Magarey Medal

 ( Awards Established In 1898 ) 

The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by William Ashley Magarey, then chairman of the league. The current recipients are Harry Boyd from the Norwood Football Club and Will Snelling from the Sturt Football Club.

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History William Magarey was born in Adelaide, South Australia. A lawyer by vocation, he had an enduring interest in sports, although he did not play football. He was, however, an active sports administrator who, in 1897, became the inaugural Chairman of the South Australian Football Association (later renamed the SANFL). The sport at that time was known for often rough play, and Magarey wanted to help combat this, and help gain more respect for umpires.

In 1898 Magarey presented the first Medal to South Australia’s "fairest and most brilliant player" of that season. Similar best and fairest player awards followed in other state-based competitions, notably the Sandover Medal in Western Australia from 1921 and Brownlow Medal in Victoria from 1924.

The Magarey Medal has been awarded in every year of SANFL competition since 1898, with the exception of 1900, 1904 (no record being extant), when the competition was suspended due to war 1916-1918, and when a restricted competition was held during the war period of 1942-1944.

After each match, the three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game) confer and award 3, 2 and 1 point(s) to the players they regard as the best, second best and third best during the match. Players suspended for a reportable offence during the season are ineligible to win the award though they can continue gaining votes leading to times when an ineligible player would poll the most votes in the medal count but not win the medal. This occurred in 1912, 1968, 1983 and 1987 (see table below).

In the 1990s the awarding of the medal was changed so that players tied on the most votes would share the medal. Prior to this, a countback system was used, whereby the player with the most "best on ground" performances would be awarded the medal. In 1998, ten players who had finished runner-up over prior years owing to the countback rule were retrospectively awarded the Magarey Medal. A single design for the medal was used after this.

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Recipients The first recipient of the Magarey Medal was Norwood’s Alby Green in 1898.

Norwood	none
Port Adelaide	none
North Adelaide	none
West Torrens	none
Sturt	none
North Adelaide	none
North Adelaide	none
Port Adelaide	none
West Adelaide	none
West Adelaide	none
Port Adelaide	none
Sturt	none
West Torrens	none****
North Adelaide	none
Port Adelaide	*
South Adelaide	*
Norwood	*
Port Adelaide	*
South Adelaide	*
Sturt	*
South Adelaide	*
West Torrens	5*
Port Adelaide	5*
South Adelaide	5*
Norwood	5*
West Adelaide	8*
Sturt	*
Norwood	*
Norwood	34***
Port Adelaide	34***
West Adelaide	***
West Adelaide	***
Glenelg	***
West Adelaide	48***
Norwood	53***
West Adelaide	44***
West Torrens	37***
Sturt	31***
Glenelg	46***
South Adelaide	42***
Norwood	31***
North Adelaide	37***
Port Adelaide	32***
North Adelaide	16***
West Adelaide	16***
Glenelg	19***
Glenelg	25***
Port Adelaide	46***
West Torrens	23***
West Torrens	26***
North Adelaide	15
North Adelaide	18
Glenelg	18
North Adelaide	20
Norwood	33
Sturt	25
South Adelaide	26
Sturt	22
West Torrens	20
Port Adelaide	18
West Adelaide	16
South Adelaide	16
West Torrens	20
Sturt	18
North Adelaide	24
Sturt	20
West Adelaide	22
West Torrens	26
Port Adelaide	26
Central District	16
Norwood	22
Port Adelaide	18
North Adelaide	18
North Adelaide	22
Glenelg	18
North Adelaide	24
Port Adelaide	21
Woodville	21
North Adelaide	29
Port Adelaide	28
Port Adelaide	20
Port Adelaide	42
West Adelaide	32
Glenelg	50**
Central District	44**
Port Adelaide	49**
Norwood	44**
Glenelg	44**
North Adelaide	35**
Central District	66**
West Adelaide	54**
Port Adelaide	23
North Adelaide	23
Sturt	28
Central District	23
Port Adelaide	16
South Adelaide	29
Port Adelaide	27
North Adelaide	20
Norwood	22
West Adelaide	17
Norwood	17
North Adelaide	26
Sturt	23
Norwood	23
South Adelaide	16
Sturt	21
Sturt	21
Port Adelaide	19
Port Adelaide	19
Sturt	16
Sturt	16
Port Adelaide	25
Central District	22
Port Adelaide	24
Glenelg	26
North Adelaide	19
Sturt	22
West Adelaide	18
North Adelaide	18
North Adelaide	22
North Adelaide	25
South Adelaide	18
Central District	18
Norwood	26
Sturt	29
South Adelaide	25
Sturt	24
Norwood	23
Norwood	26
Glenelg	26
North Adelaide	19
South Adelaide	21
Woodville-West Torrens	21
North Adelaide	23
2023	Harry Grant	Central District	27
34
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• (*) signifies that 1 vote was awarded by one umpire each game.
• (**) signifies two umpires each awarded 3,2,1 votes each game.
• (***) signifies one umpire awarded 5,3,1 votes each game. Big Footy Forum
• Those without an asterisk signify a maximum of 3 votes awarded each game along with 2 and 1.
• (****) Players who polled the most votes but were ineligible due to suspension: Peter Darley (1968, tied for first); Stephen Kernahan (1983, 44 votes); Garry McIntosh (1987, 25 votes); James Boyd (2012, 26 votes). SA Football Video Archive and Trading Post In 1912 votes were not awarded; Harold Oliver was unanimously considered the competitions best player, but was declared ineligible for the award due to a fight with Ed Edwards of Norwood.

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Multiple recipients The following players have been multiple recipients of the medal.

Quadruple winner

Port Adelaide

Triple winners

West Torrens / North Adelaide

Norwood

South Adelaide

Sturt

West Torrens

North Adelaide

North Adelaide

Double winners

Port Adelaide

West Adelaide

Port Adelaide

West Torrens

North Adelaide

South Adelaide

Norwood

North Adelaide / Norwood

Sturt

South Adelaide

Sturt

Norwood

Malcolm Blight (1972), John Platten (1984) and Nathan Buckley (1992) are Magarey Medallists who subsequently won a Brownlow Medal as best and fairest players in AFL/VFL competition.

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External links

• SANFL History of the Magarey Medal

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