Why the AFL's most prestigious award is actually about sportsmanship, not just skill
In short: The Brownlow Medal is often called the award for the best player, but its true purpose lies in the 'fairest' component. From armored security for votes to a century of debate over player suspensions, the mechanics of this golden trophy are as intense as the game itself.
Established in 1924 by the VFL, the medal was created to honor Charles Brownlow, a long-serving administrator and former Geelong Football Club player who died in January 1924. The original resolution, moved by Collingwood's Ern Copeland, proposed a gold and enamel medal valued at £10 to recognize the 'fairest and best' player. While the award is now the pinnacle of the AFL, it was actually the last of the three elite Australian leagues to introduce such a trophy, following the SANFL's Magarey Medal in 1898 and the WAFL's Sandover Medal in 1921.
The voting mechanism is a high-stakes process. After each home-and-away match, four field umpires confer to award 3, 2, and 1 votes to the players they deem best, second best, and third best. To maintain absolute drama, the votes are transported via armored security vehicles and kept secret until the ceremony. The results are not even tallied until the night of the event, which is held at Crown Melbourne five days before the Grand Final. This secrecy ensures that no one, not even the umpires, knows the final winner until the AFL CEO reads the votes aloud.
However, the 'fairest' criterion remains a point of intense contention. A player is deemed ineligible if they are suspended by the AFL Tribunal during the season. This has led to historic heartbreak, such as in 1996 when Corey McKernandum polled enough votes to win but was disqualified for kneeing, or in 2012 when Jobe Watson was retrospectively stripped of his title in 2016 due to the Essendon supplements saga. Some legends, like Chris Judd, have even advocated for removing the fairness requirement entirely, though others, like 1958 winner Neil Roberts, have vowed to return their medals if the spirit of sportsmanship is lost.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Brownlow Medal
- Also: Wikidata — Brownlow Medal · CC0
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