AFL Grand Final
The
AFL Grand Final is the annual
Australian rules football match held to determine the
Australian Football League premiers for that year.
With an official attendance of 91,828 at the 2005 AFL Grand Final, it is currently the
largest domestic club championship event in the world.
The first VFL/AFL Grand Final was contested in the VFL's second season in 1898. In the previous year, the finals series had a
round robin format.
The winner is presented with the AFL
premiership cup and each victorious player is presented with a
premiership medallion. The premiers are also awarded the
premiership flag, a large pennant which is unfurled at the premiers' first home game of the following season. Although the cup features much more prominently in celebrations immediately following the Grand Final, the flag has far greater symbolic significance. This is particularly reflected in football parlance, in which one
always speaks of a team winning the flag, rather than the cup ('
Adelaide will win the flag this year', never 'Adelaide will win the cup this year').
A cash prize to the winning club of
AUD$250,000 is also awarded. Following the
Sydney Swans premiership in 2005, many clubs publicly questioned the prize money [
1], which has not increased for many years and barely covers the cost of participation in the finals series. In contrast, the winner of the
NAB Cup, the far less important pre-season competition, is currently awarded a similar amount,
AUD$220,000.
The winner of the premiership typically experiences increased membership and sale of merchandise.
The player judged by a panel of experts to be the best afield during the Grand Final is awarded the
Norm Smith Medal.
The two Grand Finalists qualify via
finals series play-offs at the end of the season. In the current system, 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 are said to have won the
minor premiership and are awarded the relatively obscure McClelland Trophy.
The Grand Final is traditionally played in
Melbourne at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground. It has been played elsewhere only on a few occasions, being held at
Lake Oval and the
Junction Oval early in the league's history and
Princes Park (Optus Oval) during World War II when the MCG was being used as barracks to house US Troops. When the MCG was being redeveloped in 1991, the Grand Final was contested at the AFL-owned
Waverley Park.
The Grand Final is usually played on the final Saturday in September each year and is referred to in popular Australian culture as the
One Day in September.
Over time the AFL (formerly VFL) has gradually become a national competition since the relocation of South Melbourne to
Sydney and later admission of teams from
Perth,
Brisbane and
Adelaide.
Of the current clubs, only
Fremantle have never (as of the 2005 finals) made a Grand Final appearance. Defunct clubs which never made it include
University and the old
Brisbane Bears (although their successor, the
Brisbane Lions have won three Grand Finals and lost a fourth.)
The first "interstate" (i.e., non-
Victorian) team to play in the Grand Final were the
West Coast Eagles, who lost in 1991 but came back to win their first Premiership in 1992. (The
Swans had been in several Grand Finals before their move to Sydney in 1982, but always as the
South Melbourne Swans: their first Grand Final appearance after their move to Sydney didn't come until 1996.) The first Grand Final matching two interstate teams was the 2004 contest where the
Port Adelaide Power beat the
Brisbane Lions 113-73.
Since the expansion of the league, the AFL Grand Final has become a truly national event. For the past five years the premiership has been won by teams outside of the game's traditional home of
Victoria.
The
2005 Grand Final was officially regarded as the 109th Grand Final. Throughout history, Grand Finals were not staged in either of
1897 or
1924, with the premiership instead being awarded after a
round robin amongst the top four teams; this accounts for 107 Grand Finals. An additional Grand Final was played in
1948 and
1977, each of which was necessitated by a tied Grand Final. These are generally referred to as
Grand Final Replays or "Extra Finals", but count in the official tally of Grand Finals. Furthermore, under the Argus finals system which existed from 1900 until 1930, there being a designated Grand Final depended upon the minor premiers having not won the previous week's game, known as the Final: each final which decided the premiership had hence been reclassified a Grand Final retrospectively.
(* Capacity of ground reduced due to redevelopment for the
Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games)
For all Grand Final winners in the VFL/AFL, see List of Australian Football League premiers.A running race takes place several hours before the start of the Grand Final, between players that are not taking place in the Grand Final. It is conducted over several heats.
In 2005, the winner was
Brett Deledio.
Over the years many big Australian and international stars have performed or appeared at the Grand Final. Notable entertainment includes:
*1991: At
VFL Park,
Angry Anderson sang the song "Bound for Glory", appearing out of a
Batmobile.
*1994:
The Seekers sang
Advance Australia Fair.
*1998:
Muhammad Ali made an appearance at the 1998 Grand Final (although not performing).
*
2004: First
Australian Idol,
Guy Sebastian sang both "
Waltzing Matilda" and "
Advance Australia Fair"
*
2005:
Silvie Paladino sang the
national anthem, and was involved in controversy when
Delta Goodrem expressed her interest at that role. However, an arrangement allowed Goodrem to sing "
I Am Australian" on the day.
Michael Buble and
Dame Edna Everage also performed.
Music as a form of crowd entertainment has also been a long-standing tradition and is often used as a platform to launch local music talent. Australian performers such as
Killing Heidi,
The Whitlams,
Frangipani and
Kate Ceberano have all performed at AFL Grand Finals.
Tradition dictates that at every, or almost every, Grand Final, the following songs are performed, either by celebrity singers or choirs:
*
Waltzing Matilda*One or more of the following football songs, often in a medley:
**
Up There Cazaly**
One Day in September**That's The Thing About Football
**
Holy Grail**More Than a Game
*Each team's club song (which is performed live, with the recorded version then played as the team enters the field, in the traditional fashion)
*
Advance Australia FairAdvance Australia Fair is sung once the two teams and the umpires are on the field, and lined up on the wing.
