The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the four officiating field umpires after each game. It is the most prestigious award for individual players in the AFL.
The medal was first awarded by the Victorian Football League (VFL). It was created and named in honour of Charles Brownlow, a former Geelong Football Club footballer (1880–1891) and club secretary (1885–1923), and VFL president (1918–19), who had died in January 1924 after an extended illness.
The Brownlow Medal was created prior to the 1924 VFL season, following the death of Charles Brownlow who was a long-serving secretary and former captain of the Geelong Football Club as well as a senior administrator with the VFL and Australasian Football Council. On 29 February 1924, the VFL committee unanimously passed the below motion moved by Collingwood Football Club secretary Ern Copeland:
To perpetuate the memory of the late Charles Brownlow [for] his many years of most valuable service to the Australian game both as a player, Club Secretary, Delegate and Vice President of the League, and President of the Australasian Football Council, a gold and enamel medal of the value of £10 shall be presented annually by the League to the best and fairest player in premiership matches each season, the medal to be called the Brownlow Medal.
The medal is inscribed "Chas. Brownlow Trophy", although this name is not mentioned in the 1924 resolution. Excluding the change of the monogram from VFL to AFL in 1990, the design, shape and size of the medal have been virtually unchanged since 1924.
The VFL was the last of the three elite leagues to strike an award for league best and fairest, with the SANFL's Magarey Medal being first awarded in 1898, and the WAFL's Sandover Medal first being awarded since 1921. Over time, all three awards have migrated towards similar rules regarding voting and eligibility.
Criteria for "fairest" and "best"
Although the award is generally spoken of the best and fairest, the award's specific criterion is fairest and best, reflecting an emphasis on sportsmanship and fair play (this also explains the decision to have the votes cast by the umpires), as the 1924 illuminated facsimile expressly states:
You were selected as the fairest and best player and we have pleasure in presenting the accompanying Gold Medal in recognition of those sterling qualities.
To determine the best player, the four field umpires (not the goal umpires or boundary umpires) confer after each home-and-away match and award 3 votes, 2 votes and 1 vote to the players they regard as the best, second best and third best in the match respectively, based upon their perspectives of play and a set of official player statistics. On the awards night, the votes from each match are tallied, and the player(s) with the highest number of votes is awarded the medal (subject to eligibility – see below).
The current voting system has been used for the vast majority of Brownlow Medal counts. There have been different voting systems for short periods in the past:
until 1930, only one vote was cast in each game. This was changed to the current 3–2–1 system after the 1930 season saw three players tied on four votes apiece;
in 1976, the VFL introduced a second field umpire, and both umpires individually awarded 3–2–1 votes; this voting system was abandoned in 1978, and the two (and later, three and then four) umpires conferred to give a single set of 3–2–1 votes.
Since the rules were changed after the 1980 season, if two or more eligible players score the equal highest number of votes, each wins a Brownlow medal. Up to 1980, if two or more players were tied, a single winner was chosen on a countback:
under the initial rules until 1930, the umpiring panel would be called to meet and agree upon a winner among the tied players
added to the rules at some stage prior to 1930 (but without removing the previous stipulation – causing confusion in the tied 1930 count), the winner was the player who had the highest percentage of votes polled vs games played;
after 1930, the winner was the player who had the most 3-vote games; then, if still tied, the most 2-vote games.
Even with these considerations, these countbacks failed to separate Des Fothergill and Herbie Matthews, who tied for the medal in 1940. The league decided to keep the original medal and award replica medals to the two winners. In 1989, the eight players who since the inception of the award had tied on votes but lost on a countback were awarded retrospective medals.