Brownlow Medal

Brownlow Medal
2011 Brownlow Medal
Awarded for	The best and fairest player in the Australian Football League
Presented by	AFL
Location	Crown Palladium Ballroom
Country	Australia
First awarded	1924
Last awarded	Ongoing
Currently held by	Dane Swan (Collingwood)
Official website	www.afl.com.au/brownlow medal
Television coverage
Network	Seven Network (1957-2001, 2007-present) Fox Footy (2012-) Network Ten (2004-2010) Nine Network (2002-2003)

For the list of winners of the award, see List of Brownlow Medal winners.

The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the regular season (i.e., not including finals matches) as determined by votes cast by the officiating field 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 of Australian rules football.

The medal was first awarded by the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1924. It was created and named in honour of Charles Brownlow, the Geelong footballer (in Geelong's pre-VFL days in the VFA), long-time Geelong Club secretary (1885–1923) and VFL president (1918–19), who had died in January 1924 after an extended illness.

Format of citation

Although the award is generally spoken of the "best and fairest", the award's specific criterion is "fairest and best", reflecting an emphasis on sportsmanship and fair play (which also explains the decision to have the votes cast by the umpires), as the 1924 somewhat illuminated citation expressly states:

Mr. Edward Goodrich Greeves

Geelong Football Club

[VFL EMBLEM]

THE CHARLES BROWNLOW TROPHY

Dear Sir,

On behalf of the Victorian Football League, we desire

to place on permanent record the appreciation of your excellent play

during the Season 1924.

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.

Trusting that you will be long spared to interest yourself in the

adancement [sic] of the Game.

We are, yours sincerely

W. Baldwin Spencer (President),

M.E. Green (Treasurer), E. L. Wilson (Secretary)^[1]

The VFL was the last of the four major mainland leagues to strike an award for league best and fairest: the SANFL's Magarey Medal had been awarded since 1898, while the WAFL's Sandover Medal (1921) and the VFA's Recorder Cup (1923) had been struck more recently. Over time, all of these awards have migrated towards similar rules regarding voting and eligibility.

But for the change of the monogram from VFL to AFL in 1990, the design, shape and size of the medallion itself has remained virtually unchanged from that of 1924.

Criteria for "fairest" and "best"

Voting procedure for "best"

To determine the best player, the three 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 or players 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:

• until 1930, only one vote was cast in each game. This was changed to the current 3–2–1 system after the 1930 season saw three players tied on four votes apiece;
• in 1976, the VFL introduced a second field umpire, and both umpires individually awarded 3–2–1 votes; this voting system was abandoned in 1978, and the two (and later, three) umpires conferred to give a single set of 3–2–1 votes.

Since the rules were changed in 1980, if two or more eligible players score the equal highest number of votes, each wins a Brownlow medal. Prior to 1980, if two or more players were tied, a single winner was chosen on a countback:

• up to 1930, the winner was the player who had played the fewest games;
• after 1930, the winner was the player who had the most 3-vote games; then, if still tied, the most 2-vote games.

Even with these considerations, these countbacks failed to separate Des Fothergill and Herbie Matthews, who tied for the medal in 1940. In 1989, players who had tied on votes but lost on a countback were awarded retrospective medals.

Ineligibility

The fairest component of the medal is achieved by making ineligible any player who is found guilty by the AFL Tribunal of an offence worthy of a suspension during the home-and-away season. An ineligible player cannot win, place or be classified in the final Brownlow Medal rankings, regardless of the number of votes he has received.

The 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 2005, a player became ineligible if he received a suspension of any length from the AFL Tribunal during that season. In 2005, the rule was changed slightly to accommodate reforms to the AFL Tribunal system. The changes to the Tribunal system were, in summary:

• Based on a decision by a separate Match Review Panel, players are levied a number of base demerit points, according to the severity of their offence;
• The panel then adjusts the number of base points to a number of final demerit points, via additions (for a poor prior tribunal record), or deductions (for a good prior tribunal record or for lodging an early guilty plea).
• Players are suspended for one match for every 100 final demerit points he has.

In terms of Brownlow Medal eligibility, a player becomes ineligible if he accrues more than 100 base points during the season; final points are irrelevant. This means that it is now possible for a player to be ineligible for the Brownlow Medal, despite not having served a suspension that season;^[2] or, to be eligible for the Brownlow despite receiving a suspension.^[3]

A player also remains eligible for the Brownlow Medal under the following circumstances:

• if he is suspended during the finals or pre-season;
• if he serves a suspension in the current season which was earned for an offence committed late in the previous season;
• he receives any sort of club-imposed suspension which is not recognised by the AFL Tribunal;
• if he is found guilty by the AFL Tribunal of an offence which attracts only a financial penalty.

On two occasions, an ineligible player has tallied the highest number of Brownlow votes:

• In 1996, Corey McKernan received the same number of votes as the joint-winners James Hird and Michael Voss. McKernan was suspended for one match during the season for kneeing. McKernan was named the AFL Players Association MVP in the same year, which is not subject to the same eligibility criteria.
• In 1997, Chris Grant polled one more vote than winner Robert Harvey. Grant was suspended for one match during the season for striking.

Criticism

The voting system has come under scrutiny because the Medal is almost always won by midfield players, with relatively few key-position players ever winning. Some of the game's greatest players in these positions never even coming close to winning the Brownlow, despite having high reputations amongst their peers and coaches. This is primarily because players who are most valuable to their teams in key or defensive positions tend not to attract enough attention to feature amongst the top three players on the ground. It is also perceived that umpires may not be best suited to judging the quality of gameplay. Several prominent coaches, including Kevin Sheedy and Leigh Matthews, have publicly criticised the voting process.

The eligibility system has also come under criticism. The argument has been made that many offences worthy only of a one-match suspension are caused by negligent play, rather than intentionally "unfair" play, and hence that suspension is not a reasonable measure of fairness. The break from tradition under the newer demerit points-based tribunal system (i.e. a player being ineligible despite not having served a suspension) has also been criticised as confusing. Prominent players, including dual-winner Chris Judd, have indicated a desire to have the eligibility criterion removed from the award (effectively eliminating the fairest component altogether).^[4]

Award ceremony

The award ceremony has become increasingly elaborate, with footballers and their partners gradually becoming more fashion-conscious. This aspect of the night has become widely reported by gossip columns. The ceremony is currently held at Crown Casino, Melbourne on the Monday five days prior to the AFL Grand Final. In years past, prospective grand final players have attended the ceremony in person. However non-Victorian grand finalists have typically refused to attend the ceremony in Melbourne 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, currently Andrew Demetriou, 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 including 3UZ, 3KZ and 3AW broadcast the vote counts. SEN 1116 now covers the count. Direct television telecasts began in 1970 at the Dallas Brooks Hall and have occurred every year since.

Some bookmakers offer betting on the winner of the Brownlow Medal. A number of well-publicised "plunges" on unlikely winners has led to increasingly elaborate security measures to ensure the Brownlow votes are kept secret until the vote count.

Footnotes

1. ^ A photograph of the citation appears at Ross, (1996), p.116.
2. ^ This most commonly occurs when a player commits an offence worth 125 base points, then receives a 25% deduction for entering an early guilty plea, which leaves him with 93.75 final demerit points. Since the final demerit points are fewer than 100, he does not have to serve a suspension; but, since the offence itself was worth more than 100 base points, he becomes ineligible.
3. ^ This would occur if a player commits an offence worth 80 base points, and then receives an addition (which could be residual points from a previous tribunal appearance, or an extra loading as penalty for a previously poor tribunal record) which brings his final number of points above 100. This would see the player serve a one week suspension, but remain eligible for the Brownlow because the offence itself was not worth 100 base points.
4. ^ Edmund, S, Champions call for update on Brownlow reprimand ruling 18 June 2008, retrieved 3 Aug 2010

See also

• List of Brownlow Medal winners
• Leigh Matthews Trophy, the "Most Valuable Player" award voted on by the AFL Players Association
• The equivalent awards in the other major state leagues, which have been subject to roughly the same voting and eligibility requirements:
  • Magarey Medal (South Australia)
  • Sandover Medal (Western Australia)
  • JJ Liston Trophy (Victoria – Association)
  • Leitch Medal (Tasmania – South/Statewide)
  • Grogan Medal (Queensland)

References

• Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

External links

• Allan Grant, "Saints in World Wars. Legends of the game – Peter Chitty" (St Kilda Football Club Web-site, 9 January 2006) — An account of the 1943 Changi Brownlow Medal won by Peter Chitty (includes a photograph of the medallion)
• Official Australian Football League website
• Complete Brownlow Medal results
• Photos from 2006 Brownlow Medal night