The 1993 AFL Grand Final was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

game contested between the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

and

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

, held at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

on 25 September 1993. It was the 97th annual

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

of the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the

premiers Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

for the

1993 AFL season 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 fifte ...

. The match, attended by 96,862 spectators, was won by Essendon by a margin of 44 points, marking that club's 15th premiership victory.

Background

Neither side was considered a strong premiership prospect at the beginning of the season, as neither side had made the finals in 1992. Essendon was considered too young and inexperienced, while Carlton, despite having some of the best key-position players in the competition, were considered too slow across the ground. However, at the conclusion of the

home and away season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

, Essendon had finished first on the AFL ladder with 13 wins 6 losses and a draw, winning the

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which has been awarded each year since 1951 by the Australian Football League (known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) to the best-performing club in the home-and-away sea ...

after having been sitting in seventh position as late as round 15. Carlton had also finished with 13 wins, 6 losses and a draw (the two teams having played in a tied game in round 2), but finished just behind Essendon on percentage. Only a game and a half separated Essendon in first position from

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

in seventh position. In the finals, the Bombers were defeated by Carlton by two points in the Qualifying final before defeating

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

in the second semi-final to advance to the preliminary final. In this game they came out of nowhere to win a game that had seemed out of reach when trailing the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) sinc ...

by 42 points at half time. The Bombers charged home in the second half in that game, kicking 11 goals to 2 to win by 11 points, advancing to the grand final. Carlton, after their win over the Bombers in the qualifying final, defeated Adelaide in the second semi-final to advance to the grand final. This was Essendon's first appearance in a grand final since losing the

1990 AFL Grand Final The 1990 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and the Essendon Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 6 October 1990. It was the 94th annual grand fin ...

, whilst it was Carlton's first since winning the 1987 VFL Grand Final, and it was their first clash in a VFL/AFL Grand final since 1968. In the week leading up to the Grand final, Essendon's

Gavin Wanganeen Gavin Adrian Wanganeen (born 18 June 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club and Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), and also for the Port Adelaide Magpies in ...

was awarded the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

. Also during that week, Essendon caused a sensation in omitting

Derek Kickett Derek Thomas Kickett (born 6 October 1962) is a former Australian rules footballer. Kickett played with seven different VFL/AFL, WAFL and SANFL clubs during his career. Early career Derek is related to a number of other past and present high ...

from the team. Kickett had played every game of the season up to that point but had lost form during the finals series. Carlton entered the grand final as warm favourites, even though Essendon finished on top with a percentage margin of 1.5 against the Blues. The Bombers played more a younger side compared to them. Carlton were forced to make a late change when veteran defender Peter Dean was ruled out through injury. Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy put Dean Wallis and Mark Harvey into the side at the expense of Kickett and

David Flood David Flood (born 22 February 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL). Flood, a Nhill recruit, struggled with injuries during his time at Essendon. He was pr ...

. The Bombers played a second generation of 'Baby Bombers' for the grand final, with seven Essendon players—

, David Calthorpe,

Dustin Fletcher Dustin Fletcher (born 7 May 1975) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played his entire 23-season career for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is widely acknowledged as one of the fines ...

Rick Olarenshaw Rick Olarenshaw (born 1 February 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. He was formerly a boundary rider for Network Seven until being replaced by Matthew Richardson. Playing career Essendon Olarens ...

Mark Mercuri Mark Mercuri (born 21 February 1974) is a former professional Australian rules football player who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League. He played in the 1993 premiership winning team which defeated Carlto ...

James Hird James Albert Hird (born 4 February 1973) is a former professional Australian rules football player and past senior coach of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Hird played as a midfielder and half-forward, but h ...

and Joe Misiti—all being under the age of 21. As 1993 was proclaimed by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

as the International Year of the World's Indigenous People, the Grand Final pre-match entertainment featured some prominent Australian indigenous musicians: Gunditjmara/Bundjalung singer/songwriter

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalu ...

, Turrbal mezzo-soprano Maroochy Barambah and

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

–based band

Yothu Yindi Yothu Yindi (Yolŋu Matha, Yolngu for "child and mother", pronounced ) are an Australian musical group with Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal and ''List of English words of Malay origin#B, balanda'' (non-Aboriginal) members, formed in 1986 as ...

, whose indigenous members were of the Yolngu tribe. Barambah performed "Waltzing Matilda" and the national anthem. She was widely panned for her performance, falling behind and dropping almost an entire verse out of sequence with the orchestral track.

Match summary

Essendon carried their form from the preliminary final into the grand final against the Blues, with the individual brilliance of Michael Long being the most memorable feature. The

Norm Smith Medal The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990 the competition was known as the Victorian Football ...

was awarded to Long for being judged the best player afield, with 33 disposals and 2 goals.

Stephen Kernahan Stephen Scott Kernahan (born 1 September 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and for the Glenelg Football Club in the South Australian National Football ...

tried hard for the Blues with 7 goals, but his side barely threatened after being down by 5 goals at the first change. Essendon had thirteen scoring shots to three by the Blues in the first quarter to set up their win.

Paul Salmon Paul Salmon (born 20 January 1965) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League for Essendon and Hawthorn. Recruited from North Ringwood, Salmon had a prolific career, with many accolades such as being ...

kicked 5 goals for the Bombers.

Teams

Scorecard

Media coverage

The 1993 AFL Grand Final has the ignominious honour of being the lowest TV ratings of any AFL grand final since TV records have been kept.

References

Bibliography

External links

* *