The 1993 AFL season was the 97th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured fifteen clubs, ran from 26 March until 25 September, and comprised a 20-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top six clubs.
In one of the games of the year, Essendon prevailed over Geelong in a very entertaining shoot-out. Gary Ablett put on one of his finest individual displays, kicking 14 goals 7 behinds. At the other end, Paul Salmon kicked 10 goals.
Against a hapless Sydney team, the Brisbane Bears kicked their highest score in a game - 33.21 (219) - and recorded their biggest win (162 points). Their three-quarter time score of 27.17 (179) also set a League record as the highest three-quarter time score until it was surpassed in 2007.
At Football Park, Adelaide came back from 26 points down at three-quarter time against North Melbourne to win by 2 points. Crows full-forward Tony Modra kicked 10 goals, and took the Mark of the Year early in the third quarter, using North's Ian Fairley and teammate Mark Mickan as a stepladder to pull down a strong overhead mark near the goalsquare.[1]
Adelaide continued their recent run of good form against Richmond, notching up the biggest win in the club's history to date (139 points). In their previous two clashes, the Crows had won by 110 and 94 points respectively. Tony Modra also kicked his third haul of 10 or more goals in a game, ending up with 13 goals 4 behinds. He had also kicked 10 against the Tigers in Round 1.
After being held to only three behinds from four kicks for the afternoon, Essendon full-forward Paul Salmon was awarded a free kick and converted the set shot in the dying minutes to give Essendon a two-point win against the reigning premiers West Coast. The win put Essendon back in the Top Six, and coach Kevin Sheedy acknowledged the importance of the win by waving his jacket in helicopter fashion as he was coming down from the coaches box.[2] This iconic gesture instigated a scarf-waving tradition in matches between the two clubs for several years.
The Section 1 State of Origin was won by South Australia against Victoria
The Section 2 State of Origin was won by Queensland-Northern Territory against Tasmania
Notable events
Following the release of the Crawford Report, prepared by insolvency expert David Crawford, the clubs voted to make several significant changes to the administrative structure of the AFL during the 1993 season:
Firstly, 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).
Secondly, the AFL Board of Directors, after 96 years of operation, voted itself out of existence.[3]
Thirdly, the clubs retained the right to veto any Commission decision by a two-thirds majority.
Fourthly, with several Victorian clubs, as well as Brisbane and Sydney, being concerned about their long-term viability at the time, a stipulation was also included that any decisions relating to the expulsion, merger or relocation of any club required ratification by a simple majority of all clubs, and the agreement of the club(s) in question.[4]
The Brisbane Bears, which despite its name had played its home games in Gold Coast at Carrara Stadium for the first six years of its existence, relocated to Brisbane in 1993. Its first home game at its new home ground, the Gabba, against Melbourne in Round 3 resulted in a win.
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.
Brisbane and North Melbourne 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 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.[5]