AFL Commission

The AFL Commission is the official governing body of Australian rules football and the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite national competition.

The AFL Commission is responsible for the administration of the competition and its constitution proclaims it as the "keeper of the code", the body universally responsible for the sport of Australian Football. Since forming in 1985, the AFL Commission has become increasingly wealthy and powerful and has had control of the sport in Australia since 1993 and internationally since 2005.

There are eight members that comprise the AFL Commission who are elected by the 18 AFL clubs, with each club entitled to make nominations.

National and international game development

The Commission was formed to set policy and has directed the AFL (known then as the VFL), the game's most professional league in December 1985.

In 1993 the AFL Commission assumed national governance of the sport (see Principle 2 below) following the earlier disbanding of the Australian National Football Council. At the same time, control of the AFL passed from the AFL Board of Directors (effectively the 18 AFL clubs) to the Commission , with the abolition of the Board of Directors and adoption of new Memorandum and Articles of Association for the AFL. This was a significant change of power as previously the Commission required explicit approval by the League (teams) for major items, such as further Expansion, Mergers, Relocations, Major Capital Works and similar items. The AFL also created an International Policy in 2005 in an attempt to govern the sport worldwide.