AFL National Championships


The AFL National Championships is an annual Australian national underage representative Australian rules football tournament. Since taking over as national governing body in 1995, the AFL has gradually restructured the competition into a primary junior pathway for its fully professional national club competition.
The National Championships grew out of the Teal Cup which began in Brisbane in 1953 as a junior representative competition between the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales. It was rebranded in 1976 to reflect its expansion to include representative teams from each Australian state and mainland territory, rotated between host cities.
The current competition is contested as a hybrid representative format. The best players from the Academy competitions combine to form an 'Allies' team in conjunction with South Australia, Western Australia and two Victoria teams—Metro and Country—to contest the division 1 tournament.

History

Originally known as the Teal Cup, it was first held in Brisbane, Queensland in 1953 as a junior representative competition between the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales. It was an annual match between the two states, the winners would possess a trophy donated by the Teal family of Queensland. Members of the Australian National Football Council, most notably Victorian representative Bruce Andrew, assisted in the establishment the competition in its early days.
The Australian Capital Territory was the first other side to enter in 1973. With the addition of teams from each Australian state and mainland territory in 1976, the tournament was rebranded as the National Championships and rotated between host cities. The championships were split into two divisions with the strongest states including Victoria comprising Division 1. Papua New Guinea was the first other country to field a team in 1979.File:Anthony Morabito WA.jpg|thumb|Under-18 All-Australian and WA's Most Valuable Player award winner Anthony Morabito from the 2009 championship.In the absence of a national league, and less regular senior competition, it grew into one of the most important competitions in the country. Early on it was an Under-17 competition, however the age limit has been progressively increased and separate junior championships added for Under-15 level from the 1970s onwards. It was a major talent pathway for underage players outside of Victoria to the VFL. As part of the AFL Commission's role as national governing body, the Victorian TAC Cup competition was restructured in 1992 to become the primary pathway to the AFL. As a result, representative development sides from NSW/ACT and Tasmania for a time have played in that competition instead. However, in recent years, the National Championships has regained its status as a primary AFL recruitment pathway as the growth of the sport outside Victoria has accelerated.
The division 2 competition was replaced by the Under-19 Academy Series in 2017, with teams from the 4 Queensland and NSW AFL clubs' academies in addition to Northern Territory and Tasmania state teams. The entire competition was changed to under-19s in 2021.
With there being no representative football at senior level since 1999, the National Championships are one of the few opportunities for players to play for their state or territory. Players typically share the senior team's guernsey.
The best players from the academy competition then combine to form an 'Allies' team in conjunction with South Australia, Western Australia and two Victoria teams, Metro and Country to contest the division 1 tournament.
The winner of the 2024 division 1 tournament was Vic Metro, defeating Vic Country 12.13.85 to 13.6.84.

Winners and awards

Individual awards

The Larke Medal is awarded to the best player in Division 1 of the competition. It is named in honour of a junior footballer, Michael Larke, who was killed in a bus crash while attending a trial match for New South Wales. The Hunter Harrison Medal is awarded to the best player in Division 2 and is named in honour of a former president and life member of the Northern Territory Football League, Hunter Harrison, who played a major role in the development of the AFL Youth Championships. Each tournament, an underage All-Australian team is named; an MVP is also named for each team.

Past winners

Recent Placings (2002–Present)

Division 1

SeasonWinnerSecondThirdFourthFifthSixthSeventhEighth
2008 --
2009

SeasonWinnerSecondThirdFourth
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

Division 2 (1992–2016)

Academy Series (2017–2018)

Northern Academy Series (2019–present)

Participating teams

Current

Division 1

  • / Allies
  • / Victoria Country & Victoria Metro
  • / South Australia
  • / Western Australia

    Division 2 (Defunct in 2017 now Academy Division)

Since 2017, the AFL has replaced state and territory representative teams with an Academy division consisting of its QLD and NSW AFL Club sides: GWS Giants, Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns and Sydney Swans. The following sides still contest the U16 championships but not the U18 championships:
  • / New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory
  • / Queensland
  • / Northern Territory
  • / Tasmania

    Full List

TeamYears participatingRegion/s representedDiv 1 PremiershipsDiv 1 Premiership Year/sDiv 2 PremiershipsDiv 2 Premiership Year/sNotes
Allies2016–Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania12023See also Allies team
Australian Capital Territory1973–1995

Sponsors

The tournament is currently sponsored by the National Australia Bank, having previously been sponsored by Caltex and the Commonwealth Bank.