Sandover Medal

 ( Awards Established In 1921 ) 

The Sandover Medal is an Australian rules football award, given annually since 1921 to the fairest and best player in the West Australian Football League. The award was donated by Alfred Sandover M.B.E., a prominent Perth hardware merchant and benefactor.

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Voting system After each match, the three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game) confer and award a 3, 2 and 1 point vote to the players they regard as the best, second best, and third best in the match respectively. Voting wasn't always done this way. From 1985-2018, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point votes were given, from 1930–1984, 3, 2 and 1 point votes were given, and prior to 1930 there was only one vote per game.

Just like similar "fairest and best" awards, for example the Brownlow Medal and Magarey Medal Medals, if a player is suspended for a reportable offence throughout the season then they become ineligible to win the award. This in effect is where the "fairest" element of the award comes in.

On the awards night, the votes over the home and away (regular) season are tallied and the eligible player with the highest number of votes is awarded the medal. In the past, ties were decided on a countback system, but after a three-way tie in the 1984 count, the WAFC decided to scrap countback system and award multiple medals to joint winners.

Prior to 1930 when only 1 vote per game was given, and hence a countback was not possible, the WAFL president would cast a deciding vote to decide the winner.

Players that had missed out on a medal due to the countback system were awarded them retrospectively in 1997.

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Sandover Medal winners

–
–
6
–
–
4
6
7
5
5
5
23
34
32
15
24
25
25
30
34
27
20
29
22
13
28
33
24
26
22
22
17
23
23
25
20
14
22
25
15
19
19
20
24
26
22
22
22
20
23
24
20
19
19
25
21
17
17
26
20
25
20
16
21
24
26
24
24
37
19
16
16
17
17
17
46
39
30
42
39
36
34
32
38
34
43
37
30
32
33
34
31
33
39
42
39
39
58
29
42
45
44
42
58
55
47
45
49
52
52
28
13 §
30
25
26
19
19
29

• Awarded retrospective Sandover Medal in 1997

Voting system changed from a single vote per game to 3-2-1 voting in 1930, then to 5-4-3-2-1 voting in 1985, and back to 3-2-1 voting in 2019
     

In 1987, [[Derek Kickett]] () polled 46 votes, but was ineligible to win due to suspension.
     

§ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortened 10 game season was played

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Multiple winners The following players have won the Sandover Medal multiple times.

4	1965, 1966, 1967, 1970
3	1938, 1939, 1941
	1948, 1953, 1954
	1956, 1957, 1960
	1964, 1968, 1973
2	1926, 1929
	1933, 1934
	1961, 1963
	1978, 1979
	1980, 1981
	1976, 1984
	1991, 1994
	2002, 2004
	2016, 2018

• List of Sandover Medal winners from the Official WAFL website

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External links

• Alfred Sandover Bio

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