 | |
| Other names | Footy card |
|---|---|
| Type | Trading card |
| Company | Select Australia |
| Country | Australia |
| Availability | 1880s–present |
| Features | Australian rules football |
AnAustralian rules football card (colloquially referred to as aFooty card) is a type oftrading card relating toAustralian rules football, usually printed oncardboard,silk, or plastic. These cards feature one or more Australian rules football players. Cards are almost exclusively found inAustralia as no top-level leagues are present outside the country. Prices for Australian rules football cards can be very high. This is illustrated for both vintage and modern cards such as an 1894American Tobacco Company card featuringEssendon playerWill Crebbin which sold for $10,110 in 2018 and a 2004 Select AFL ConquestTriple Brownlow Medallist signature card featuringNathan Buckley,Adam Goodes andMark Ricciuto which was valued at $3,000 in 2018.[1][2]
The first Australian rules football cards were produced in conjunction withGoodwin & Co's Old Judge Cigarettes in the late 1880s.[3] Early Australian rules football cards are distinguished fromCarte de visite portrait photograph cards as the former were for mass commercial dissemination whilst the latter were often for personal use.[4] TheGoodwin & Co's Old Judge set included Australian rules footballers from Victoria and South Australia.[5] The Old Judge cards are hard to find due to the photographs on the cards fading substantially over time.[6]
Another set from this period was produced by theAmerican Tobacco Company 'celebrities' from 1894.[1] The celebrities set included famous Australians.[1] An original copy of a card from this set featuredEssendon playerBill Crebbin which sold for $10,110 in 2018.[1]
Other companies that issued earlier football cards wereW.D. & H.O. Wills in 1905,[7] andSniders & Abrahams (featuring scenes of matches in 1908 and then releasing other sets with portraits of football players in the 1910s, all in full colour).
W.D. & H.O. Wills also released illustrated sets displaying clubs flags and colours (1908 and 1913) through theCapstan brand.
In the 1920s one of the most distinctive sets was the 1922 McIntyre Bros cards that featured a tartan design.[8]
In the 1930s, the Australian division of BritishGodfrey Phillips Co. released a set of football cards. By the same time,Hoadleys, a localconfectionery company, released a set of illustrated cards. Another confectionery company, Clarke-Ellis, also released its own set of cards.[9]
Other companies that launched cards sets in the 1930s were Pals Periodical, Plaistowe & Co., Carreras (two illustrated sets in 1933, the first of them with footballers caricatures by Bob Miram), Giant Licorice Cigarettes,MacRobertson's andW.D. & H.O. Wills, among others.[9]
During this period it was common for Australian rules football cards to be sold with confectionary, specifically bubble gum. The most popular set of Australian rules football cards is usually considered to be the 1963Scanlens card set.[8] The most valuable card from the 1963 Scanlens set is that ofGraham "Polly" Farmer due to its rarity caused by a printing defect seeing many of that card discarded at production.[10] A 1963 Scanlens Graham "Polly" Farmer card has been recorded selling for $7,200 on eBay.[11]
It is not uncommon for single Scanlens cards to sell for more than $1,000.[12]
A South Australian set produced byAMSCOL featured die-cut cards ofSANFL players under the lids of the company's large ice cream tins. Due to poor promotion, many people never knew that the cards were included and most were thrown away with the packaging.[6]
Beginning in the 1990s, packets of Australian rules football cards started to include special inserts such as signature cards. In 1991, the Stimorol set was the last issue of Australian rules football cards to come with chewing gum.[13]
In 1994, Select issued a set calledCazaly Classics, afterRoy Cazaly, that focused onspectacular marks.[8]
To coincide with the 100th season of the VFL/AFL competition, Select created aHall of Fame set which is credited with causing a boom in the collecting of Australian rules football cards.[8]
In 2019, a premium set of Select cards featured an insert card featuring signatures fromDavid Parkin,Leigh Matthews,Kevin Sheedy, andRon Barassi, all four-time VFL/AFL premiership coaches.[14] This card has been valued at $10,000.[14]
During 2020, "box breaks" or "group breaks" exploded in popularity for Australian rules football cards, often involving people online buying a 1/18th share of a box, usually aligned to an AFL club.[15]
As a result of better awareness of the hobby due to social media, there has been an increase in the popularity of Australian rules football cards.[16][17]
Buying cards online has negatively impacted physical card stores.[18]
 |
| Date | Price (AUD) | Card | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2022, February 2 | $50,000 | 2021,Select Supremacy 1000+ Goalkicker Quad Signature (Tony Lockett,Jason Dunstall,Doug Wade,Gary Ablett) | [21][1] |
| 2 | 2018, April 17 | $10,110 | 1894,American Tobacco Company,Bill Crebbin,Essendon | [22][1] |
| 3 | 2021, August 22 | $9,500 | 2019,Select Supremacy Quad Coach Signature (David Parkin,Ron Barassi,Leigh Matthews,Kevin Sheedy) | [23] |
| 4 | 2014, June 12 | $7,200 | 1963,Scanlens Gum,Graham Farmer,Geelong | [24] |
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