The Goal of the Year is a

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

for the best

goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

kick A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of ...

ed in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) during that season. It is run in conjunction with the Mark of the Year competition and is currently sponsored by Rebel Sport. The winner is awarded the Phil Manassa Medal. The concept of awards for the goal and mark of the year is thought to have been initiated in 1970, as an unofficial award given by the media to

Alex Jesaulenko Oleksandr Vasiliovych "Alex" Jesaulenko ( ; , ; born 2 August 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer and who played for the Carlton Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He also served as a ...

following his famous

mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

in that season's grand final. The official awards were first given in 2001.

Eddie Betts Edward Robert Betts III (born 26 November 1986) is a former Australian rules football player who played as a forward for Carlton Football Club, Carlton and Adelaide Football Club, Adelaide in the Australian Football League between 2005 and 2021. ...

has been awarded Goal of the Year on an unparalleled four occasions (2006, 2015, 2016 and 2019), the most of any player, and is the only player to win the award in consecutive seasons.

Selection process

Each week, three of the best goals of the round are selected as nominees. A panel of AFL selectors choose the winning

of the round. For the first time in 2006, the general public were able to vote for nominated goals via the AFL's website. The results of the public voting are combined with the panel's votes. Any one of the goals judged to be the best of the round are able to win the official Goal of the Year. At the conclusion of the AFL home and away season, the AFL Game Analysis Committee will select the best three goals from a selection of 30 (the 25 round winners, along with 5 other contenders as determined by AFL Media). The best three will be based on a 5/4/3/2/1 vote given by each member of the selection committee. Voting will open after the AFL home and away season for the AFL Goal of the Year and the overall winner will be selected by the AFL Game Analysis Committee (counted as 10 votes) and by public voting (counted as 1 vote). The winning player of the AFL Goal of the Year will be announced at the Brownlow Medal. Goal of the Year is generally awarded to a player who creates and scores a difficult goal in play; it has never been, and is unlikely to ever be, awarded to a goal kicked from a set shot. Historically, it has been the quality of the creation of the goal which determines the winner, rather than the difficulty of the shot itself. As such, simply kicking a goal from the boundary line will not guarantee a player Goal of the Year, but if they have roved the ball cleanly off a pack (like

Jason Akermanis Jason Dean Akermanis (born 24 February 1977) is a former professional Australian rules football player who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a Brownlow Medallist and triple premiership player who played for the Brisbane Bears ...

in 2002) or won the ball by stealing or smothering it from an opponent (like Peter Bosustow in 1981), then they will generally come into Goal of the Year calculations. Players are also often rewarded for orchestrating a long run down the field which ends with a big goal on the run: Daniel Kerr in 2003 and Michael McGuane in 1994 are memorable examples. Many of the best goals in the VFL/AFL were featured in a

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

named ''Golden Goals''.

VFL/AFL

AFL Women's

References

External links

AFL Goal of the Year CompetitionYouTube video of the Goals of the Year in 2005YouTube video of the Goals of the Year in 2002YouTube video of Robbie Ahmat's Goal of the Year in 2000YouTube video of Mark Merends's Goal of the Year in 2001YouTube video of Andrew Bews's Goal of the year in 1985

YouTube video of Peter Bosustow's Goal of the Year in 1981
{{Australian Football League Australian Football League awards Australian rules football awards