AFL Grand Final facts for kids
Panorama of the Melbourne Cricket Ground prior to the 2018 AFL Grand Final
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| Other names | VFL Grand Final, "the Granny" |
|---|---|
| Sport | Australian rules football |
| Locale | Melbourne, Victoria |
| First meeting | 24 September 1898 |
| Latest meeting | 24 October 2020 |
| Stadiums | Melbourne Cricket Ground (all but ten occasions) |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 125 |
| Most wins | Carlton (16) |
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, staged to determine the premiers for that year's Australian Football League (AFL) season. From its inception until 1989, it was known as the VFL Grand Final, and the league as the Victorian Football League. Played at the end of the finals series, the game has been held almost annually since 1898. It is traditionally staged on the afternoon of the last Saturday in September, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia.
The game has become significant to Melburnian culture, spawning a number of traditions and surrounding activities, which have grown in popularity nationally since the interstate expansion of the Victorian Football League to become the Australian Football League in the 1980s and 1990s. According to the 2006 Sweeney Sports Report, 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 event.
The club which wins the grand final wins the premiership for the current season, and receives the AFL's premiership cup and premiership flag; all players in the winning team receive a gold premiership medallion. The best player on the ground receives the Norm Smith Medal.
As of the end of 2020, a total of 125 grand finals have been played, including three grand final replays. The Carlton Football Club has won 16 grand finals, the most of any club; the Essendon Football Club has also won 16 premierships, but only 14 in grand finals. The Collingwood Football Club has appeared in the most grand finals, a total of 44 for 15 wins; and has also won the most consecutive grand finals, with four between 1927 and 1930. Every present day club has played in at least one grand final, with the exception of the 2011 expansion club Gold Coast.
Images for kids
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The 1898 Fitzroy team, winners of the inaugural VFL Grand Final.
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South Melbourne players enter the field before the 1909 Grand Final.
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Essendon's premiership team from 1923.
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The VFL grand final in 1946 from the stands of the Melbourne Cricket Ground
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Sydney Swans supporters celebrate a goal against Perth's West Coast Eagles at the 2006 Grand Final.
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The 2019 AFL Premiership Cup, bearing ribbons in Richmond and Greater Western Sydney colours.
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Carlton Football Club hoists the 1906 VFL premiership flag at Princes Park in 1907
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The 2010 AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
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The 2021 AFL Grand Final at Optus Stadium.
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Some of the estimated 75,000 people who lined the streets of Melbourne for the 2006 AFL Grand Final parade
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Pre-match entertainment at the 2006 AFL Grand Final.
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West Coast Eagles and Sydney Swans players lining up for the national anthem at the 2005 AFL Grand Final.
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The 2015 Grand Final sprint as the competitors cross the finish line. Majak Daw of North Melbourne was the winner.
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Star full-forward Bob Pratt missed the 1935 Grand Final after a vehicle accident.
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Norm Smith missed two chances to win the 1948 Grand Final. He won ten grand finals as player and coach, and the medal for best on ground is named in his honour.
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Robert DiPierdomenico played most of the brutal 1989 Grand Final with a punctured lung.
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Dom Sheed, who kicked the winning goal in the 2018 Grand Final, with the premiership cup
