2012 AFL season
Encyclopedia
The 2012 Australian Football League
season is the 116th season of the Australian rules football
competition. It is the first season in which the new will compete, bringing the number of teams in the competition to a record high eighteen.
The season will be opened on the 24 March with the inaugural New South Wales
local derby
between and , and is scheduled to conclude on 29 September with the AFL Grand Final.
, making it only the second time it was held out of Melbourne. This is due to the entry of .
The addition of a ninth match in each round, and the new television rights deal requiring most matches to be shown live, has influenced the scheduling of matches, and changed some traditional match starting times. In typical rounds, where nine matches are played between Friday and Sunday, the changes are:
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
season is the 116th season of the Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
competition. It is the first season in which the new will compete, bringing the number of teams in the competition to a record high eighteen.
The season will be opened on the 24 March with the inaugural New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
local derby
Local derby
In many countries the term local derby, or simply just derby means a sporting fixture between two, generally local, rivals, particularly in association football...
between and , and is scheduled to conclude on 29 September with the AFL Grand Final.
Draft
The 2011 National Draft will be held on 24 November in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, making it only the second time it was held out of Melbourne. This is due to the entry of .
NAB Cup
View the PDF version of the 2012 NAB Cup fixture → 2012 NAB Cup FixturePremiership season
The fixture for this season was officially announced on 28 October 2011. Some of the features of the fixture include:- Each team plays twenty-two matches over twenty-three rounds.
- Each team has one byeBye (sports)A bye, in sports and other competitive activities, most commonly refers to the practice of allowing a player or team to advance to the next round of a playoff tournament without playing...
, located between Rounds 11 and 13. This is similar in practice to the split round concept, which (prior to 2010) saw one of the mid-season rounds played over two weeks, giving each team one week off. - Due to concern over one-sided matches featuring the two newest teams ( and ), their fixtures were adjusted so that the top eight teams from 2011 will play both of the new teams only once each, with the exception of who will play twice, and only and will play both of the new teams twice.
- All top eight teams from 2011 play at least two other top eight teams twice, and the bottom nine teams plus will play at least two bottom ten teams twice.
- For the first time each Victorian team will travel interstate at least five times, and each team will travel to Perth at least once.
- Blundstone ArenaBellerive OvalBellerive Oval, also known as its sponsored name Blundstone Arena, is primarily a cricket and Australian Rules Football ground located in Bellerive, City of Clarence, on the eastern shore of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia...
, Blacktown International Sportspark SydneyBlacktown Olympic ParkBlacktown International Sportspark is a multi-sports venue in Doonside, a suburb in western Sydney, Australia. It includes three baseball diamonds, four softball diamonds, an athletics track and a Australian Rules Football/Cricket ground....
and Skoda StadiumSkoda StadiumSkoda Stadium is a sports stadium located at the Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park. The stadium was simply known as the Main Arena until Skoda Auto bought the naming rights. During the Sydney Royal Easter Show the stadium is used for the Grand Parade and other flagship events. It will become...
will host home and away matches for the first time in 2012. - For the third successive year the dates for the final round of matches have yet to be decided, leaving round 23 as a 'floating' fixture. Exact dates will be determined later in the season with a view to giving top eight clubs the longest possible break ahead of their first final.
The addition of a ninth match in each round, and the new television rights deal requiring most matches to be shown live, has influenced the scheduling of matches, and changed some traditional match starting times. In typical rounds, where nine matches are played between Friday and Sunday, the changes are:
- Friday night matches will begin at 7:50pm EST instead of 7:40pm, or 8:40pm EST when played in Western Australia.
- Saturday afternoon matches will commence at 1:45pm EST and 1:40pm/2:10pm EST.
- A regular Saturday twilight match will be played at 4:40pm EST.
- Saturday night matches will be played at 7:40pm EST instead of 7:10pm
- The second Sunday afternoon matches begin at 3:15pm instead of 2:10pm. This change is to allow the Seven NetworkSeven NetworkThe Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
to show the match live into Victoria, and use it as a lead-in to its 6:00pm news broadcastSeven NewsSeven News is the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia.National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are produced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The network also produces Seven...
.