The
McClelland Trophy is an
Australian FootballAustralian football, also commonly referred to as Australian rules football, football, or Aussie rules, colloquially as footy, and historically as Australasian football or Victorian football, is a variant of football played between two teams of 18 players, plus four interchange players, outdoors on...
trophy awarded to the Minor Premiers in the
Australian Football LeagueThe Australian Football League is the major professional Australian national competition in the sport of Australian football and is arguably Australia's biggest sporting competition in terms of membership, corporate sponsorship and attendances .The league comprises 16 teams which play 22 home and...
each year. The Minor Premiers are the team that qualifies for the
AFL- Sports leagues :*Australian Football League, Australian Rules Football.* Austrian Football League, an American football league in Austria* Arena Football League, an American indoor football league...
Finals Series in first position at the end of the home-and-away season.
The
McClelland Trophy has been awarded to the
AFL- Sports leagues :*Australian Football League, Australian Rules Football.* Austrian Football League, an American football league in Austria* Arena Football League, an American indoor football league...
Minor Premiers since 1991.
The award was instituted in 1951 and is named after Dr William C.
The
McClelland Trophy is an
Australian FootballAustralian football, also commonly referred to as Australian rules football, football, or Aussie rules, colloquially as footy, and historically as Australasian football or Victorian football, is a variant of football played between two teams of 18 players, plus four interchange players, outdoors on...
trophy awarded to the Minor Premiers in the
Australian Football LeagueThe Australian Football League is the major professional Australian national competition in the sport of Australian football and is arguably Australia's biggest sporting competition in terms of membership, corporate sponsorship and attendances .The league comprises 16 teams which play 22 home and...
each year. The Minor Premiers are the team that qualifies for the
AFL- Sports leagues :*Australian Football League, Australian Rules Football.* Austrian Football League, an American football league in Austria* Arena Football League, an American indoor football league...
Finals Series in first position at the end of the home-and-away season.
The
McClelland Trophy has been awarded to the
AFL- Sports leagues :*Australian Football League, Australian Rules Football.* Austrian Football League, an American football league in Austria* Arena Football League, an American indoor football league...
Minor Premiers since 1991.
History
The award was instituted in 1951 and is named after Dr William C. McClelland, a former
Victorian Football League (now AFL)The Australian Football League is the major professional Australian national competition in the sport of Australian football and is arguably Australia's biggest sporting competition in terms of membership, corporate sponsorship and attendances .The league comprises 16 teams which play 22 home and...
player and administrator & member of the
Australian Football Hall of FameThe Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coaches and administrators. It was initially established...
.
Prior to 1991 the trophy was presented to the team with the best overall home-and-away record across the three levels of
VFL/AFLThe Australian Football League is the major professional Australian national competition in the sport of Australian football and is arguably Australia's biggest sporting competition in terms of membership, corporate sponsorship and attendances .The league comprises 16 teams which play 22 home and...
play: seniors, reserves and under 19s. Seniors wins were worth ten points, reserves were worth four, and under 19s were worth two (with the values halved for drawn games).
In 1991 the criteria for winning the McClelland Trophy was changed to its current status: finishing atop the AFL ladder at the end of the home-and-away season as
AFL Minor Premiers.
Shortly after 1991 the under 19s level of the league was replaced with a separate junior competition now known as the
TAC CupThe TAC Cup is an under 18 Australian rules football representative competition held in Victoria, Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victoria, metropolitan Melbourne and since 2009, the Gold Coast, Queensland playing off in regular competition during a traditional...
Under 18’s, and the AFL Reserves competition was later scrapped in favour of an alignment with the then Victorian Football Association, which became known as the VFL prior to the start of its 1996 season.
The award is relatively low key, because although finishing on top of the ladder ensures an advantageous draw in the AFL Finals Series the focus of attention is the Premiership (winning the
Grand FinalThe AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions....
).
Results and trivia
| Club |
McClelland Trophy |
Most Recent McClelland Trophy |
GeelongGeelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, are a professional Australian rules football club named after and based in the city of Greater Geelong....
|
9 |
2008 |
EssendonEssendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club and is part of the Australian Football League. Formed in 1871 as a junior club and as a senior club in 1873, it is headquartered at the Essendon Recreation Reserve, Windy Hill in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon,...
|
9 |
2001 |
RichmondRichmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers , are an Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
|
7 |
1982 |
| Collingwood Collingwood Football Club, officially nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League....
|
6 |
1970 |
HawthornThe Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League . The club founded in 1902 is the youngest of the Victorian based teams in the AFL. The club is the most successful club of the past 50 years having won 10 Premierships, a...
|
6 |
1989 |
CarltonCarlton Football Club, nicknamed The Blues, is the third oldest club in the Australian Football League and one of the oldest Australian rules football clubs. They were the first premiers of the Victorian Football Association in 1877, and share the most premierships of any VFL/AFL club...
|
5 |
1995 |
MelbourneMelbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
|
4 |
1990 |
| North Melbourne |
3 |
1998 |
Port AdelaideThe Port Adelaide Football Club, is an Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. Since the club’s first game in 1870, the club has won 34 SANFL premierships including six in a row and achieved the honour of being Champions of Australia on four occasions...
|
3 |
2004 |
| West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles Football Club is an Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League....
|
3 |
2006 |
| St Kilda |
2 |
2009 |
| Adelaide |
1 |
2005 |
| Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are an Australian Football League club based in Sydney, New South Wales.The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney Swans...
|
1 |
1996 |
Western BulldogsThe Western Bulldogs, officially the Footscray Football Club, is an Australian Football League club based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner western suburb of Melbourne...
|
0 |
N/A |
FremantleFremantle Football Club, unofficially nicknamed The Dockers and known informally as "Freo", is one of 16 teams in the Australian Football League . The club is based in the port city of Fremantle at the mouth of the Swan River in Western Australia...
|
0 |
N/A |
Brisbane LionsBrisbane Lions Australian Football Club is an Australian Football League club based in Brisbane, Queensland...
(FitzroyFitzroy Football Club, most recently nicknamed The Lions or The Roys, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
and BearsBrisbane Bears were an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League. The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
) |
0 |
N/A |
UniversityMelbourne University Football Club – often known simply as "University" – is an Australian rules football club.The club achieved prominence by being a member of the game's most elite competition in the early 20th century, the Victorian Football League between 1908 and 1914.Although...
|
0 |
N/A |
- The 1985 McClelland Trophy was tied between Carlton and Hawthorn, the only tie.
- Richmond won the trophy four times in a row from 1972 until 1975, the most consecutive of any team.
- Collingwood (1964-1966), Hawthorn (1984-1986, inc 1985 tied), Essendon (1999-2001) and Port Adelaide (2002-2004) each won it three times in a row.
- Thirteen of the forty-one McClelland Trophy winners between 1951 and 1990 went on to win the premiership in the same year.
- Only four of the McClelland Trophy winners since 1991 have missed the Grand Final: Essendon (1999), Port Adelaide (2002, 2003) and Adelaide (2005).