The AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match was a one-off

all-star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

between two

representative side In sports a national representative side or team is one that plays under the national name. The phrase is often used to indicate that the team is not the official main national team. Such unofficial or subsidiary teams are usually legitimate but ...

s organised by 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 ...

to celebrate the 150th anniversary of

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 ...

. The match was intended to celebrate the contribution of

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

and interstate matches to the history of the code. The match was played on 10 May 2008 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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, between Victoria (the " Big V") and the "Dream Team", with a crowd of 69,294 in attendance. Victoria won the match by 17 points: 21.11 (137) to 18.12 (120).

Background

In 2007, the AFL announced that it would support a return of the State of Origin concept as a once-off carnival as part of the 150th anniversary of Australian rules football scheduled for 2008. The format of the carnival was not announced at this early stage. The media featured several opinions on how the series could work without unduly interrupting the AFL season. There were suggestions that each state be individually represented, with a two division format to ensure that there would be no one-sided matches between the stronger states and the weaker states, and there were also suggestions for Victoria to be divided into separate Metro and Country, both of which are features of the annual

AFL Under 18 Championships The AFL Under-19 Championships (for sponsorship reasons, the NAB AFL Under-19 Championships) is an annual Australian national underage representative championship in Australian rules football tournament. It is seen as one of the main pathways ...

. Many of the options that the AFL considered featured composite teams of weaker states, similar to the Allies team which represented Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory collectively during State of Origin series in the 1990s. By December, the vision for a full carnival had been reduced to a single all-star match, to be played between Victoria and the Dream Team, a composite team of all other states, territories and countries, on a State of Origin selection basis. The match would be held as a stand-alone match on the weekend between Rounds 7 and 8, on Saturday 10 May. South Australia's

Graham Cornes Graham Studley Cornes OAM (born 31 March 1948 in Melbourne, Victoria) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach, as well as a media personality. From 1995 until early 2013, Cornes co-hosted a weekday drivetime sports program that he ...

was critical of the format, saying that it deprived non-Victorian players of the honour of wearing a state guernsey. He felt that each state should have been given the opportunity to field their own team. Amid concerns over player participation, the AFL considered introducing penalties for selected players who refused to participate. Instead, players were paid A$5,000 each to compete in the match, and the players agreed to donate the money to the

AFL Players Association The AFL Players Association (AFL PA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFL PA promotes and protects its membe ...

to be to distributed to three charities, a special past players fund, the ''Ladder'' program to combat homelessness and ''RecLink'', which funds football leagues in remote communities in the Northern Territory. In early 2008 the AFL announced the full details of the match and branded it as the "AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match", deliberately distancing it from the former State of Origin series. It promoted the event by announcing two captains would be Jonathon Brown (Victoria) and

Andrew McLeod Andrew Luke McLeod (born 4 August 1976) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is the games record holder for Adelaide, having played 340 games. ...

(Dream Team). Victoria wore its traditional navy blue guernsey with a white V. The Dream Team wore a predominantly white guernsey, with beige cuffs and collars, and blue numbers and side panels; the names of 1246 community and grass-roots football clubs competing within the Australian states and territories eligible for the Dream Team were also included in small beige text across the front.

Squads

In April 2008 the AFL announced 40 man squads for both teams, which would later be trimmed to 25 per side. All AFL teams except Essendon and Melbourne had at least one player selected in one of the sides. The match was played with an extended

interchange bench Interchange (or, colloquially, the bench or interchange bench) is a team position in Australian rules football, consisting of players who are part of the selected team but are not currently on the field of play. Interchange numbers AFL As of t ...

of seven players instead of four. Several high-profile players pulled out of the match in the final weeks before the game. Gary Ablett,

Nick Dal Santo Nick Dal Santo (born 22 February 1984) is the senior coach of the St Kilda Football Club in the AFL Women's competition and a retired Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda and North Melbourne in the Australian Football League (AF ...

and Brad Johnson pulled out for Victoria, while

Luke McPharlin Luke McPharlin (born 1 December 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the Fremantle Football Club between 2002 and 2015, after two seasons with the Hawthorn Football ...

and Irishman

Tadhg Kennelly Tadhg Kennelly (born 1 July 1981) is an Irish-Australian former international sportsperson turned recruiter and coach. He is most known for his top-level careers in both Gaelic football and Australian rules football being the only holder of bot ...

dropped out for the Dream Team.

Final teams

List

Allen Aylett Medal

The

Allen Aylett Allen James Aylett OBE (24 April 1934 – 16 September 2022) was an Australian rules football player and administrator. He was the chairman/president of the North Melbourne Football Club from 1971 to 1976, and then again from 2001 to 2005. I ...

Medal for best on ground was awarded to

Brendan Fevola Brendan Fevola (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. He played with the Carlton and Brisbane Lions football clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL). Fevola is regarded as one of the most effective ...

, who kicked six goals for Victoria.

Scorecard

References

External links

Official 150 years website
{{Interstate matches in Australian rules football Australian Football League Australian rules football games Australian rules football State of Origin

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

History of Australian rules football