100-554: The Sir Doug Nicholls Round is an annual event in the Australian Football League which celebrates the culture of Indigenous Australians and the contribution of Indigenous Australian players to the sport. First established in 2007 as the Indigenous Round , the event was renamed in honour of pioneering Indigenous player and politician Sir Doug Nicholls in 2016. The event was originally staged over
200-523: A proprietary limited company called Australian Football Championships Pty Ltd in 1978 to run its night competition and offered shareholdings to the other state leagues in an attempt to lure other states into the competition. For the three years from 1977 until 1979, the NFL and VFL night competitions were run separately as rival night competitions. In 1978, the Tasmanian representative team competed in both
300-835: A 20% cut in industry jobs. The 2021 grand final was played in September at Perth Stadium in Perth because an ongoing COVID-19 lockdown prevented the match from being played with spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne , Victoria. It was the first grand final played in Perth and the second consecutive grand final to be played outside Victoria. The event set a new attendance record for Australian rules football in Western Australia, eclipsing
400-551: A dual purpose, was to unsettle ... The other factor why I had it on top was the Aboriginal people walk on top of the land. Others, including Nova Perris and social worker Tileah Drahm-Butler, have also interpreted the red as representing the blood shed by Aboriginal people. The official colour specifications of the Australian Aboriginal flag are: In most cases, on-screen or digital reproductions of
500-667: A fee. Many Aboriginal people celebrated the freeing of the flag; however, Bronwyn Carlson, Professor of Indigenous Studies and Director of the Centre for Global Indigenous Futures at Macquarie University , expressed a contrary opinion, suggesting that to "free" the flag for all and sundry may demean it as a symbol of Aboriginal identity and history. She wrote in The Conversation : "the Aboriginal flag has always been our flag. We didn't need an act of parliament to recognise its significance." Some Indigenous people are not happy to see
600-524: A few home games on the Gold Coast in previous years, was offered significant subsidies to relocate to the Gold Coast but declined. The AFL then began work to establish a club on the Gold Coast as a new expansion team. Early in 2008, a meeting held by the AFL discussed having two new teams enter the AFL competition. In March 2008, the AFL won the support of the league's 16 club presidents to establish sides on
700-493: A joint venture to begin construction of a brand-new stadium situated at Melbourne's Docklands . Representative state football came to an end, with the last State of Origin match held in 1999. In the late 2000s, the AFL looked to establish a permanent presence on the Gold Coast in the state of Queensland, which was fast-developing as a major population centre. North Melbourne, which was in financial difficulty and had played
800-611: A new competition, the Victorian Football League (VFL). The remaining VFA clubs— Footscray , North Melbourne , Port Melbourne , Richmond and Williamstown —were given the opportunity to compete as junior sides at a level beneath the VFL but rejected the offer and remained for the 1897 VFA season . The VFL's inaugural season occurred in 1897. It made several innovations early on to entice the public's interest, including an annual finals tournament, rather than awarding
900-507: A permanent fixture. Since the first Indigenous Round in 2007, it has been customary for each pre-match ceremony to include a Welcome to Country , and performances by local Indigenous groups. Regular painted ground markings, sometimes including advertisements, are replaced with Indigenous symbols and flags throughout the round. In 2017, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Australian Aboriginal referendum , ten indigenous players changed their guernsey numbers to either 50 or 67 during
1000-752: A result, the club withdrew from the VFL at the end of 1914. The VFL premier and the premier of the South Australian Football League met in a playoff matches for the Championship of Australia beginning in 1888 with a 3-game playoff between South Melbourne from the VFL and the Norwood the most successful club in the SAFA. Matches where then held sporadically during the 1890s as single game playoffs and then annually from 1907 until 1914 (except 1912). South Australian clubs won 8 of
1100-666: A single round of home-and-away matches; since 2019, it has been staged over two rounds. The centrepiece of the Sir Doug Nicholls Round is the Dreamtime at the 'G match, played annually between Richmond and Essendon at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on a Saturday night during the round. Clubs adopt Indigenous symbols during the round, including wearing specially designed guernseys featuring Indigenous art, and adopting Indigenous versions of their club names. The AFL Women's competition has an equivalent event, named
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#17327979981021200-452: A sole source of income for players who had previously had part-time or full-time jobs outside of football. Functionally, the AFL gave up control over its Victorian-based minor grades at the end of 1991 – clubs continued to field reserves teams in a competition run by the new Victorian State Football League and the under-19s competition and zone-based recruiting were abolished and replaced with an independent system . Midway through 1990,
1300-523: A yellow disc is superimposed over the centre of the flag. The overall proportions of the flag, as proclaimed and in its original design, are 2:3; however, the flag is often reproduced in the proportions 1:2 as with the Australian national flag. On 14 July 1995, the Keating government advised the proclamation of the Aboriginal flag as "the flag of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and to be known as
1400-417: Is also flown at many other public buildings such as a number of the state Parliament Houses including that of Victoria. In April 2021 Regional NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said that he would like to see the flag flown at every New South Wales Police regional police station in the state, expanding from the 12 of the 89 then flying it. The Australian Aboriginal flag has been hoisted alongside
1500-470: Is also one of the oldest clubs to have later participated in the competition. The Victorian Football Association (VFA) was established in 1877 and quickly went on to become Victoria 's football competition. During the 1890s, an off-field power struggle occurred between the VFA's stronger and weaker clubs, the former seeking greater administrative control commensurate with their relative financial contribution to
1600-485: Is co-owned by Birubi Art owner Ben Wooster) a licence for the use of the flag on clothing. In June 2019, it was reported that WAM Clothing had demanded that Aboriginal-owned businesses stop selling clothing that featured the flag. They also sent notices to the NRL and AFL about their use of the flag on Indigenous round jerseys. In June 2020, after a prominent Aboriginal footballer began selling WAM-licensed teeshirts bearing
1700-429: Is contested between Sydney and one of its Indigenous Round opponents. In 2016, the round was renamed after Sir Doug Nicholls , pioneering Indigenous player who had played for Fitzroy in the 1930s, who served as governor of South Australia , and who is the only VFL player of any race to have been knighted . In 2019, the event was extended to cover two consecutive weeks of the season; both rounds are still known as by
1800-460: The 1994 Commonwealth Games by carrying the Aboriginal flag as well as the Australian national flag during her victory lap of the arena, after winning the 200 metres sprint; only the national flag is meant to be displayed. Despite strong criticism from both Games officials and Australian team president Arthur Tunstall , Freeman carried both flags again after winning the 400 metres. In 1995,
1900-558: The Aboriginal flag ; the current practice was then adopted by all clubs starting from the 2014 season. The umpires also wear indigenous shirt designs, first doing so in 2015. In 2020, the league took a position in the Aboriginal flag copyright issue , deciding not to enter a commercial agreement with the clothing company which owned the copyright over its use on clothing following consultation with its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council. The Commonwealth later acquired
2000-517: The Adelaide City Council endorsed the permanent flying of the Aboriginal flag close to the location of its first raising at Victoria Square in 1971 (now dual-named Tarntanyangga), which now flies adjacent to the Australian flag . It has also been flown in front of Adelaide Town Hall since the same date. Various councils in Australian towns fly the Aboriginal flag from the town halls, such as Bendigo (adopted in 2005). The flag
2100-685: The Gold Coast and in Western Sydney . The Gold Coast Suns were established and joined the AFL in 2011 as the 17th team. The Greater Western Sydney Giants , representing both Western Sydney and Canberra, were then established and entered the league as the 18th team in 2012. On 25 April 2013 the Westpac Stadium in Wellington , New Zealand hosted the first ever Australian Football League game played for premiership points outside Australia. The night game between St Kilda and Sydney
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#17327979981022200-685: The Indigenous Round , staged over two rounds each season. The organised Indigenous round has its origins in two stand-alone fixtures from the early 2000s. The first, the Marn Grook Match, was an annual fixture between Sydney and Essendon in Sydney to contest the Marn Grook Trophy; named after the Indigenous football game of marn grook , it was first played during National Reconciliation Week in 2002, and its first iteration
2300-468: The Keating government advised the governor-general to give the flag official status as a flag of Australia, through a proclamation under the Flags Act . In a statement, the minister for Administrative Services argued this reflected the government's support for Aboriginal pride and reconciliation. However, the decision was criticised at the time by Liberal opposition leader John Howard . He stated that
2400-560: The Melbourne Hawks but the merger ultimately fell through and both teams continued as separate entities. Fitzroy, however, was too weak to continue by itself. The club nearly merged with North Melbourne to form the Fitzroy-North Melbourne Kangaroos but the other clubs voted against it. In 1994 Port Adelaide was awarded an AFL licence but could not enter until a Victorian team had folded or merged. At
2500-503: The Northern Territory are higher than any of the states, and it has thus been common, although not universal, for some of these games to be held during the Sir Doug Nicholls Round. In 2020, Marrara Oval hosted the Dreamtime at the 'G match, when the city of Melbourne was unable to due to a COVID-19 pandemic lockdown; and the 2024 AFLW Dreamtime match was fixtured for Marrara Oval, with the league in discussions to make this
2600-553: The VFL Night Series (1956–1971) and records relating to the three competitions are often combined. With the number of players recruited from country leagues increasing, the wealthier VFL clubs were gaining an advantage that metropolitan zoning and the Coulter law (salary cap) restricting player payments had prevented in the past. Country zoning was introduced in the late 1960s and while it pushed Essendon and Geelong from
2700-655: The West Australian Football League and Queensland Australian Football League were awarded licences to field expansion teams in the VFL, leading to the establishment of the clubs in Brisbane and Perth ( Brisbane Bears and West Coast Eagles ), who both joined the league in 1987. These expansion team licences were awarded on payment of multimillion-dollar fees which were not required of the existing VFL clubs. In 1989 financial troubles nearly forced Footscray and Fitzroy to merge but fees paid by
2800-527: The new Parliament , both flags began to be displayed in the House of Representatives and Senate chambers. From 27 May 2022, at the start of National Reconciliation Week , both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags were hoisted on the front lawn of Government House, Adelaide , to be permanently flown alongside the national flag and the South Australian flag . The sale of condoms in
2900-409: The science fiction film Event Horizon , actor Sam Neill , himself a New Zealander, designed a flag for use on his sleeve as the way he thought the Australian flag should look in 2047, which incorporated the Aboriginal flag. The Australian Aboriginal flag is celebrated in the painting The First Supper (1988) by Susan Dorothea White where the central figure is an Aboriginal woman who displays
3000-575: The 11 Titles of which Port Adelaide was the most successful winning four titles in 1890, 1910, 1913 and 1914. The majority of the matches were held in South Australia at Adelaide Oval . Following the outbreak of World War 1 the Championship playoff ceased and wasn't revived until 1968. In 1916, district football was introduced, meaning new players from metropolitan Melbourne were allocated to clubs based on residential address. In 1925,
3100-586: The 1971 flag as an artistic work expired upon transfer to the Commonwealth. The flag's current legal status was debated in an Australian Senate estimates committee in mid‑February 2022, when it was also revealed that the Morrison government had paid $ 13.75m to Thomas to assume copyright, and also paid $ 6.3m to two non-Indigenous businesses which held licences to use the flag. These companies are WAM Clothing, which received $ 5.2m, and Wooster Holdings, which
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3200-478: The Australian Aboriginal flag", under section five of the Flags Act 1953 . The proclamation noted that the flag was "recognised as the flag of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and a flag of significance to the Australian nation generally". Due to an administrative oversight, the 1995 proclamation was not lodged so that it would continue in force indefinitely; hence it automatically expired on 1 January 2008. It
3300-596: The Australian national flag as a permanent feature of the Australian Embassy in Dublin , Ireland, since 5 March 2021. Following the 2022 Australian federal election on 21 May 2022, the incoming Anthony Albanese led Labor government started displaying the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag alongside the national flag at ministerial press conferences. Upon the opening of
3400-476: The Brisbane Bears and West Coast Eagles, propped up the struggling VFL sides. The 1980s first saw new regular timeslots for VFL matches. VFL matches had previously been played on Saturday afternoons but Sydney began playing its home matches on Sunday afternoons and North Melbourne pioneered playing matches on Friday night. These have since become regular timeslots for all teams. The first national draft
3500-426: The Commonwealth government announced, after more than three years of confidential negotiations, that Thomas had transferred the copyright in the flag to the Commonwealth. The federal government paid $ 20.05m to Thomas and licence holders (including WAM Clothing and Carroll and Richardson Flagworld) to extinguish existing licences and secure copyright. As part of the copyright transfer, Thomas retained moral rights over
3600-473: The Federal Government's 1995 proclamation of the design, and his claim was contested by two others, George Brown and James Tennant. After winning copyright, Thomas awarded rights solely to Carroll & Richardson – Flagworld Pty Ltd and Birubi Art Pty Ltd for the manufacture and marketing of the flag and of products featuring the flag's image. In November 2018, Thomas granted WAM Clothing (which
3700-647: The NFL and VFL night competitions but all SANFL and WAFL clubs and the minor states teams remained in the NFL Night Series. In 1979, the WAFL clubs and the New South Wales and A.C.T. representative teams defected from the NFL Night Series and joined the VFL's night competition, leaving the NFL Night Series mostly composed of SANFL teams. The NFL Night Series was not revived in 1980 and the SANFL clubs joined
3800-521: The New South Wales government announced that the flag would be flown from the Harbour Bridge permanently. On the 30th anniversary of the flag in 2001, thousands of people were involved in a ceremony where the flag was carried from the Parliament of South Australia to Victoria Square. The first city council to fly the Aboriginal flag was Newcastle City Council in 1977. On 8 July 2002
3900-543: The SANFL's most successful club, Port Adelaide , made a bid for an AFL licence. In response, the SANFL gained an injunction via Glenelg and Norwood against Port Adelaide , allowing it time to establish a composite South Australian team called the Adelaide Crows , which was awarded the licence and joined the league in 1991 as the fourth non-Victorian club. The same year saw the West Coast Eagles become
4000-422: The Sir Doug Nicholls Round. The 67s were worn by Lance Franklin , Cedric Cox , Daniel Wells , Steven May , Zac Williams , Shaun Burgoyne and Shane Edwards . An AFLW Indigenous Round Honouree is announced for each season. To date these are as follows: Australian Football League The Australian Football League ( AFL ) is the pre-eminent professional competition of Australian rules football . It
4100-585: The VFA and University Football Club from the Metropolitan Junior Football Association . Professionalism began from the 1911 season, with clubs permitted to pay players beyond the reimbursement of expenses for the first time. University, after three promising seasons, finished last each year from 1911 until 1914, including losing 51 matches in a row, in part caused by its players' focus on their studies rather than football and in part because it had chosen to remain amateur; as
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4200-538: The VFL commenced in 1957 with direct telecasts of the final quarter permitted. At first, several channels competed through broadcasting different games. When the VFL found that television coverage had reduced crowds, it decided no that television coverage was to be allowed for 1960. In 1961 television replays in Melbourne were introduced although direct telecasts were rarely permitted, where as the rest of Australia received live telecasts every Saturday afternoon. In 1959,
4300-434: The VFL expanded from nine teams to twelve, with Footscray , Hawthorn and North Melbourne each crossing from the VFA. North Melbourne and Hawthorn remained very weak in the VFL for a very long period. Although North Melbourne would become the first of the 1925 expansion sides to reach a grand final in 1950 , initially it was Footscray that adapted to the VFL with the most ease of the three clubs and by 1928 were well off
4400-435: The VFL night competition was at its largest, with all VFL, WAFL and SANFL clubs plus the four minor states teams (selected under residential qualification rather than state of origin qualification) competing for a total of 34 teams. In 1982, the size of the competition was reduced and, thereafter, only the top two or three teams from the SANFL and WAFL and the winner of the minor states' annual carnival were invited. In 1987,
4500-483: The VFL planned the first purpose-built mega-stadium, VFL Park (later known as Waverley 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
4600-423: The VFL's night competition. Although the NFL itself continued to exist as an administrative body into the early 1990s, the power gained by the VFL as a result of its take-over of night competition was one of the first significant steps in the VFL's spread interstate and ultimately its take-over and control of Australian football across Australia. In 1980 and 1981, the first years after the NFL Night Series ended,
4700-476: The VFL's weaker clubs into dire financial situations. The South Melbourne Swans became the first VFL team to relocate interstate. The South Melbourne Football Club was deeply indebted, including to the VFL which took over the club's Swans team and moved the team's home games to Sydney in 1982 and renamed the team the Sydney Swans the following year. Under the private ownership of Dr Geoffrey Edelsten during
4800-428: The VFL, SANFL and WAFL, as well as state representative teams from other states. In November 1976, the VFL announced that it was withdrawing from the NFL's competition, having arranged more substantial television and sponsorship deals for its own, rival night competition for 1977 to be based in Melbourne and feature only the VFL clubs. Light towers were erected at VFL Park specifically for the event. The VFL established
4900-472: The annual Indigenous Round was established by the AFL, extending the celebration of Indigenous culture and players to all matches across the round. The inaugural round was staged from 25 to 27 May 2007, recognising the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Australian referendum (Aboriginals) , as well as coinciding with the National Day of Healing on 26 May and National Reconciliation Week from 27 May to 3 June;
5000-574: The assistance of state governments and health officials, the season resumed on 11 June, with the length of the season reduced from 22 matches per team to 17 matches. The grand final was played in October at The Gabba in Brisbane , the first time it was held outside of Victoria since the creation of the league due to the spiking cases in that state. The pandemic caused the league to lose out on up to $ 400 million in anticipated revenue and also precipitated
5100-511: The bottom of the ladder. Between the years of 1927 and 1930, Collingwood became the first and only VFL team, to win four successive premierships. In 1952, the VFL hosted a national day, when all six matches were played outside Melbourne. Matches were played at the Sydney Cricket Ground , Brisbane Exhibition Ground , North Hobart Oval , Albury Sports Ground and Victorian country towns Yallourn and Euroa . Footscray became
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#17327979981025200-474: The colours of the Aboriginal flag won a public health award in 2005 for the initiative's success in improving safe sex practices among young Indigenous people. Aboriginal-designed emojis titled Indigemojis and including the flag on several designs, were released in December 2019 via an app, with the permission of Harold Thomas. The Aboriginal flag is often included in various proposed designs to replace
5300-493: The copyright to the flag in 2022 and it can now be used on guernseys without charge, the flag has not returned to guernseys as of 2023. Since 2022, clubs have rebranded during the Sir Doug Nicholls and AFLW Indigenous Rounds, adopting Indigenous names which they use in place of their usual location names throughout. Melbourne was the first club to do this in 2022, and as of 2024 there are six clubs which have adopted
5400-534: The current Australian Flag . One proposal has been to substitute the Union Flag , located in the canton of the Australian Flag, with the Aboriginal flag. Harold Thomas said of this idea: "I wouldn′t reject it out of hand, but I could make a decision to say no. Our flag is not a secondary thing. It stands on its own, not to be placed as an adjunct to any other thing. It shouldn't be treated that way." In
5500-596: The end of 1996 Fitzroy played its last match and merged with Brisbane to form the Brisbane Lions. This allowed Port Adelaide to enter the AFL for the 1997 season as the sixth and only pre-existing non Victorian club. Through the 1990s there was a significant trend of Melbourne-based teams abandoning the use of their small (20,000–30,000 capacity) suburban venues for home matches in favour of the MCG and VFL Park , which have and had larger seating capacities. The 1990s saw
5600-489: The federal government have control of the flag, rather than an Indigenous organisation, and law professor Isabella Alexander said that some legal questions remained, for as long as details of the agreement were still commercial-in-confidence. Upon the release by the Australian government of the Assignment Deed following an FOI application, David J. Brennan has identified a likelihood that the Australian copyright in
5700-774: The field, a succession of owners and transfer to its supporter "members", the Sydney Swans remain indebted to the AFL and subject to its veto control and reversion rights in what became a model for the AFL control of teams. Throughout the 1980s, approaches were made by SANFL and WAFL clubs to enter the VFL. Of particular note were approaches by the East Perth Royals in 1980, the Norwood Redlegs in 1986 and 1988, and an East – South Fremantle merger proposal in 1987. None of these attempts were successful despite Norwood trying again in 1990 and 1994. In 1986,
5800-596: The first non-Victorian club to reach the grand final, which was won by Hawthorn. The Eagles would then win the premiership in 1992 and 1994. In 1994, Fremantle obtained an AFL licence and joined the AFL in 1995, becoming the fifth non-Victorian club, and the second from Western Australia. The VFA took over the Victorian Football League name in 1996. In 1996 several Victorian clubs were in severe financial difficulties, most notably Fitzroy and Hawthorn. Hawthorn proposed to merge with Melbourne to form
5900-443: 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 and star player Ron Barassi . The club contested seven consecutive grand finals from 1954 to 1960, winning five premierships, including three in a row from 1955 to 1957. The became the only club to win the minor premiership 6 times in a row from 1955-1960. Television coverage for
6000-601: The first-ever AFL match for premiership points in Shanghai , China, attracting a crowd of 10,114 at Jiangwan Stadium . Port Adelaide won the game by 72 points. In 2020, the AFL season was severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic . The first round of matches was played in front of no crowds due to the pandemic, before the season was suspended on 22 March due to health concerns and strict government regulations on non-essential travel. After nearly two months of planning with
6100-478: The flag (which include the right to be identified as its creator). Following the copyright transfer, Carroll and Richardson Flagworld continued to be the exclusive manufacturer, although individuals may make copies for personal use. The Commonwealth agreed to fund a scholarship in Thomas's name for Indigenous students to further the development of Indigenous governance and leadership and an online education portal on
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#17327979981026200-503: The flag has been subject to controversy, as to original and ongoing ownership of the copyright. In 1997, in the case of Thomas v Brown and Tennant , the Federal Court of Australia declared that Harold Thomas was the owner of copyright in the design of the Australian Aboriginal flag, and thus the flag has protection under copyright law of Australia . Thomas had sought legal recognition of his ownership and compensation following
6300-578: The flag has been taken over by the white man and will lose its potency as a symbol." The National Indigenous Advisory Committee campaigned for the Aboriginal flag to be flown at Stadium Australia during the 2000 Summer Olympics . The Olympics organisers announced that the Aboriginal flag would be flown at Olympic venues. The flag has been flown over the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the march for reconciliation of 2000 and many other events, including Australia Day . On 4 February 2022,
6400-431: The flag on her T-shirt. The flag was to be part of the logo on Google Australia's home page on Australia Day 2010, but the company was forced to modify the design due to its creator Harold Thomas demanding payment if Google were to use it. The anti-Islamic group Reclaim Australia used the flag at their protests in 2015, which was condemned by the flag's creator, Harold Thomas, who called it "idiotic". Copyright in
6500-767: The flag should use the RGB colours as in the table above. When displaying in physical fabric formats, it is much preferred to use the Pantone specifications. When printing on paper, the CMYK colours are superior. The original design was in the proportion 2:3, rather than 1:2, to make the flag more "squared up", as Thomas felt that the Australian Flag, at 1:2, was too long. The flag was first flown on National Aborigines Day in Victoria Square in Adelaide on 9 July 1971. It
6600-471: The flag through his own website, Aboriginal former senator Nova Peris , a leader of a "free the flag" campaign, wrote to the Governor-General , requesting his support for divesting WAM of the copyright. After consultation with its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council, the AFL did not enter into a commercial agreement with WAM in 2020, in line with general Aboriginal sentiment on
6700-476: The flag's history. An original painting by Thomas detailing the transfer of copyright would be "displayed in a prominent location" by the Commonwealth. All royalties from the copyright are to be transferred to the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee , and $ 2m would be devoted to establishing a not-for-profit organisation that will make periodic payments for activities related to
6800-663: The flag. About the use of the flag, the government statement reads: The Aboriginal Flag will now be managed in a similar manner to the Australian National Flag, where its use is free, but must be presented in a respectful and dignified way. All Australians can now put the Aboriginal Flag on apparel such as sports jerseys and shirts, it can be painted on sports grounds, included on websites, in paintings and other artworks, used digitally and in any other medium without having to ask for permission or pay
6900-452: The football ground. The VFL played the first of a series of exhibition matches in 1962 in an effort to lift the international profile of the league. In 1967, district football was expanded throughout all of Victoria, clubs now allocated a country zone in addition to their metropolitan districts. The 1970 season saw the opening of VFL Park, with the inaugural match being played between Geelong and Fitzroy, on 18 April 1970. Construction work
7000-414: The game by 10 points, featured a famous spectacular mark by Alex Jesaulenko and was witnessed by a record crowd of 121,696. In 1976, the National Football League , which was the peak national administrative body of Australian rules football at the time, established the NFL Night Series to succeed the Championship of Australia . The Night Series was played concurrently with the premiership season and
7100-446: The game. This came to a head in 1896 when it was proposed that gate profits, which were always lower in matches involving the weaker clubs, be shared equally among all teams in the VFA. After it was intimated that the proposal would be put to a vote, six of the strongest clubs— Collingwood , Essendon , Fitzroy , Geelong, Melbourne and South Melbourne —seceded from the VFA and later invited Carlton and St Kilda to join them in founding
7200-418: The inaugural season. Six clubs joined the league in the coming years; Geelong and North Melbourne entered the competition in 2019, while Gold Coast , Richmond , St Kilda and West Coast made their debut in 2020. The remaining four clubs— Essendon , Hawthorn , Port Adelaide and Sydney — entered AFL Women's in the seventh season in 2022. On 14 May 2017, Port Adelaide and the Gold Coast played
7300-555: The issue. In August 2020, Ken Wyatt , Minister for Indigenous Australians , said that he would love to see the flag freely used across Australia, and former AFL player Michael Long said its absence would have a negative effect on the players in the Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round . Wyatt encouraged spectators to bring flags to the games, beginning in Darwin on 22 August 2020. On 24 January 2022,
7400-460: The last matches played at Windy Hill (Essendon), Moorabbin Oval (St Kilda), Western Oval (Footscray) and Victoria Park (Collingwood) and saw Princes Park abandoned by its long-term co-tenant, Hawthorn. The transition to the use of only two venues in Melbourne was ultimately completed in 2005 when Carlton abandoned the use of Princes Park. In 1999, the league sold VFL Park and used the funds in
7500-483: The league as its 19th team in 2028. AFL premiership season matches have been played in all states and mainland territories, as well as in New Zealand and China to expand its audience. The AFL premiership season currently consists of a 23-match regular (or home-and-away) season, which runs from March to September. The team with the best record at the end of the home-and-away season is awarded the minor premiership ;
7600-482: The mid-1980s, the Sydney Swans became successful on-field. Moving the Swans team to Sydney effectively shifted the debts of a Melbourne club onto Australian football in Sydney and re-directed support and finance to the Swans team to the detriment of existing Australian Football clubs and league competitions in Sydney. However, the Swans team attracted new prominence and supporters for the sport. Despite becoming successful on
7700-400: The night competition reverted to include only the VFL teams. The competition was pushed earlier into the year, with the final played on 28 April. The following season, the competition did not overlap with the day premiership season at all and became entirely a pre-season competition . The night competition is generally considered to be of equivalent importance as the pre-season competition and
7800-471: The occasion, often designed by one of the club's Indigenous players or an artist connected to the club. Richmond was the first club to wear a special Indigenous guernsey, adding Indigenous patterns to its gold sash for the Dreamtime at the 'G match starting in 2011; in 2013, Fremantle wore its first indigenous guernsey and Adelaide wore its normal guernsey design amended to the black, yellow and red colours of
7900-495: The practice. Names are developed in consulation with local Indigenous groups and experts. The names and years of use are summarised below. Since 2007, different clubs have had deals in place to play one or two games per year in the Northern Territory , either at Marrara Oval in Darwin , or Traeger Park in Alice Springs . The demographic proportion and Australian rules football participation rates of Indigenous people in
8000-401: The predominant colours used to decorate pukamani poles . Thomas also explained why the black was placed above the red stripe: I wanted to make it unsettling. In normal circumstances you'd have the darker colour at the bottom and the lighter colour on top and that would be visibly appropriate for anybody looking at it. It wouldn't unsettle you. To give a shock to the viewer to have it on top had
8100-494: The premiership to the team with the best record through the season; and, the formal establishment of the modern scoring system, in which six points are awarded for a goal and one point for a behind. Although the VFL and the VFA continued to compete for spectator interest for many years, the VFL quickly established itself as the premier competition in Victoria. In 1908, the league expanded to ten teams, with Richmond crossing from
8200-461: The previous record set in 2018 despite not featuring any WA-based teams and being played during the COVID pandemic. [REDACTED] The AFL operates on a single table system, with no divisions and conferences, nor promotion and relegation from other leagues. Aboriginal flag The Australian Aboriginal flag is an official flag of Australia that represents Aboriginal Australians . It
8300-458: The recognition "would rightly be seen by many in the community not as an act of reconciliation but as a divisive gesture" and that "No matter how these flags bulk large in the affections of our indigenous people, they can only ever be symbols for one section of the Australian community." The move was also criticised by the designer of the flag, Harold Thomas, arguing that the flag "doesn't need any more recognition" and that "This move will mean that
8400-429: The reigning premiers, having won the 2024 AFL Grand Final . Several of the AFL's current member clubs date back to the origins of Australian football and were instrumental in establishing the sport's popularity and the AFL. The oldest club is Melbourne Football Club , which wrote the first laws of the code, and Geelong , which date back to 1858 and 1859 respectively, while Melbourne University , also founded in 1859,
8500-488: The round is scheduled on or around that calendar week every year. The Dreamtime at the 'G match has served as the central event of each Indigenous Round since its inception, played on the round's Saturday night. The Marn Grook Match continued to be contested in Sydney's annual home match against Essendon outside the Indigenous Round until 2013; since 2014, the match has been incorporated into the Indigenous Round and
8600-562: The singular name Sir Doug Nicholls Round. In 2021, the AFL Women's competition first introduced its Indigenous Round, also covering two weeks of its home-and-away season. The women's round is not named for Nicholls, retaining the name Indigenous Round. Each year, each club wears a specially commissioned Indigenous guernsey during the rounds, each of which is an Indigenous artwork based on the club's usual guernsey design. In most cases, one or more new guernsey designs are created each year for
8700-518: The top eight teams then play off in a four-round finals series , culminating in the AFL Grand Final , which is normally held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground each year. The grand final winners are termed the premiers , the most important team prizes for which are the premiership cup and flag . Carlton , Collingwood and Essendon are the joint-most successful clubs in the competition, having each won 16 premierships. The Brisbane Lions are
8800-455: The top of the ladder, it created severe inequality during the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1972 and 1987, only six of the league's twelve clubs – Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Richmond – played in grand finals. (equivalent to $ 53,142 in 2022) (equivalent to $ 2,898,675 in 2022) (equivalent to $ 3,221,426 in 2022) (equivalent to $ 99,714 in 2022) (equivalent to $ 12,885,702 in 2022) The 1980s
8900-440: Was a period of significant structural change in Australian football around the country. The VFL was dominant among the Australian football leagues around the country in terms of overall attendance, interest and money and began to look towards expanding its influence directly into other states. The VFL and its top clubs were asserting their financial power to recruit top players from interstate. The resulting rising cost pressures drove
9000-665: Was also used in Canberra at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy from late 1972. In the early months of the embassy—which was established in February that year—other designs were used, including flags with the black, red and green colours of the Pan-African flag as a symbol of black consciousness, and a flag with a red-black field containing a spear and four crescents in yellow. Cathy Freeman caused controversy at
9100-406: Was carried out at the stadium as the 1970s progressed, culminating in the building of the now heritage listed Sir Kenneth Luke Stand. Queen Elizabeth II , was a guest at the game and formally opened the stadium to the public. The 1970 grand final between traditional rivals Carlton and Collingwood, arguably the league's most famous game, saw Carlton recover from a 44-point deficit at half-time to win
9200-536: Was contested among twelve clubs from the VFL, SANFL and WAFL , invited based on their finishing positions from the previous year. The event was mostly played on Tuesday nights, with night games at Norwood Oval in Adelaide and all games were televised live in colour on Channel 9 , which opened up unprecedented revenue streams from television rights and sponsorship opportunities for the sport. The NFL began plans to expand its Night Series to incorporate more teams from
9300-527: Was first flown in Adelaide in July of that year. Thomas held the intellectual property rights to the flag's design until January 2022, when he transferred the copyright to the Commonwealth government . The flag was designed for the land rights movement and became a symbol of Aboriginal people of Australia. The flag is horizontally and equally divided into a black region (above) and a red region (below);
9400-494: Was granted official status in 1995 under the Flags Act 1953 , together with the Torres Strait Islander flag , in order to advance reconciliation and in recognition of the importance and acceptance of the flag by the Australian community. The two flags are often flown together with the Australian national flag . The Australian Aboriginal flag was designed by Aboriginal artist Harold Thomas in 1971, and it
9500-541: Was introduced in 1986 and a salary cap was introduced in 1987. District football within Victoria was discontinued around the same time. The league was renamed the Australian Football League in 1990 to reflect its national composition. In 1990 the AFLPA , the players union, signed its first Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the league which outlined wages and conditions in what was becoming
9600-669: Was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season in 1897. It changed its name to Australian Football League in 1990 after expanding its competition to other Australian states in the 1980s. The AFL publishes its Laws of Australian football , which are used, with variations, by other Australian rules football organisations. The AFL competition currently consists of 18 teams spread over Australia's five mainland states, with Tasmania to join
9700-570: Was played in front of a crowd of 22,183 on Anzac Day to honour the Anzac bond between the two countries. A national women's league comprising a subset of AFL clubs began in 2017. Thirteen AFL clubs placed bids to participate in the women's competition. Eight clubs – Adelaide , Brisbane Lions , Carlton , Collingwood , Fremantle , Greater Western Sydney , Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs – were granted licences to participate in
9800-658: Was purchased at Mulgrave, then farmland but predicted to be near the demographic centre of Melbourne's population. 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. In the 1960s, television coverage began to have a huge impact on the VFL. Spectators hurried home from games to watch replays and many former players took up positions as commentators on pre-game preview programs and post-game review programs. There were also several attempts at variety programs featuring VFL players, who generally succeeded in demonstrating that their skills were limited to
9900-408: Was the inaugural AFL game played at Stadium Australia . The second was the annual Dreamtime at the 'G match, first played between Richmond and Essendon in their home-and-away match played during NAIDOC Week in 2005. At both games, the clubs staged events and pre-match celebrations with the aim of recognising Indigenous culture and the contribution of all Indigenous players to the AFL. In 2007,
10000-441: Was therefore almost identically replaced, on 25 January 2008, with effect as from 1 January. The symbolic meaning of the flag colours (as stated by Harold Thomas) are: Discussing the process of designing the flag in a copyright trial, Thomas also elaborated that the black represented "black consciousness, black awareness, black power [and] be[ing] proud of your blackness". The other colours of yellow and red were sourced from
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