 Panorama of the Melbourne Cricket Ground prior to the 2018 AFL Grand Final | |
| Other names | VFL Grand Final (historical), "the Granny", "The GF",[1] "The Big Dance",[2] "The Big Day", and "The One Day in September"[3] |
|---|---|
| Sport | Australian rules football |
| First meeting | 24 September 1898 |
| Latest meeting | 28 September 2024 |
| Next meeting | 2025 |
| Broadcasters | Seven Network |
| Stadiums | Melbourne Cricket Ground (all but 11 occasions) |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 129 |
| Most wins | Carlton, Collingwood (16)[4] |
The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. Prior to 1990 it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league was then known as the Victorian Football League, and both were renamed due to the national expansion of the competition. Played at the end of the finals series, the game has been held annually since 1898, except in 1924. It is traditionally staged on the afternoon of the last Saturday in September, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As the premier match of the AFL season, it attracts one of the largest audiences in Australian sport, regularly attracting a crowd of more than 100,000 and a television audience of millions.
The club which wins the grand final receives the AFL's premiership cup and flag; players on the winning team receive a gold premiership medallion, and the best player receives the Norm Smith Medal.
As of the end of 2024, a total of 129 grand finals have been played, including three grand final replays. The Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club have both won 16 grand finals, the most of any club; the Essendon Football Club has also won 16 premierships, although only 14 were earned in grand finals. Collingwood has appeared in the most grand finals, a total of 45; and Collingwood has also won the most consecutive grand finals, with four between 1927 and 1930. Every current AFL club has played in at least one grand final, with the exception of the 2011 expansion club Gold Coast.
- ^ James McKern (14 September 2020). "Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews cops it in hilarious footy sign sledge". news.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ "AFL Grand Final 2020: Who will host the big dance?". 21 August 2020.
- ^ Main, Jim; Connolly, Rohan (2005). More Than a Century of AFL Grand Finals. Pennon. ISBN 9781877029950.
- ^ "Grand Finals". AFL Tables. Retrieved 24 September 2018.