AFL National Championships

AFL Under-19 Championships
Current season, competition or edition:; 2024 AFL National Championships
Formerly	Teal Cup (1953–1976), Australian Football National Championships (1977-1995)
Sport	Australian rules football
First season	1953
Administrator	Australian Football League
No. of teams	8
Most recent; champion(s)	Vic Metro ; (2024)
Most titles	(D1) Vic Metro (19); (D2) Tasmania (8)
TV partner(s)	Fox Footy
Sponsor(s)	National Australia Bank
Related; competitions	AFL Women's Under 18 Championships

The AFL National Championships is an annual Australian national underage representative Australian rules football tournament. Since taking over as national governing body in 1995, the AFL has gradually restructured the competition into a primary junior pathway for its fully professional national club competition.

The National Championships grew out of the Teal Cup which began in 1953 as a junior representative competition between the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales. It was rebranded in 1976 to reflect its expansion to include representative teams from each Australian state and mainland territory, rotated between host cities.

The current competition is contested as a hybrid representative format. The best players from the Academy competitions (AFL club feeder teams) combine to form an 'Allies' team in conjunction with South Australia, Western Australia and two Victoria teams—Metro (Melbourne Metropolitan Area) and Country—to contest the division 1 tournament.

History

Originally known as the Teal Cup, it began in 1953 as a junior representative competition between the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales. It was an annual match between the two states, the winners would possess a trophy donated by the Teal family of Queensland. Members of the Australian National Football Council, most notably Victorian representative Bruce Andrew, assisted in the establishment the competition in its early days.^[1]

The Australian Capital Territory was the first other side to enter in 1973. With the addition of teams from each Australian state and mainland territory in 1976, the tournament was rebranded as the National Championships and rotated between host cities. The championships were split into two divisions with the strongest states including Victoria (later split into two sides: Vic Metro and Vic Country) comprising Division 1. Papua New Guinea was the first other country to field a team in 1979.

In the absence of a national league, and less regular senior competition, it grew into one of the most important competitions in the country. Early on it was an Under-17 competition, however the age limit has been progressively increased and separate junior championships added for Under-15 level (commencing as the Shell Cup, now the AFL National Development Championships) from the 1970s onwards. It was a major talent pathway for underage players outside of Victoria to the VFL. As part of the AFL Commission's role as national governing body, the Victorian TAC Cup competition was restructured in 1992 to become the primary pathway to the AFL. As a result, representative development sides from NSW/ACT and Tasmania for a time have played in that competition instead. However, in recent years, the National Championships has regained its status as a primary AFL recruitment pathway as the growth of the sport outside Victoria has accelerated.

The division 2 competition was replaced by the Under-19 Academy Series in 2017, with teams from the 4 Queensland and NSW AFL clubs' academies in addition to Northern Territory and Tasmania state teams. The entire competition was changed to under-19s in 2021 (the competition has previously operated under-17s and under-18s competitions).

With the AFL Commission phasing out representative football at senior level since 1994, the National Championships are one of the few opportunities for players to play for their state or territory. Players typically share the senior team's guernsey (with the exception of Victorian teams, which play in variations of the state team guernsey—Vic Metro has a light blue Big V insignia, while Vic Country plays in a reverse white with navy Big V).

The best players from the academy competition then combine to form an 'Allies' team in conjunction with South Australia, Western Australia and two Victoria teams, Metro (Melbourne Metropolitan Area) and Country to contest the division 1 tournament.

The winner of the 2024 division 1 tournament was Vic Metro, defeating Vic Country 12.13.85 to 13.6.84.

Winners and awards

Individual awards

The Larke Medal is awarded to the best player in Division 1 of the competition. It is named in honour of a junior footballer, Michael Larke, who was killed in a bus crash while attending a trial match for New South Wales. The Hunter Harrison Medal is awarded to the best player in Division 2 and is named in honour of a former president and life member of the Northern Territory Football League, Hunter Harrison, who played a major role in the development of the AFL Youth Championships.^[2] Each tournament, an underage All-Australian team is named; an MVP is also named for each team.

Past winners

Year	Division 1 Premiers	Larke Medal	Division 2 Premiers	Hunter Harrison Medal	Host/s
1953	Queensland^[3]				Brisbane, Queensland
1954-1962	Not contested
1963	Queensland^[3]
1964	Queensland^[3]
1965	Queensland^[3]
1966	Queensland^[3]
1967	Queensland^[3]
1968	Queensland^[3]
1969	Queensland^[3]				Brisbane, Queensland
1970	Queensland^[3]
1971	Queensland^[3]
1972	Queensland^[3]
1973	Queensland^[3]				Sydney, New South Wales
1974	New South Wales^[3]				Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
1975	New South Wales^[3]				Brisbane, Queensland
1976	Victoria	Mick Woods (Vic)			Wagga Wagga, New South Wales
1977	Victoria	Rodney Watts (Vic)			Melbourne, Victoria
1978	South Australia	Mark Weideman (SA)			Brisbane, Queensland
1979	South Australia	Grant Campbell (WA)			Hobart, Tasmania
1980	South Australia	Darryl Murphy (ACT)			Perth, Western Australia
1981	Victoria	Paul Salmon (Vic)			Melbourne, Victoria
1982	Victoria	Michael Phyland (NSW)			Brisbane, Queensland
1983	Victoria	Greg Anderson (SA)			Darwin, Northern Territory
1984	Victoria	David Condon (NSW)			Sydney, New South Wales
1985	Western Australia	Jason Kerr (NSW)			Perth, Western Australia
1986	Victoria	Stephen Lawrence (Qld)			Adelaide, South Australia
1987	Victoria	Steven Kolyniuk (Vic)			Hobart, Tasmania
1988	Victoria	Robbie Wright (NSW)			Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
1989	Vic Country	Ray Windsor (Qld)			Melbourne, Victoria
1990	Vic Metro	Paul Williams (Tas)			Brisbane, Queensland
1991	South Australia	Robert Neill (ACT)			Darwin, Northern Territory
1992	Vic Metro	Daniel Southern (WA)	Vic Country	Michael Voss (Qld)	Melbourne, Victoria
1993	Vic Metro	Shaun McManus (WA)	New South Wales	Mark Ryan (NT)	Adelaide, South Australia
1994	Vic Metro	Daniel Harford (Vic M.)	Vic Country	Michael Martin (Tas)	Perth, Western Australia
1995	South Australia	Luke Godden (Vic M.) Ben Setchell (Vic C.)	Western Australia	Steven Koops (NT)
1996	Vic Metro	Pat Steinfort (Vic M.)	Tasmania	Matthew Bernes (Tas)
1997	Vic Metro	Tim Finocchiaro (Vic M.)	Queensland	Fred Campbell (NT)
1998	Vic Metro	Garth Taylor (WA)	/ NSW/ACT	Shane Young (Qld) Derek Murray (NSW/ACT)
1999	Western Australia	Paul Hasleby (WA)	Queensland	Brad Green (Tas)
2000	Vic Country	Kayne Pettifer (Vic C.)	/ NSW/ACT	Ian Callinan (Tas)
2001	Vic Metro	Sam Power (Vic M.) Steven Armstrong (WA)	Tasmania	Tom Davidson (Tas)	Melbourne, Victoria
2002	Vic Metro	Byron Schammer (SA)	/ NSW/ACT	Anthony Corrie (NT)	Melbourne, Victoria
2003	Vic Country	Kepler Bradley (WA)	/ NSW/ACT	Jake Furfaro (Qld)	Melbourne, Victoria
2004	Vic Metro	Jesse Smith (Vic M.)	Northern Territory	Richard Tambling (NT)	Melbourne, Victoria
2005	Vic Metro	Marc Murphy (Vic M.)	Tasmania	Grant Birchall (Tas)	Melbourne, Victoria
2006	Vic Metro	Tom Hawkins (Vic M.)	Queensland	Ricky Petterd (Qld)	Melbourne, Victoria
2007	Western Australia	Cale Morton (WA)	/ NSW/ACT	Craig Bird (NSW/ACT)	VIC, WA, SA, NSW
2008	Vic Metro	Jack Watts (Vic M.)	Tasmania	Mitch Robinson (Tas)	VIC, WA, SA, TAS
2009	Western Australia	David Swallow (WA) Andrew Hooper (Vic C.)	/ NSW/ACT	Dylan McNeil (NSW/ACT)	National (excluding ACT)
2010	Vic Country	Harley Bennell (WA)	Tasmania	Sam Darley (Tas)	National (excluding ACT)
2011	Vic Metro	Stephen Coniglio (WA)	Tasmania	John McKenzie (Tas)	National (excluding ACT)
2012	Vic Metro	Lachie Whitfield (Vic C.)	Northern Territory	Jake Neade (NT)	National (excluding ACT)
2013	South Australia	Dom Sheed (WA)	Tasmania	Liam Dawson (Qld) Kade Kolodjashnij (Tas) Toby Nankervis (Tas)	National (excluding ACT)
2014	South Australia	Christian Petracca (Vic M.)	/ NSW/ACT	Isaac Heeney (NSW/ACT)	VIC, WA, SA, NSW
2015	Vic Country	Josh Schache (Vic C.)	Queensland	Ben Keays (Qld)	VIC, WA, SA, QLD
2016	Vic Metro	Jack Graham (SA)	/ NSW/ACT	Jack Bowes (Qld)	National (excluding ACT)
2017	Vic Metro	Oscar Allen (WA)	(Replaced by Academy Series)	Nick Blakey (Syd A.)	VIC, WA, SA, NSW
2018	South Australia	Sam Walsh (Vic C.)		Tarryn Thomas (Tas)	VIC, SA, QLD
2019	Western Australia	Deven Robertson (WA)		Connor Budarick (GC A.)	VIC, NSW, SA
2020	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic^[4]
2021	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic^[5]
2022	Vic Metro	Will Ashcroft (Vic M.)	(Replaced by Academy Series)	Jaspa Fletcher (Bris A.)	National (excluding Tasmania)
2023	Allies	Ryley Sanders (Allies)	(Replaced by Academy Series)	Ethan Read (GC A.)^[6]	VIC, WA, SA, QLD
2024	Vic Metro	Harvey Langford (Vic Metro), Leo Lombard (Allies)

Participating teams

Current

Division 1

/ Allies (Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania) (2016–)
/ Victoria Country (Victoria) & Victoria Metro (Victoria)
/ South Australia (South Australia)
/ Western Australia (Western Australia)

Division 2 (Defunct in 2017 now Academy Division)

Since 2017, the AFL has replaced state and territory representative teams with an Academy division consisting of its QLD and NSW AFL Club sides: GWS Giants, Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns and Sydney Swans. The following sides still contest the U16 championships but not the U18 championships:

/ New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory (New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory)
/ Queensland (Queensland)
/ Northern Territory (Northern Territory)
/ Tasmania (Tasmania)

Full List

Currently participating

Team	Years participating	Region/s represented	Div 1 Premierships	Div 1 Premiership Year/s	Div 2 Premierships	Div 2 Premiership Year/s	Notes
Allies	2016-	Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania	1	2023			See also Allies team
Australian Capital Territory	1973-1995	Australian Capital Territory					^[7]^[8] (later combined within New South Wales)
Brisbane Lions	2017-	(club)					See Brisbane Lions Academy
Gold Coast Suns	2017-	(club)					See Gold Coast Suns Academy
GWS Giants	2017-	(club)					See GWS Giants Academy
New South Wales	1953-1995	New South Wales	2	1974-75	1	1993	Previously governed by NSWAFL. Combined with ACT in 1996 by AFL NSW/ACT.
New South Wales-Australian Capital Territory	1996-2016	New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory			8	1998, 2000, 2002-03, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2016	^[9] Governed by AFL NSW/ACT
Northern Territory	1979-2016	Northern Territory			2	2004, 2012	Governed by AFL Northern Territory
Papua New Guinea	1979	Papua New Guinea					See also Papua New Guinea underage national team
Queensland	1953-2016	Queensland	12	1953, 1963-73	4	1997, 1999, 2006, 2015	Governed by AFL Queensland
South Australia	1976-	South Australia	8	1978-80, 1991, 1995, 2013–14, 2018			See also South Australian state team. Governed by the South Australian National Football League
Sydney Swans	2017-	(club)					See Sydney Swans Academy
Tasmania	1976-2016	Tasmania			8	1996, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2010–11, 2013, 2018	Governed by AFL Tasmania
Victoria	1975-1988	Victoria	9	1976-77, 1981–84, 1986–88			See also Victorian state football team. Split into Vic Metro and Vic Country in 1989
Victoria Metro	1989-	Melbourne (Victoria)	19	1990, 1992–94, 1996–98, 2001–02, 2004–06, 2008, 2011–12, 2016–17, 2022, 2024			Governed by AFL Victoria
Victoria Country	1989-	All areas of Victoria outside of Melbourne	5	1989, 2000, 2003, 2010, 2015	2	1992, 1994	Governed by AFL Victoria Country
Western Australia	1978-	Western Australia	5	1985, 1999, 2007, 2009, 2019	1	1995	See also Western Australian state team. Governed by the West Australian Football Commission

Notes

^ Bruce Andrew’s remarkable football life By Michael Roberts for collingwoodfc.com.au 15 April 2021
^ Barfoot, Michael (December 1995). History of NTFL. p. 107.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ "History of the Teal Cup". 1976 Teal Cup Australian Football National Championship (PDF). Wagga Wagga, NSW: City of Wagga Wagga. 12 June 1976. p. 6.
^ Simply Energy WA U18s squad announced West Australian Football Commission 18 September 2020
^ UPDATE: Second WA v SA U19 clash looms, Vic season cancelled By Callum Twomey 3 September 2021
^ "2023 AFL National Championships U18 Boys All-Australian Team announced". AFL.com.au. 21 July 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
^ "Last chance for bottom teams". The Canberra Times. Vol. 47, no. 13,456. 8 June 1973. p. 19. Retrieved 21 December 2021 – via Trove.
^ "Qld seeks junior rules game". The Canberra Times. Vol. 44, no. 12,494. 16 December 1969. p. 23. Retrieved 21 December 2021 – via Trove.
^ "AFL agrees to expand under-18 horizons". The Canberra Times. Vol. 71, no. 22, 054. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 4 September 1995. p. 24. Retrieved 10 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^ Taylor, Kevin. The Story of the Teal Cup and AFL National Under 18 Championships – Full Points Footy. Retrieved 4 July 2013, from the Pandora Archive.

References

Lovett, Michael, ed. (2005). AFL Record Guide to Season 2005. Australian Football League Publishing/Geoff Slattery Publishing Pty Limited. p. 764. ISBN 0-9580300-6-5.

[1] Bruce Andrew’s remarkable football life By Michael Roberts for collingwoodfc.com.au 15 April 2021

[NTFL-2] Barfoot, Michael (December 1995). History of NTFL. p. 107.

[:0-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ "History of the Teal Cup". 1976 Teal Cup Australian Football National Championship (PDF). Wagga Wagga, NSW: City of Wagga Wagga. 12 June 1976. p. 6.

[4] Simply Energy WA U18s squad announced West Australian Football Commission 18 September 2020

[5] UPDATE: Second WA v SA U19 clash looms, Vic season cancelled By Callum Twomey 3 September 2021

[6] "2023 AFL National Championships U18 Boys All-Australian Team announced". AFL.com.au. 21 July 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.

[7] "Last chance for bottom teams". The Canberra Times. Vol. 47, no. 13,456. 8 June 1973. p. 19. Retrieved 21 December 2021 – via Trove.

[8] "Qld seeks junior rules game". The Canberra Times. Vol. 44, no. 12,494. 16 December 1969. p. 23. Retrieved 21 December 2021 – via Trove.

[9] "AFL agrees to expand under-18 horizons". The Canberra Times. Vol. 71, no. 22, 054. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 4 September 1995. p. 24. Retrieved 10 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.

[10] Taylor, Kevin. The Story of the Teal Cup and AFL National Under 18 Championships – Full Points Footy. Retrieved 4 July 2013, from the Pandora Archive.

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v t e Interstate matches in Australian rules football
Section A Championships	1908 Melbourne Carnival 1911 Adelaide Carnival 1914 Sydney Carnival 1921 Perth Carnival 1924 Hobart Carnival 1927 Melbourne Carnival 1930 Adelaide Carnival 1933 Sydney Carnival 1937 Perth Carnival 1947 Hobart Carnival 1950 Brisbane Carnival 1953 Adelaide Carnival 1956 Perth Carnival 1958 Melbourne Carnival 1961 Brisbane Carnival 1966 Hobart Carnival 1969 Adelaide Carnival 1972 Perth Carnival 1975 Knockout Carnival 1979 Perth Carnival 1980 Adelaide Carnival 1983 Championships 1984 Championships 1985 Championships 1986 Championships 1987 Championships 1988 Adelaide Carnival 1993 Championships
Section B Championships	1908 Melbourne Carnival 1947 Hobart Carnival 1950 Brisbane Carnival 1951 Canberra Minor States Carnival 1954 North Hobart Minor States Carnival 1958 Melbourne Carnival 1960 Sydney Minor States Carnival 1965 Division 2 Championships 1968 Canberra Minor States Carnival 1971 Brisbane Minor States Carnival 1974 Sydney Minor States Carnival 1979 Perth Carnival 1988 Adelaide Carnival 1993 Championships
Other Events	Other State of Origin matches 2008 AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match 2020 State of Origin for Bushfire Relief Match
Women's	AFL Women's National Championship 2017 State of Origin
Underage	AFL National Championships AFL Women's Under 18 Championships
Awards	National: Tassie Medal Allies: Alex Jesaulenko Medal Queensland: Zane Taylor Medal South Australia: Fos Williams Medal Tasmania: Lefroy Medal Victoria: E. J. Whitten Medal Frank Johnson Medal Allen Aylett Medal Western Australia: Simpson Medal Graham Moss Medal U/18: Larke Medal (Division 1) Hunter Harrison Medal (Division 2)