane Lions (2001, 2002 and 2003) and Sydney Swans (2005). With the success of these sides, interest in Australian rules football has grown rapidly in these states in recent years. This directly led to new clubs being added in both states in the 2010s—Gold Coast in 2011 and Greater Western Sydney in 2012.
Major annual awards
- Brownlow Medal
- Coleman Medal
- AFL Rising Star
- Leigh Matthews Trophy
- Norm Smith Medal
- Jock McHale Medal
- Michael Tuck Medal
- AFL Mark of the Year
- AFL Goal of the Year
- All Australian Team
- Club Best and Fairest Awards
Present teams
Club | Nickname | City | Home Ground | Entered Competition | No. of Premierships | Notes |
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Adelaide Football Club | Crows | Adelaide, South Australia | Adelaide Oval | 1991 | 2 | Formed as a joint team from the South Australian National Football League in 1991. |
Brisbane Lions Football Club | Lions | Brisbane, Queensland | Brisbane Cricket Ground (The 'Gabba) | 1997 | 3 | Club formed after merger of Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy Football Club in 1996. |
Carlton Football Club | Blues | Carlton, Victoria | Etihad Stadium/Melbourne Cricket Ground | 1897 | 16 | |
Collingwood Football Club | Magpies | Collingwood, Victoria | Melbourne Cricket Ground | 1897 | 15 | |
Essendon Football Club | Bombers | Essendon, Victoria | Etihad Stadium | 1897 | 16 | |
Fremantle Football Club | Dockers | Fremantle, Western Australia | Domain Stadium | 1995 | Nil | |
Geelong Football Club | Cats | Geelong, Victoria | Simonds stadium | 1897 | 8 | |
Gold Coast Football Club | Suns | Gold Coast, Queensland | Carrara Stadium | 2011 | Nil | |
Greater Western Sydney Football Club | Giants | Sydney, New South Wales | Sydney Showground Stadium ANZ Stadium |
2012 | Nil | |
Hawthorn Football Club | Hawks' | Hawthorn, Victoria | Melbourne Cricket Ground | 1925 | 10 | |
North Melbourne Football Club | Kangaroos | North Melbourne, Victoria | Etihad Stadium | 1925 | 4 | |
Melbourne Football Club | Demons | Melbourne, Victoria | Melbourne Cricket Ground | 1897 | 12 | |
Port Adelaide Football Club | Power | Alberton, South Australia | Adelaide Oval | 1997 | 1 | |
Richmond Football Club | Tigers | Richmond, Victoria | Melbourne Cricket Ground | 1908 | 10 | |
St Kilda Football Club | Saints | St Kilda, Victoria | Etihad Stadium | 1897 | 1 | |
Sydney Swans Football Club | Swans | Sydney, New South Wales | Sydney Cricket Ground ANZ Stadium |
1897 | 5 | Relocated from South Melbourne, Victoria in 1982. |
West Coast Eagles Football Club | Eagles | Perth, Western Australia | Domain Stadium | 1987 | 3 | |
Western Bulldogs Football Club | Bulldogs | Footscray, Victoria | Etihad Stadium | 1925 | 1 | Formerly the Footscray Football Club, renamed in 1998. |
Legends of the Game
In 1996, twelve Hall of Fame members were declared Legends of the Game. Now, each year another member of the Hall of Fame is declared a legend. The following is a list of Legends of the Game.
- Ron Barassi Junior (added 1996)
- Haydn Bunton Senior(added 1996)
- Roy Cazaly (added 1996)
- John Coleman (added 1996)
- Jack Dyer (added 1996)
- Graham Farmer (added 1996)
- Leigh Matthews (added 1996)
- John Nicholls (added 1996)
- Bob Pratt (added 1996)
- Dick Reynolds (added 1996)
- Bob Skilton (added 1996)
- Ted Whitten Senior (added 1996)
- Ian Stewart (added 1997)
- Gordon Coventry (added 1998)
- Peter Hudson (added 1999)
- Kevin Bartlett (added 2000)
- Barrie Robran (added 2001)
- Bill Hutchison (added 2003)
- Jock McHale (added 2005)
- Darrell Baldock (added 2006)
- Darcy Coombs "(added 2009)"
VFL/AFL Records
- Highest score
Geelong - 37.17 (239) vs. Brisbane Bears
Carrara Oval, May 3, 1992. - Highest winning margin
Fitzroy - 190 points
Waverley Park, July 28, 1979. - Highest aggregate score
52.33 (345) - Melbourne 21.15 (141) vs St Kilda 31.18 (204)
MCG, May 6, 1978 - Highest score in one quarter
South Melbourne - 17.4 (106) vs. St Kilda
Lake Oval, July 26, 1919 - Largest crowd
Carlton v Collingwood - 121,696
MCG, September 26, 1970 (Grand Final) - Largest Home & Away Season crowd
Melbourne v Collingwood - 99,346
MCG, 1958 - Largest crowd for a game between a Victorian and non-Victorian club
Adelaide Crows v St Kilda Saints - 99,645
MCG, September 27, 1997 (Grand Final) - Largest crowd for a game between non-Victorian clubs
West Coast Eagles v Sydney Swans - 97,431
MCG, September 30, 2006 (Grand Final) - Largest International crowd
Melbourne v Sydney - 32,789
B.C. Place, Vancouver, Canada, 1987 - Most premierships
Carlton 16, most recent 1995, Essendon 16, most recent 2000 - Most wooden spoons (last position at the end of the Home and Away Season)
St Kilda - 26, most recent 2000 - Most consecutive premierships
Collingwood - 4
1927-1930 - Most games won in a season
Essendon - 24 (incl. finals)
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
Brent Harvey (North Melbourne) - 431 games - Most games as club captain
Stephen Kernahan (Carlton) - 226 games - Most goals in a career
Tony Lockett (St Kilda) - 1359 goals - Most goals in a game
Michael Bezzeene (Western Bulldogs) - 27 Goals - Most goals in a season
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 (Ended Rd 13, 2006 due to unknown injury) - Tallest player
Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle), Peter Street (Western Bulldogs) - 211cm - Shortest player
Danny Craven (St Kilda/Brisbane) - 162cm - Heaviest player
Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) - 124kg - Longest kick
Albert Thurgood (Essendon) - 98.48m (109 yards, 1 foot, 3.2 inches)
Venues
Below are the venues used during the 2018 AFL season.
Melbourne, Victoria | Perth, Western Australia | Melbourne, Victoria | Adelaide, South Australia |
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Melbourne Cricket Ground | Perth Stadium | Docklands Stadium | Adelaide Oval |
Capacity: 100,025 | Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 56,347 | Capacity: 53,583 |
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Sydney, New South Wales | Brisbane, Queensland | ||
Sydney Cricket Ground | The Gabba | ||
Capacity: 48,000 | Capacity: 42,000 | ||
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Geelong, Victoria | Gold Coast, Queensland | ||
Kardinia Park | Carrara Stadium | ||
Capacity: 34,074 | Capacity: 25,000 | ||
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Sydney, New South Wales | Launceston, Tasmania | Hobart, Tasmania | |
Sydney Showground Stadium | York Park | Bellerive Oval | Manuka Oval |
Capacity: 24,000 | Capacity: 21,000 | Capacity: 19,500 | Capacity: 13,550 |
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Darwin, Northern Territory | Cairns, Queensland | Alice Springs, Northern Territory | Shanghai, China |
Marrara Oval | Cazaly's Stadium | Traeger Park | Jiangwan Stadium |
Capacity: 12,500 | Capacity: 13,500 | Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 25,000 |
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Images for kids
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The final standing of the 1896 VFA ladder. Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, South Melbourne, Carlton and St Kilda would form the VFL the following year.
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Essendon won the inaugural VFL premiership by finishing on top of the 1897 round robin finals ladder. A new finals system was implemented during the 1898 VFL season in order that a final match, or "grand final", determine the premiers.
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In 1992 the West Coast Eagles became the first non-Victorian team to win an AFL premiership. Pictured is the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1992 where the grand final was held. The stadium is pictured as configured for a cricket match, note the visible pitch and absent goal posts.
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Dustin Martin, the third pick in the 2009 AFL draft
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Indigenous player Lance Franklin. Although comprising only 2.7% of the broader Australian population, Indigenous Australians make up 9% of AFL players.
![]() | Hypatia |
![]() | Agnodice |
![]() | Aglaonice |
![]() | Mary the Jewess |