Gather Round is an annualAustralian Football League event in which all games in one home-and-away round are played in a single city and its surrounds. The event was first held in 2023 inAdelaide,South Australia, which will host the round each year until 2026.
In September 2022, theAustralian Football League (AFL) announced that in2023 it would hold a promotional round in which all matches would be played in a single city outside ofVictoria.[1][2] The AFL's major competitor, theNational Rugby League (NRL), had staged such a round, known asMagic Round, since2019 in which all matches were played atSuncorp Stadium,Brisbane; while another competing competition,Super Rugby Pacific, had held a Super Round since 2022, in which all matches were played atAAMI Park. The two rugby competitions' rounds were in turn based on its European rugby league counterpart, theSuper League, which had stagedMagic Weekend in a variety of cities since 2007.[3][4][5] In November 2022, the inaugural round was awarded to South Australia, which beat a bid from New South Wales.[6] In December 2022, it was given thepun name "Gather Round" with the tagline "a festival of footy".
Unlike its rugby equivalents, Gather Round matches are all scheduled for the same city, but not the same venue. In the inaugural edition, for example: six games were played atAdelaide Oval, Adelaide's only regular AFL venue; two games were played at the suburbanNorwood Oval; and one game was played atSummit Sports Park inMount Barker, about 30km outside Adelaide in the surroundingAdelaide Hills.[7]
In the inaugural event, all nine Gather Round matches sold out, and more than 60,000 people purchased tickets from interstate. On the final day of the first Gather Round, South Australia was announced as the event's host for the next three seasons until 2026.[8][9][10]
Gather Round was added to the AFL home-and-away season as an extra round, extending the length of the standard season from 22 matches to 23. It is run as an AFL event, meaning that there is no designated home team for gate purposes, that club memberships do not grant entry to the games, and that usual club member reserved seating does not apply – although club members are given access to redeem a free ticket.[11] Home team designations for match day purposes – which include choice of uniforms, change rooms and run-on order – are decided by a coin toss.[12]
In 2023 and 2024, matches at the same venue on the same day were staged as ticketed double-headers, with a single ticket granting access to both matches.[13] Ticketed double-headers were removed in 2025, with all matches now ticketed separately.[14]
| Season | Round | Dates | City | Venues (matches) | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Round 5 | 13–16 April | Adelaide,South Australia | Adelaide Oval(6),Norwood Oval(2),Summit Sports Park(1) | 268,287 (ave. 29,810 per match) |
| 2024 | Round 4 | 4−7 April | Adelaide,South Australia | Adelaide Oval(5),Norwood Oval(2),Summit Sports Park(2) | 267,643 (ave. 29,738 per match) |
| 2025 | Round 5 | 10−13 April | Adelaide,South Australia | Adelaide Oval(5),Norwood Oval(2),Barossa Park(2) | 269,506 (ave. 29,945 per match) |
| 2026 | Round 5 | 9−12 April | Adelaide,South Australia | Adelaide Oval(5),Norwood Oval(2),Barossa Park(2) |
In each of 2024 and 2025, aninterstate game between theSouth Australian National Football League (SANFL) andVictorian Football League (VFL) was scheduled as part of the weekend.[15] In 2025, a women's match between the two leagues was also held.[16]