1.
Glenelg Football Club
–
Glenelg Football Club is an Australian rules football team, which plays in the South Australian National Football League. The club is known as the Tigers, and their ground is Gliderol Stadium @ Glenelg, located in the southern coastal suburb of Glenelg East. The Glenelg Football Club was formed on 20 March 1920, and it was not until 2 May 1925 that the club saw its first league victory, a 12.6 to 10.10 win over West Torrens at Glenelg Oval. The Bays, as they are known, won their first SANFL premiership in 1934 with an 18.15 to 16.18 victory against Port Adelaide. The 1935 season saw them slump from first to last, until 1948, the team jersey was gold with a black V, in 1949 the club adopted the now familiar black with gold sash design. In total the club has won 4 premierships – in 1934,1973, the Bays also had an unlikely amalgamation with West Adelaide Football Club during the war years. The 2008 season has been of note for several reasons. During the home and away season, the club had 51,583 fans through the gate, on average,5,158 fans attended each game at Challenge Recruitment Oval in the 2008 season. This included an attendance of 11,827, the highest SANFL home. The club was undefeated for 12 matches between 5 April and 12 July, won their first match at Elizabeth since 1992, the club also won its first minor premiership since 1981, and made its first Grand Final since 1992. K. The only year this did not occur was in 1991 when Glenelg used Football Park under the SANFLs ground rationalisation scheme and this arrangement only lasted for the 1991 season as Glenelg moved back to The Bay while the Eagles moved to Woodville Oval. In 2012 Glenelg Oval became one of five suburban SANFL grounds to have lights installed for night games. The ground record crowd for Glenelg Oval was set on 20 July 1968 when 17,171 saw Sturt defeat Glenelg by just one point,13.13 to 13.12. The record night attendance was set on 25 April 2014 when 9,245 saw Glenelg defeat the Adelaide Crows reserves 17.21 to 13.8 for the Tigers first win of the 2014 SANFL season. Glenelgs champion full-forward, the 1969 Magarey Medallist Fred Phillis, kicked 18 goals for the game and we never weaken till the final sirens gone Like the Tiger of old, were strong and were bold For were from Tiger – yellow and black – were from Tigerland. Glenelg has nine Magarey Medalists and two Reserves Magarey Medalists,1928 – Jim Handby 1934 – George Blue Johnston 1940 – Mel Brock 1941 – Marcus Boyall 1949 – Allan Crabb 1969 – D. K. K. Fred Phillis Wayne Phillis Steven Salopek James Sellar Gary Sweet Seb Tape Mark Williams As of 2013 the Glenelg Football Club has seven club ambassadors and they are, Anna Meares – Multiple World and Olympic track cycling champion. Brett Aitken – Olympic track cyclist, current Shadow Minister for Education and Early Childhood
2.
Richmond Football Club
–
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League. The club has won ten premierships since joining the competition in 1908, the club is currently ranked sixth in the competition for premierships won. Prior to 1965 the club played games at Punt Road Oval. Based in a traditionally working-class area, Richmond has long-standing rivalries with cross-town Melbourne-based clubs, Collingwood, the club has been home to four AFL Hall of Fame Legends, Ian Stewart, Kevin Bartlett, Royce Hart and Jack Dyer. A team of playing as Richmond is mentioned by the newspapers in the first years of Australian football. Tom Wills, one of the founders, was the clubs inaugural secretary and captain. This loosely organised group has no continuity to the present club, a number of teams formed in the Richmond area during the games rapid expansion of the 1870s and early 1880s. However, all played at a level and it was considered an anomaly that Richmond, one of Melbournes biggest locales. The wait ended when the Richmond Football Club was officially formed at the Royal Hotel in Richmond on 20 February 1885, a successful application for immediate admission to the Victorian Football Association followed. The club shared the Punt Road Oval with the Richmond Cricket Club, at first the team wore a blue uniform. One of the most important features of a nineteenth-century footballers uniform was his headgear, and Richmond opted for yellow and black striped caps, after a couple of years, yellow and black stripes replaced blue as the colours of the teams guernseys. The team was called the Richmondites, the Wasps or, most commonly. During the late 1880s, the VFA expanded rapidly, a booming economy and large numbers of immigrants made Melbourne the largest city in the Australian colonies. The city was mad with football and many tried to get admission to the VFA. Richmond struggled to make an impression and after a promising season in 1888. As the local economy slipped into depression in the early 1890s and the crowds began to dwindle. Richmond were not considered part of elite group, who usually voted together as a block at VFA meetings. A lack of commitment and focused effort was holding the Tigers back, in 1896, Richmond walked off the field in a match with South Melbourne at half time when they were a long way behind on a very wet day to protest the umpiring. Later in the season, the Tigers had their score annulled against Essendon when it was discovered that they had too many men on the ground, in the closing three weeks of the season, Richmonds gate takings amounted to just five pounds
3.
Ruckman (Australian rules football)
–
In Australian rules football, a ruckman is typically a tall and athletic player who contests at centre bounces and stoppages. The ruckman is one of the most important players on the field and they are often key to coaching strategy and winning centre clearances which result in the most goal kicking opportunities. The role of the ruckman in Australian rules is similar to a lock in rugby union contesting a line-out, the ruckman needs to be able to control the ball by palm tap or fist with outstretched arms. Unlike rugby, the ruckman must rely on his vertical leap and is not assisted by teammates, with no offside or knock on rules, the ruckman can tap the ball in any direction. Before a bounce down or ball up, ruckmen confer with the onballers to pre-determine the direction of the tap so that they can position themselves to best receive it to the teams advantage, the ruckman is typically the tallest player on either team. A typical professional Australian Football League ruckman is over 200 cm or 67, when a ruckman beats his opponent by contacting the ball, it is called a hit out and measured as a statistic and performance indicator of effective ruckwork. Although the ruckman is the player to score hit-outs, sometimes tall key position players fill in for the ruckman around the ground if the ruckman cannot run to make the contest in time. Rucking is one of the most physically demanding positions on the ground, as a result of the high level of physical contact of clashing with opponents in the air, many ruckmen have large physiques or bulk up to prevent injury. As well, due to the use of knees when jumping, many ruckmen wear protective thigh and shin padding, whereas players in other positions rarely do. Coaches often field more than one ruckman and rotate them due to the pressure of the position. Ruckmen are sometimes classified by their style of play, although many players alternate styles during a game based on strategy, a tap ruckman is the most skillful and high jumping of styles. Players using this style will deftly palm the ball directly down to the advantage of a teammate or rover. WAFL and VFL great Polly Farmer is considered to be one of the best all-time ruckmen of this style, the AFLs Aaron Sandilands is a good current example. A mobile ruckman often describes a ruckman that covers a lot of ground, sometime this type of ruckman is not as tall, as big, or effective at hit outs, but may possess a high leap and a greater athletic endurance. Jim Stynes was one of the first modern ruckmen in this mould, a thump ruckman practices a more physical style of rucking. These players are typically slower around the ground, as such are sometimes referred to as dinosaurs and this type of ruckwork is rarer in the modern game, more so at its highest level. At the beginning of 2003, the AFL rules were changed so that ruckman must stand at opposite sides and this change affected thump ruckmen especially. Ruckmen are often used by coaches strategically, using tandem ruckmen, often known as third man up, is a tactic often employed around the ground as a set play strategy
4.
Geelong Football Club
–
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in the city of Geelong, Australia and playing in the Australian Football League. The Cats have been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with three in the AFL era and they have also won nine McClelland Trophies, a record shared with Essendon. The club was formed in 1859, making it the second oldest club in the AFL after Melbourne and one of the oldest football clubs in the world. Geelong participated in the first football competition in Australia and was a club of both the Victorian Football Association in 1877 and the Victorian Football League in 1897. The club first established itself in the VFA by winning seven premierships, the club won a further six premierships by 1963, before enduring a 44-year waiting period until it won its next premiership—an AFL-record 119-point victory in the 2007 AFL Grand Final. Geelong have since won a further two premierships in 2009 and 2011, the clubs home ground is Kardinia Park, currently also known by its sponsorship name Simonds Stadium. However, the club also hosts matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Geelongs traditional guernsey colours are blue and white hoops. The clubs nickname, The Cats, was first used in 1923 after a run of losses prompted a local cartoonist to suggest that the club needed a black cat to bring it good luck, the clubs official team song and anthem is We Are Geelong. Geelong Football Club was formally established at a meeting held in the Victoria Hotel on 18 July 1859, the club contested its first match of Australian rules football against Melbourne at Argyle Square in 1860, which finished as a scoreless draw. In 1863, Geelong travelled to Melbourne to contest the Caledonian Challenge Cup, although the competition was played under compromised rules, Geelong reached the final and defeated Melbourne to become the second winners of the cup. The club continued to contest the cup in the following years, during this time, Tom Wills—one of the founders of Australian football—played exclusively for the club from 1865 until his retirement from football in 1874. Following the formation of the Victorian Football Association in 1877, Geelong joined the association as one of its foundation clubs. The club relocated to Corio Oval as its home ground in time for the 1878 season. In 1924, following the death of VFL and Geelong administrator Charles Brownlow, the first player to win the award was Geelongs Edward Greeves. Having been one of the dominant clubs in the old VFA and it wasnt until 1925 that the club won its first VFL premiership. Geelong followed up with further wins in 1931 and 1937. In 1941, the club was forced to relocate from its Corio Oval base due to the oval being required for training during World War 2
5.
2007 AFL Grand Final
–
It was the 111th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 2007 AFL season. The match, attended by 97,302 spectators, was won by Geelong by a margin of 119 points, the victory marked Geelongs seventh premiership win, and ended its 44-year premiership drought. Geelong entered the season after finishing 10th in 2006, Geelong had lost only one game since Round 5, by five points to Port Adelaide at Skilled Stadium in Round 21 when Domenic Cassisi goaled with 3 seconds remaining. The grand final was Geelongs first appearance in a premiership decider since losing the 1995 Grand Final, Geelong won a tight contest with the Magpies by 5 points in front of a crowd of 98,002. Port Adelaide, having finished 12th the previous season, rose an amazing 10 places to become 2nd on the ladder in 2007, with a 15–7 record and a percentage of 113.54. Port Adelaide had hosted reigning premiers West Coast Eagles at AAMI Stadium in their qualifying final, having also earned a second week bye, they proceeded to the third week and hosted the Kangaroos in a preliminary final at AAMI Stadium, winning by 87 points. The 2007 AFL Grand Final was Port Adelaides first since winning the 2004 Grand Final and this was the first Grand Final fought between two teams that missed the finals the previous year since 1997. The Cats outscored the Port Adelaide Power 5.7 to 2.2 in the opening term, Geelong excelled in their defence - which had been the best in the competition all season - keeping the Power to their lowest score of the year. The backlines, led by Matthew Scarlett at fullback, repeatedly turned defence into attack, half-forwards Paul Chapman and Steve Johnson kicked four goals each and set up numerous others. Johnson was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for best-on-ground in the Grand Final after the Cats’ triumph, chapmans day included a sensational high mark over Port Adelaide captain Warren Tredrea during the third quarter. Key forwards Cameron Mooney and Nathan Ablett also performed strongly, Power players Kane Cornes and Domenic Cassisi performed reasonably well against Geelong stars Jimmy Bartel and Gary Ablett, Jr. The match ended with Geelong winning by the score of 24.19 to 6.8, recording the greatest winning margin in AFL Grand Final history,119 points. This broke the record of 96 points set by Hawthorn against Melbourne in the 1988 VFL Grand Final, it was also, at the time. Geelongs 417 disposals was also a Grand Final Record, meanwhile, Port Adelaide became the only finals side in history to have more handballs than kicks. Geelong scored 17.10 from Port Adelaide turnovers, while the Power scored just 1.2 from the Cats, the Cats win ended a 44-year premiership drought for the club. The last flag had come in 1963, and since then the club had lost five Grand Finals and it was also the first premiership won by a team from Victoria since Essendons 2000 victory. MCC Chairman Nickolas Daskalou was quoted Half the MCC members departed long before three quarter time in what was seen as the most one sided Grand Final in history,2007 AFL season 2007 AFL Finals Series Match stats at AFL Tables AFL Website
6.
2009 AFL Grand Final
–
The 2009 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the St Kilda Football Club and the Geelong Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 26 September 2009. It was the 113th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League, the match, attended by 99,251 spectators, was won by Geelong by a margin of 12 points, marking the clubs eighth VFL/AFL premiership victory. Geelongs Paul Chapman was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground, St Kilda entered the 2009 premiership season after having lost its preliminary final in 2008 against eventual premiers Hawthorn. The Saints home-and-away season was outstanding and they won their first 19 games before losing consecutive games in Rounds 20 and 21 against Essendon. They won their game and earned the McClelland Trophy for the first time since 1997. Their record of 20-2 is the equal-third most wins of all time, behind the 2008 Cats and they won their four pre-season games to win the NAB Cup and their first 13 home-and-away games. Their first loss came in Round 14 against St Kilda by six points, Geelong won their final game comfortably to finish with a record of 18-4. They defeated a fast-finishing Bulldogs team by 14 points in their qualifying final, in the week leading up to the Grand Final, Geelongs Gary Ablett was awarded the Brownlow Medal. This Grand Final appearance was the sixteenth in Geelongs history and the third in succession, with the club attempting to win its eighth premiership and second in three years. It was sixth Grand Final appearance in St Kildas history and the first since the 1997 Grand Final and its only flag to date was won 43 years earlier in the 1966 Grand Final. This was the first time that St Kilda and Geelong had met in a Grand Final, in spite of their respective ladder positions, Geelong entered the game as the favourite team to win amongst most bookmakers. It was also the first Grand Final to be played since the death of cartoonist William Ellis Green, the posters had been sold after each Grand Final with the proceeds going to the Royal Childrens Hospital. Beginning in 2009, the posters were drawn by cartoonist Mark Knight of the Herald Sun, coverage Telecast Live and in HD on Channel Ten & One HD with Commentators Stephen Quartermain, Tim Lane, Robert Walls, Luke Darcy, Mark Howard and Andrew Maher. Mark Seymour from Australian rock band Hunters and Collectors performed Holy Grail on stage, john Farnham then sang Youre the Voice, joined later by Seymour and Barnes. The Qantas choir performed I Still Call Australia Home, and the anthem was performed a cappella by the cast of Jersey Boys. The Grand Final was played in cold and wet conditions and it had rained heavily the previous night in Melbourne such that the ground was particularly wet around the boundary, and there were also several heavy showers during the game. The highest ambient temperature for the game was only 11.3 °C, Geelong started strongly, earning a two-goal advantage after eight minutes, with Max Rooke scoring the opening goal of the game after catching an unaware Raphael Clarke holding the ball. St Kilda opened the second better, but again missed relatively easy shots at goal from Schneider
7.
2011 AFL Grand Final
–
The 2011 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and the Geelong Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 1 October 2011. It was the 115th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League, the match, attended by 99,537 spectators, was won by Geelong by a margin of 38 points, marking the clubs ninth VFL/AFL premiership victory. Geelongs Jimmy Bartel was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground, Collingwood entered the 2011 season as the reigning premiers, having defeated St Kilda in the 2010 AFL Grand Final Replay by 56 points. Collingwood were the best performed side of the home and away season, winning 14 games in a row in the part of the season. Collingwood won its second minor premiership and McClelland Trophy whilst registering the highest overall scoring percentage in over a century. Geelong entered the season finishing second in 2010 home and away season. Geelong appointed a new coach, Chris Scott, in the off-season after dual premiership coach Mark Thompson moved to Essendon, Geelong won their first 13 games in 2011, before finishing with a record of 19–3 to sit second on the ladder. The Cats had comfortable finals wins, over Hawthorn by 31 points and West Coast by 48 points, Collingwood and Geelong met twice during the 2011 home and away season, with Geelong winning both games, these were Collingwoods only two losses for the home-and-away season. In Round 8, Geelong won a game in spite of inaccurate goalkicking. In Round 24, Geelong inflicted Collingwoods heaviest defeat for more than six years and it was Geelongs 17th Grand Final appearance, with the club attempting to win its ninth premiership overall. It was Geelongs fourth Grand Final appearance in five seasons, with the club attempting to win its third of those contests and it was the first time since 1998 that the premiers from the two preceding seasons played in the Grand Final. This match was the sixth Grand Final contested between Collingwood and Geelong and the first since 1953, three of the previous encounters were won by Geelong and two were won by Collingwood. However, punters backed Geelong heavily and, by Monday, Geelong had become the favourite, on Thursday, Sportsbet was offering $1.80 for Geelong. The match was broadcast by Ten Sport on Network Ten, the broadcast was transmitted only in Standard Definition, as the costs of High Definition were deemed excessive - the HD channel was used for golf. The coverage included the match, pre-game report, post-match report, the pre-game and post-game reports were hosted by Tim Lane and Michael Christian, and the match coverage was hosted by Stephen Quartermain. The match was called by Quartermain, Anthony Hudson, Luke Darcy and it was Tens eighth Grand Final broadcast. The Grand Final had an audience of over 3.9 million viewers. Network Ten won the 2012 Silver Logie award for Most Popular Sports Program - that being the 2011 AFL Grand Final, pre-match entertainment was provided by American singer Meat Loaf, who performed a twelve-and-a-half minute medley of his best-known songs
8.
Australian Football League
–
The Australian Football League is the pre-eminent professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the governing body. The league was founded as the Victorian Football League as a breakaway from the previous Victorian Football Association, the league currently consists of 18 teams spread over five of Australias six states. Matches have been played in all states and territories of Australia. The AFL season currently consists of a competition, followed by a 23-round regular season. The top eight teams play off in a four-round finals series, culminating in the AFL Grand Final. The winning team in the Grand Final is termed the premiers, the current premiers are the Western Bulldogs. The six clubs invited two more VFA clubs – Carlton and St Kilda – to join the league for its season in 1897. In 1908, the league expanded to ten teams, with Richmond crossing from the VFA, Port Adelaide was the most successful club of the competition winning three titles during the period along with an earlier victory. In 1925, the VFL expanded from nine teams to twelve, with Footscray, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Hawthorn remained very weak in the VFL for a very long period. Between the years of 1927 and 1930, Collingwood became the first, in 1952, the VFL hosted National Day, when all six matches were played outside of Melbourne. Matches were played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Brisbane Exhibition Ground, North Hobart Oval, Albury Sports Ground and Victorian country towns Yallourn, Footscray became the first of the 1925 expansion teams to win the premiership in 1954. Melbourne became a powerhouse during the 1950s and early 1960s under coach Norm Smith, the club contested seven consecutive grand finals from 1954 to 1960, winning five premierships, including three in a row from 1955 to 1957. Television coverage began in 1957, with telecasts of the final quarter permitted. At first, several channels competed through broadcasting different games, however, when the VFL found that television was reducing crowds, it decided that no coverage was to be allowed for 1960. In 1961, replays were introduced although direct telecasts were rarely permitted in Melbourne, in 1959, the VFL planned the first purpose built mega-stadium, VFL Park, to give it some independence from the Melbourne Cricket Club, which managed the Melbourne Cricket Ground. VFL Park was planned to hold 155,000 spectators, which would have made it one of the largest stadiums in the world – although it would ultimately be built with a capacity of 78,000. Land for the stadium was purchased at Mulgrave, then farmland, the VFL Premiership Trophy was first awarded in addition to a pennant flag in 1959, essentially the same trophy design has been in use since
9.
Australian Football League pre-season competition
–
The pre-season competition culminated annually in a Grand Final and pre-season premier. After the 2013 season, the competition has consisted of a series of matches without an eventual winner. This series is known by the name JLT Community Series. The pre-season competition was established from the Australian Football Championships Night Series in 1988, in 1988, the competition was moved entirely into the pre-season, and became the VFL Pre-season Cup. Between 1988 and 1999, the competition was run as a simple knock-out tournament in which the teams moved through to the next round. In 1992, the introduced the Michael Tuck Medal for the best player in the grand final. After criticism that the format limited the preparation of the losing teams. The sixteen teams were split into groups of four, each playing three matches with the winner of each group advancing to the knockout semi-final stage. The public reaction to the change was mixed, as the atmosphere at some of the games was noticeably flat compared with previous years. The competition reverted to the straight knock-out format in 2003, in 2011, the pre-season competition expanded to eighteen teams with the addition of the Gold Coast Suns and the Greater Western Sydney Giants. The format from that point was, In 2011, the winner of each of the six groups, in 2012 and 2013, all teams then played two pre-scheduled full-length games, giving each team a total of four matches. The teams with the best two records over the four matches then faced off in the Grand Final and this format features no ranking or overall winner. It does retain some of the features of the former competition. Since 2017, the series has been known as the JLT Community Series, most games during the pre-season competition, including the final, were night matches. Lightning matches, when they were played from 2011 until 2013, were played two halves of 20 minutes plus time-on. Extra time was played to resolve drawn knock-out games, since 2003, pre-season matches have featured the super goal as a scoring option. The super goal, which scores nine points, is awarded for a goal kicked from beyond the 50-metre arc, particularly in the 21st century, the pre-season competition was used to trial rule changes before they are introduced into the premiership season. Among the notable rule trials were,2003 Three points for a rushed behind
