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] |
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Sport | Australian rules football |
First meeting | 24 September 1898 |
Latest meeting | 30 September 2023 |
Next meeting | 28 September 2024[4] |
Broadcasters | Seven Network |
Stadiums | Melbourne Cricket Ground (all but 11 occasions) |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 128 |
Most wins | Carlton, Collingwood (16)[5] |
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, and 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 game has spawned a number of traditions and activities, which have grown in popularity nationally particularly since the competition's inclusion of clubs outside of Victoria from 1982 onward.[6]
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 2023, a total of 128 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.