1993 AFL season

For the 1993 season of the Arena Football League, see 1993 Arena Football League season.

1993 AFL premiership season
Teams	15
Premiers	Essendon 15th premiership
Minor premiers	Essendon 14th minor premiership
Pre-season cup	Essendon 2nd pre-season cup win
Brownlow Medallist	Gavin Wanganeen (Essendon)
Leading goalkicker	Gary Ablett (Geelong)
Attendance
Matches played	157
Total attendance	4,657,489 (29,666 per match)
Highest	96,862 (Grand Final, Essendon vs. Carlton)

The 1993 Australian Football League season was the 97th season of the elite Australian rules football competition and the 4th under the name 'Australian Football League', having switched from 'Victorian Football League' after 1989.

Foster's Cup

Main article: 1993 Foster's Cup

Essendon 14.18 (102) defeated Richmond 11.13 (79) in the final.

Finals

Grand final

Main article: 1993 AFL Grand Final

Ladder

All teams played 20 games during the home and away season, for a total of 150. Each team also had two byes. An additional 7 games were played during the finals series.

1993 AFL ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	Essendon (P)	20	13	6	1	2333	1959	119.1	54	Finals
2	Carlton	20	13	6	1	2315	1968	117.6	54
3	North Melbourne	20	13	7	0	2597	2150	120.8	52
4	Hawthorn	20	13	7	0	2166	1858	116.6	52
5	Adelaide	20	12	8	0	2168	1840	117.8	48
6	West Coast	20	12	8	0	1912	1651	115.8	48
7	Geelong	20	12	8	0	2354	2109	111.6	48
8	Collingwood	20	11	9	0	2086	2060	101.3	44
9	Footscray	20	11	9	0	1978	1997	99.0	44
10	Melbourne	20	10	10	0	2101	1873	112.2	40
11	Fitzroy	20	10	10	0	2001	2011	99.5	40
12	St Kilda	20	10	10	0	2040	2166	94.2	40
13	Brisbane Bears	20	4	16	0	1886	2504	75.3	16
14	Richmond	20	4	16	0	1753	2480	70.7	16
15	Sydney	20	1	19	0	1837	2901	63.3	4

Source: AFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Gavin Wanganeen of Essendon.
• The AFLPA MVP was awarded to Gary Ablett of Geelong.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Gary Ablett of Geelong.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Michael Long of Essendon.
• The inaugural AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Nathan Buckley of Brisbane Bears.
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Sydney.
• The Reserves Grand Final was won by Melbourne
• The Seniors Grand Final was won by Essendon

Notable events

• Following the release of the Crawford Report, prepared by insolvency expert David Crawford, the clubs voted to make significant changes to the administrative structure of the AFL during the 1993 season:
  • The AFL Commission was expanded from six members to eight, and was given the power to make most administrative decisions relating to the league unilaterally (as opposed to ratification by a vote of club presidents).
  • The AFL Board of Directors, after 96 years of operation, voted itself out of existence.
  • The clubs retained the right to veto any Commission decision by a two-thirds vote.
  • With several Victorian clubs, Brisbane and Sydney all worried about their long-term viability at the time, a stipulation was also included that any decisions relating to the expulsion, merger or relocation of a club required ratification by a simple majority of all clubs and the agreement of the club in question. This was changed to a two-thirds vote of all clubs from 1998.
• At the conclusion of their Round 4 game against Collingwood, St Kilda's Nicky Winmar responded to racial vilification from the Collingwood cheer squad by declaring, "I'm black and proud of it!" while raising his jumper and pointing to his skin, an image which has since become famous. This was also St Kilda's first win at Victoria Park in two decades.
• North Melbourne and Brisbane Bears both set club-record high scores in this season. North Melbourne's 35.19 (229) in Round 6 was then the fifth-highest score of all time, and Brisbane's 33.21 (219) in Round 8 was then the tenth-highest of all time. The opponent in both of these games was Sydney.
• In the Round 8 game, Brisbane Bears set the record for the highest score at three-quarter time, 27.17 (179). This remained the record until 2007.
• In Round 18, a piglet with the word "PLUGA" and the number four painted on it was released onto the Sydney Cricket Ground during the match between Sydney and St Kilda; play was held up for two to three minutes as it managed to evade capture from trainers, security guards and players. The idea to release the pig had been devised by a small group of Sydney supporters and players the previous week, and was intended as a tactic to put dangerous St Kilda full-forward Tony "Plugger" Lockett off his game. As it happened, Lockett missed the game with injury, but was reportedly enraged when he saw the incident on television.

References

• 1993 Season - AFL Tables