Grand Final

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For expanded information on the Australian Football League Grand Final, see AFL Grand Final.

A Grand Final is the culmination of a series of final matches played between a number of sporting teams to decide the premier team. The term, which originated from the sport of Australian rules football is used predominantly in Australian sport in almost all forms. Similar terms, such as Super Bowl and Championship Playoff to describe similar events in other sports around the world.

Notable competitions which play a Grand Final include the Australian Football League, the National Rugby League, the A-League, the Women's National Basketball League, and the Commonwealth Bank Trophy.

In rugby league, the use of the term has spread to the United Kingdom, the prime example being the Super League Grand Final.

For the sport of standardbred harness racing it refers to the final horse race in the Inter Dominion series between Australia and New Zealand.

History

Possibly the first Grand Finals of any kind occurred in the sport of Australian rules football in the South Australian Football Association (SAFA, now SANFL), on October 7, 1889. In those days, premierships were decided simply upon ladder placings, but the game was necessitated when Norwood and Port Adelaide finished equal on wins and goals. Norwood won the game 7.4 vs 5.9.

The following years saw two more Grand Finals necessitated by ties at the top of the ladder. In 1894, Norwood played South Adelaide; the game was drawn, leading to the first of only five Grand Final Replays in senior Australian football history. Then, in 1896, in the Victorian Football Association, the Collingwood and South Melbourne Football Clubs gave Victoria its first Grand Final, won by Collingwood 6.9 vs 5.10.

In 1897, when eight teams broke away from the VFA to form the VFL, the concept of finals football was high on the agenda, with teams buoyed by the success and attendances of the 1896 Grand Final. Over the following ten years, all top-level Australian football leagues had adopted a finals structure.

In New South Wales, the NSWRL rugby league commenced in 1908, also utilising a finals system. This system proved unpopular, and was used only sporadically from 1912 until 1925. However, finals once again gained support, and a Grand Final has been held in all bar one season since 1926.

A Championship Final was introduced to determine the winner of the British Rugby League Championship in 1904, though it only became a regular fixture from 1906 onwards. In 1973 it was replaced by the Premiership Final, and the term Grand Final was first used in 1998, two years after the start of Super League. The Grand Final has now become an accepted part of the British scene, and the term is used to describe the final of leagues below Super League such as the National Leagues and the Conference. 2005 was won by the sydney swans.

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