| Brownlow Medal | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The first Brownlow Medal, awarded toEdward Greeves Jr. in 1924 | |
| Awarded for | Thebest and fairest player in theAustralian Football League |
| Location | Crown Palladium Ballroom |
| Country | Australia |
| Presented by | Australian Football League |
| First award | 1924 |
| Currently held by | Matt Rowell |
| Website | Brownlow Medal |
| Television/radio coverage | |
| Network | Seven Network (1970–2001, 2007, 2009, 2011–present) Fox Footy (2012–2016) Network Ten (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010) Nine Network (2003, 2005) |
TheCharles Brownlow Trophy, better known as theBrownlow Medal (and informally asCharlie), is awarded to thebest and fairest player in theAustralian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the four officiatingfield umpires after each game. It is the most prestigious award for individual players in the AFL. It is also widely acknowledged as the highest individual honour in the sport ofAustralian rules football.
The medal was first awarded by theVictorian Football League (VFL). It was created and named in honour ofCharles Brownlow, a formerGeelong Football Club footballer (1880–1891) and club secretary (1885–1923), and VFL president (1918–19), who had died in January 1924 after an extended illness.
Although the award is generally spoken of thebest and fairest, the award's specific criterion isfairest and best, reflecting an emphasis on sportsmanship and fair play (this also explains the decision to have the votes cast by the umpires), as the 1924illuminated facsimile expressly states:[1][2]
You were selected as the fairest and best player and we have pleasure in presenting the accompanying Gold Medal in recognition of those sterling qualities.
The VFL was the last of the three elite leagues to strike an award for league best and fairest, with theSANFL'sMagarey Medal being first awarded in 1898, and theWAFL'sSandover Medal first being awarded since 1921. Over time, all three awards have migrated towards similar rules regarding voting and eligibility.
Excluding the change of the monogram from VFL to AFL in 1990, the design, shape and size of the medallion have been virtually unchanged since 1924.
To determine thebest player, the four field umpires (not the goal umpires or boundary umpires) confer after each home-and-away match and award 3 votes, 2 votes and 1 vote to the players they regard as the best, second best and third best in the match respectively. On the awards night, the votes from each match are tallied, and the player(s) with the highest number of votes is awarded the medal (subject to eligibility – see below).
The current voting system has been used for the vast majority of Brownlow Medal counts. There have been different voting systems for short periods in the past:
Since the rules were changed after the 1980 season, if two or more eligible players score the equal highest number of votes, each wins a Brownlow medal. Up to 1980, if two or more players were tied, a single winner was chosen on a countback:
Even with these considerations, these countbacks failed to separateDes Fothergill andHerbie Matthews, who tied for the medal in 1940.[6][7] The league decided to keep the original medal and award replica medals to the two winners.[8] In 1989, the eight players who since the inception of the award had tied on votes but lost on a countback were awardedretrospective medals.[9]
Thefairest component of the medal is achieved by making ineligible any player who is suspended by the AFL Tribunal during the home-and-away season. An ineligible player cannot win the Brownlow Medal, regardless of the number of votes he has received.
A player remains eligible for the Brownlow Medal under the following circumstances:
The application of the ineligibility criteria has remained fairly consistent throughout the history of the award, with some subtle changes, since it was introduced in 1931.[10] The main exception was from 2005 until 2014, when a player would become ineligible if he committed an infringement that the Tribunal's Match Review Panel judged as being worthy of a one-game suspension, before applying adjustments based on a player's good or bad record, or for accepting an early guilty plea – meaning that players with a good record or early plea could be ineligible despite avoiding suspension, or a player with a bad record could be eligible despite having been suspended.[11]
Umpires cast their votes for each game independent of eligibility criteria of the players;i.e. umpires can cast votes for players who have already been suspended during that season if they perceive them to be amongst the best on the ground. Prior to 1991, votes could not be awarded to a player in a match in which he was reported, but this rule was eliminated in 1991 so that a player would not be disadvantaged if he would have gained votes in a match in which he was reported but later cleared by the tribunal.[12]
On three occasions, an ineligible player has tallied the highest number of Brownlow votes:
Although the award remains the most prestigious individual award, different aspects of the award have come under criticism.
Some believe that suspension is not a reasonable sole measure of fairness, and the argument has been made that many offences worthy of a one-match suspension are caused by negligent play, rather than intentionally unfair play. The temporary break from tradition under the demerit points-based tribunal system (which saw players being ineligible despite not having served suspensions) was also criticised as confusing. Prominent players, including dual-winnerChris Judd, have indicated a desire to have the eligibility criterion removed from the award (effectively eliminating thefairest component altogether);[13] but this view is not universally held, and 1958 winnerNeil Roberts stated in 1988 that he would hand back his medal if the fairness criterion were removed.[14] In 2002, Essendon coachKevin Sheedy suggested altering the ineligibility criteria: "...maybe you have to be suspended for three or four weeks and really do something awful."[15]
The award has come under scrutiny because the medal is almost always won by midfield players,[16] with relatively few other positional players ever winning.[17] Some put this bias down to umpires being more likely to notice players who are most immediately around them during the game, although it has been noted that most other major best and fairest award – including those voted by media and coaches – experience similar midfielder bias.[18] The view of midfielder bias which has existed for at least 80 years—in a column for The Herald in September 1938, Bert Barclay wrote: "Under the present method, men playing on the full-forward or full-back lines have little chance of winning the award usually being won by men most constantly in the play who are able to stand out in comparatively weak sides."[19]
FormerAdelaide andMelbourne playerBernie Vince said in 2021: "[umpires] throw the ball up, they're right around the footy, of course they're going to see the players that are around the footy at the stoppage, all the midfielders",[20] while dual-premiership captain Wayne Carey said in a 2014 article: "You can't begrudge the umpires for their selections each week, but it stands to reason that they tend to revert to the players who are most in their vision."[21] Four-time premiership player and three-time Coleman MedallistJason Dunstall questioned in 2021: "What does a forward or a defender have to do? ... What sort of season do they have to put together? ... We've got to come up with something that recognises the other players."[22]
The system is noted as favoring stronger players in comparatively weaker teams to win the Brownlow, with teams with talented sets of team-mates able steal votes off each other. This view has been around for at least 90 years, as a column in The Australasian in September 1934 wrote: "It is evident, therefore, that the system favours a good player in a weak, or comparatively weak team, as he is more frequently under notice than would be the case if the other members of the team were up to the necessary standard."[23]
People have also criticised the practice of leaving the voting up to the umpires.[24][20][25][26] Some have also questioned their ability to correctly assess which players influenced the match while also administering the complex laws of the game. Barclay also wrote in his 1938 column: "Field umpires have enough to do without attending to Brownlow Medal voting, and it is suggested that this duty be given to the representative of the Umpires Board at each match"[19]
In response to this, many have suggested coaches, an independent panel, or media be involved in the voting process.[20][21][27] Former playerBrendon Goddard said after the 2022 Brownlow: "I've been for a separate panel going into each game and voting on the 3-2-1, whether that be two or three individuals or even just one person ... so, I think that'll give a true reflection, at the end of the day, of the best and fairest player.[25]
Over the years, the award ceremony has become increasingly elaborate, with footballers and their dates gradually becoming more fashion-conscious.[28] This aspect of the night has become widely reported by gossip columns, with thered carpet arrival often humorously referred to as the 'Gownlow'.[29] The ceremony is currently held atCrown Melbourne on the Monday five days prior to theAFL Grand Final. Only three times since the award's inception in 1924 has the count been held outside of Melbourne: when it was held in Sydney in 1999,[30][31] and in 2020 and 2021 when the event was held virtually due to theCOVID-19 pandemic preventing the event from being held in Melbourne.[32] In years past, prospective Grand Final players have attended the ceremony in person, but in recent years non-Victorian Grand Final teams have declined to attend the ceremony due to the inconvenience of travel in such an important week; a live video link to Brownlow functions in their home city is done instead.
The event itself consists of the votes for each match being read out in succession by the CEO of the AFL, interspersed with a retrospective look at highlights from each round of the season and commentary from the broadcast network's usual football commentary team.
The integrity of the award is upheld by the tight security and secrecy surrounding the votes. Once the umpires make their decision, the votes are locked away and transported by armoured security vehicles. No one except the three umpires knows exactly who has been voted for, and as different umpires vote on different games, no one can be sure of who will win. Unlike most award ceremonies, the votes are not tallied or even opened until they are actually announced on the night, so the drama is maintained until late on the actual night, when the result sometimes comes down to the final round of votes.
From 1959 until 1974 radio stations including3UZ,3KZ and3AW broadcast the vote counts.1116 SEN now covers the count. Direct television telecasts began in 1970, when the venue was theDallas Brooks Hall, and have occurred every year since.
Some bookmakers offer bets on the winner of the Brownlow Medal. A number of well-publicised plunges on the betting odds of supposed winners has led to increasingly elaborate security measures to ensure the Brownlow votes are kept secret until the vote count.[33][34][35]
Since 1987, the theme used in the moments after the winning player has been announced is the end credits theme fromThe Untouchables.
During World War II, there was an Australian rules football competition amongst the prisoners of war held atSingapore's Changi prison. There were four teams named "Geelong", "Essendon", "Collingwood" and "Carlton". The standard was reportedly high, with some of the players having appeared in the major league in Australia. At the end of the final season in 1943, CorporalPeter Chitty won a makeshift award known as the "Changi Brownlow", which his family later donated to the Australian War Memorial. It is variously claimed the medal was originally a piece of an aircraft wing or part of a kitchen utensil. The War Memorial states that it may have been an old soccer medallion found in stores and refashioned and engraved. The presentation was made by former Brownlow MedallistWilfred Smallhorn, who was too ill to play.[37][38]
