In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspension for misconduct or breaching the rules during that season. It is similar to most valuable player (MVP) awards in other team sports.
In the Australian Football League (AFL), the Brownlow Medal is awarded to the player who, provided he has not been suspended during the season, receives the most votes from the umpires for being the fairest and best player in games during the home-and-away season. In each game, the umpires award three votes to the player they judge to be the best afield in that game, two votes to the second-best player, and one vote to the third-best player. The votes are counted at a gala function on the Monday preceding the Grand Final. The eligibility of suspended or reprimanded players due to minor offences to win the award has frequently been questioned.[1][2]
Another best and fairest honour, the Leigh Matthews Trophy, is voted on by the AFL's players and awarded by their trade union, the AFL Players Association. Unlike the Brownlow, players who have served disciplinary suspensions during the season are still eligible to win this award.
The oldest such award is the Magarey Medal, awarded to the "fairest and most brilliant" player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). The award was created by William Ashley Magarey—then chairman of the league—and was first awarded in 1898.[3]
Best and fairest awards of major Australian football competitions
Medal
League
First awarded
Award criteria
Comments
Brownlow Medal
Australian Football League
1924
Fairest and best
Awarded by the league
AFL Women's best and fairest
AFL Women's
2017
Fairest and best
Awarded by the league
John Eales Medal
Wallabies
2002
Best
Awarded by the Australian Rugby Union and Rugby Union Players Association
Dally M Medal
National Rugby League
1980
Best and fairest
Karyn Murphy Medal
NRL Women's
2018
Best and fairest
Johnny Warren Medal
A-League
1989
Best and fairest
Julie Dolan Medal
W-League
1996
Best and fairest
Sandover Medal
West Australian Football League
1921
Fairest and best
Awarded by the league
Magarey Medal
South Australian National Football League
1898
Fairest and most brilliant
First awarded in 1898, it is the oldest league wide award in Australian rules football
J. J. Liston Trophy
Victorian Football League
1945
Best and fairest
Between 1923 and the 1941 the Recorder Cup was awarded, and between 1933 and 1940 the VFA Medal was also awarded
Grogan Medal
Queensland AFL
1946
Best and fairest
The De Little Medal was awarded earlier
William Leitch Medal
Tasmanian State League
1930
Best and fairest
A previous award also existed
Morrish Medal
TAC Cup
1947
Best and fairest
The Morrish Medal was also the best and fairest award in the VFL/AFL Under-19s competition which was superseded by the TAC Cup in 1992
Larke Medal
AFL Under 18 Championships, Division 1
1976
Best
Hunter Harrison Medal
AFL Under 18 Championships, Division 2
1992
Best
Phelan Medal
Sydney AFL
Best and fairest
Baldock Medal
Northern Tasmanian Football League
Nichols Medal
Northern Territory Football League
1946
Best and fairest
Mulrooney Medal
AFL Canberra
^Hogan, Jesse (28 September 2011). "Brownlow shake-up". The Age. Melbourne.
^"Only tweaking likely for Brownlow". 18 February 2005.
^"History of the SANFL". Archived from the original on 19 June 2010.
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