The North Melbourne Grand Final Breakfast is a breakfast function organised by the North Melbourne Football Club on the morning of the AFL Grand Final. The breakfast marks the traditional beginning to Grand Final day and is one of the biggest social highlights on the Australian sporting calendar. Watching the event is a ritual for many footy fans and the function plays a huge role in the pre match build up for the Grand Final.
The first Grand Final Breakfast was held in 1967 at the Southern Cross hotel, as a valuable fundraising event. The inaugural guest speaker was the VFL's Administrative director Eric McCutchan. The event rose to prominence in the 1970s when the breakfast began to be televised across Victoria, and was officially endorsed by the VFL as the official pre-match Grand Final function. Since then the event has grown into a significant money raiser for North Melbourne, and the guest list has grown to include Prime Ministers, State Premiers and other celebrities. [1]
Although many clubs hold their own Grand Final Breakfasts, the North Melbourne Breakfast was the first breakfast and is currently the only breakfast to be officially endorsed by the AFL. This ensures a guest list that reads as a 'who's who' of Australian business, sport, entertainment and politics. The breakfast includes a Grand Auction, with all proceeds being donated to the Starlight Children's Foundation. [2]
Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke described the event as “one of this nation’s great traditions”.
Paul Keating referred to the function as “a tradition in itself”
Prime Minister John Howard described it as “a tremendous institution …. and the most eclectic gathering of people you could possibly imagine”. [3]
| Year | Location | Guest speaker | Football Personality of the Year | North Melbourne's Media Award | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Southern Cross Hotel | Eric McCutchan | Not Awarded | Not Awarded | |
| 1968 | Southern Cross Hotel | Bruce Andrews | Ted Whitten | ||
| 1969 | Southern Cross Hotel | Sir Henry Winneke | Kevin Murray | ||
| 1970 | Southern Cross Hotel | Honourable Donald Chipp | Norm Smith | ||
| 1971 | Southern Cross Hotel | Bob Hawke | Ron Barrassi | ||
| 1972 | Southern Cross Hotel | Sir John Gorton | Ron Casey | ||
| 1973 | Southern Cross Hotel | Jack Galbally | Keith Greig | ||
| 1974 | Southern Cross Hotel | Jim Cairns | Doug Wade | ||
| 1975 | Southern Cross Hotel | Sir Rupert Hamer | Lou Richards | ||
| 1976 | Southern Cross Hotel | Malcolm Fraser | Eric McCutchan | ||
| 1977 | Southern Cross Hotel | Phillip Adams | John Kennedy | ||
| 1978 | Southern Cross Hotel | Norman Banks | HSV7's World of Sport | ||
| 1979 | Southern Cross Hotel | Peter Thompson | Barry Cable | ||
| 1980 | Southern Cross Hotel | Jack Thompson | Jack Hamilton | ||
| 1981 | Southern Cross Hotel | Kevin Bartlett | Jack Dyer | ||
| 1982 | Southern Cross Hotel | Malcolm Fraser | Tom Hafey & Malcolm Blight | ||
| 1983 | Southern Cross Hotel | Bob Hawke | Kevin Bartlett | Doug Heywood | |
| 1984 | Southern Cross Hotel | Olympic medallists | Bernie Quinlan | Scott Palmer | |
| 1985 | Southern Cross Hotel | Allen Aylett | John Kennedy | Harry Beitzel | |
| 1986 | Southern Cross Hotel | Jack Hamilton | Leigh Matthews | Ron Carter | |
| 1987 | Southern Cross Hotel | John Winneke | Wayne Schimmelbusch | Tom Lahiff | |
| 1988 | Southern Cross Hotel | Sir Llew Edwards | Allan Jeans | Graham Dawson & Peter Booth | |
| 1989 | Southern Cross Hotel | Tony Fitzgerald QC | Simon Madden | Ian Major | |
| 1990 | Southern Cross Hotel | Professor Geoffrey Blainey | Michael Tuck | Bill Jacobs | |
| 1991 | Southern Cross Hotel | Thomas Keneally | Jim Stynes | Bob Davis | |
| 1992 | Southern Cross Hotel | Dr. Don Cordner | Collingwood FC Centenary | Rex Hunt | |
| 1993 | Southern Cross Hotel | Malcolm Turnbull | Alan Schwab | Harry Beitzel & Tom Lahiff | |
| 1994 | Southern Cross Hotel | John Dugan | Tony Shaw & Doug Hawkins | Coodabeen Champions | |
| 1995 | Exhibition Building | David Hill | Tony Lockett | Mike Sheahan | |
| 1996 | Melbourne Park Function Centre | Bryce Courtenay | Ross Oakley | Eddie McGuire | Toshiba |
| 1997 | Melbourne Park Function Centre | ||||
| 1998 | Melbourne Park Function Centre | ||||
| 1999 | |||||
| 2000 | Crown Palladium Ballroom | John Howard | Paul Salmon [4] | ||
| 2001 | AXA | ||||
| 2002 | Docklands Stadium | John Howard | AXA | ||
| 2003 | Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | Peter Costello | AXA | ||
| 2004 | Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | John Howard | Glenn Archer & Anthony Stevens | AXA | |
| 2005 | Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | John Howard | "Strauchanie" | ||
| 2006 | Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | John Howard | TAC | ||
| 2007 | TAC | ||||
| 2008 | The Grand Hyatt | Leigh Matthews | |||
| 2009 | The Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | Interactive | |||
| 2010 | The Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | Julia Gillard | Bruce McAvaney [5] | ||
| 2011 | Docklands Stadium | Julia Gillard | Barry Hall | ||
| 2012 | Docklands Stadium | Stephen Conroy [6] | Blackwoods [7] | ||
| 2013 | Docklands Stadium | Tony Abbott | Kevin Sheedy [8] | Blackwoods | |
| 2014 | Docklands Stadium [9] | Julie Bishop | Lenny Hayes [10] | Blackwoods | |
| 2015 [11] | The Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | Malcolm Turnbull | Julie Corletto | Jonathan Brown | Blackwoods |
| 2016 | The Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre [12] | Malcolm Turnbull | Kyle Chalmers (Sports Personality) [13] | Sarah Jones | Mazda |
| 2017 [14] | The Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | Malcolm Turnbull | Erin Phillips | Nick Dal Santo | Mazda |
| 2018 [15] | The Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | Scott Morrison | Mazda | ||
| 2019 [16] | The Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | Josh Frydenberg | Mazda | ||
| 2020 [17] | Online (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) | Scott Morrison | Mazda | ||
| 2021 [18] | Online (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) | Scott Morrison | Mazda | ||
| 2022 [19] | The Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre | Anthony Albanese | Mazda | ||
The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition.
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their Ascot Vale home "Alisa", and while the exact date is unknown, it is generally accepted to have been in 1872. The club's first recorded game took place on 7 June 1873 against a Carlton seconds team. From 1878 until 1896, the club played in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), then joined seven other clubs in October 1896 to form the breakaway Victorian Football League. Headquartered at the Essendon Recreation Ground, known as Windy Hill, from 1922 to 2013, the club moved to The Hangar in Tullamarine in late 2013 on land owned by the Melbourne Airport corporation. The club shares its home games between Docklands Stadium and the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Zach Merrett is the current club captain.
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also field a reserves men's team in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and women's team in the VFLW.
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reserves men's team in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The Sydney Swans Academy, consisting of the club's best junior development signings, contests Division 2 of the men's and women's underage national championships and the Talent League.
Allen James Aylett OBE 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. In between, he had been the chairman of the then Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1977 to 1984. Aylett worked as a dentist throughout his career and into his eighties.
The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. From its inception until 1989, it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league at that time was the Victorian Football League. Played at the end of the finals series, the game has been held annually since 1898, except in 1924. It is traditionally staged on the afternoon of the last Saturday in September, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As the premier match of the AFL season, it attracts one of the largest audiences in Australian sport, regularly attracting a crowd of more than 100,000 and a television audience of millions.
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season in 1897. It changed its name to Australian Football League in 1990 after expanding its competition to other Australian states in the 1980s. The AFL publishes its Laws of Australian football, which are used, with variations, by other Australian football organisations.
Princes Park is an Australian rules football ground located inside the Princes Park precinct in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North. Officially the Carlton Recreation Ground, it is a historic venue, having been Carlton Football Club's VFL/AFL home ground from 1897.
The 1931 VFL season was the 35th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 2 May until 10 October, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
The 1978 VFL season was the 82nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 1 April until 30 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.
The Greater Western Sydney Giants are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park which represents the Greater Western Sydney region of New South Wales and Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Proposed VFL/AFL clubs are clubs that at various points in the history of the Australian Football League have been or were distinct possibilities but either did not or have not yet eventuated. Due to their association with the national Australian competition, they have drawn a large amount of controversy and media attention.
The 2015 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the West Coast Eagles at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 3 October 2015. It was the 120th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 2015 AFL season. The match, attended by 98,632 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 46 points, marking the club's third consecutive premiership and thirteenth VFL/AFL premiership victory overall. Hawthorn's Cyril Rioli was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground.
Libby Birch is an Australian rules footballer who plays for North Melbourne in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne. She previously played netball and captained Victoria at the National Netball Championships. Birch is currently studying a Physiotherapy degree at La Trobe University. In 2016, Birch switched from netball to Australian rules football and was recruited by the Western Bulldogs as a rookie after having only played football for three months for the Darebin Falcons in the VFL Women's.
Bayley Fritsch is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A forward, 1.88 metres tall and weighing 84 kilograms (185 lb), Fritsch has the ability to play as both a high marking and small crumbing forward. Considered a late bloomer, he missed out on selection with the Eastern Ranges in the TAC Cup as a junior. After winning the league rising star in the Eastern Football League, he joined the Casey Scorpions in the Victorian Football League (VFL) where he spent three seasons. The 2017 VFL season saw him win the Fothergill–Round Medal, play for Victoria in the state representative match, be named in the VFL Team of the Year, and finish runner-up in the league-leading goalkicker and Casey's best and fairest award. His season saw him drafted by the Melbourne Football Club in the second round of the 2017 AFL draft and he made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2018 AFL season. It was reported in 2022 that he is dating Natalie Perin.
The 2022 Victorian Football League season was the 140th season of the Victorian Football Association/Victorian Football League, a second-tier Australian rules football competition played in the states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The season commenced on 25 March and concluded with the Grand Final on 18 September.
The 2023 Collingwood Football Club season is the club's 127th season of senior competition in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club also fielded its reserves team in the Victorian Football League and women's teams in the AFL Women's and VFL Women's competitions. Prior to the season, Scott Pendlebury stepped down as captain after nine years as skipper.
Breakfast topics | |
|---|---|
| By type | |
| By topic | |
| List articles | |
