The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coaches and administrators.
The inaugural ceremony included 136 inductees, with twelve awarded Legend status. As of 2025, this figure has grown to 338, including 33 Legends. South Australian goal kicking star Ken Farmer became the most recent inductee to be elevated to Legend status in 2025.
Since 2015, players, coaches, umpires, administrators and media representatives who have made significant contributions to Australian football â at any level â from the game's inception in 1858 (in the case of players, until at least five years after their retirement) is theoretically eligible.
However, as of 2025, only nine inductees had a majority of, or their entire career, outside the elite leagues (the Victorian unaffiliated era of 1870âÂÂ1876, the Victorian Football Association (VFA) of 1877âÂÂ1896, the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL), the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and the West Australian Football League (WAFL), as well as the AFL Women's, the SANFL Women's League and the WAFL Women's).
A committee considers candidates on the basis of their ability, integrity, sportsmanship and character. While the number of games played, coached or umpired, or years of service in the case of administrators and media representatives, is a consideration, it alone does not determine eligibility.
Players must be retired from the game for at least five years before they become eligible for induction (extended from three years in 2015), while coaches, umpires, administrators and media representatives are eligible immediately upon retirement.
The committee considers candidates from all states and territories of Australia and from all Australian football competitions within Australia.
The following excerpt from the official Hall of Fame website highlights the main criteria used by the committee in selecting inductees to the Hall of Fame:
In 2010, several amendments were made to the selection criteria, with key changes including:
The selection committee, as of 2021, comprises the chairman of the AFL Commission Richard Goyder, Paul Marsh (CEO of the AFL Players Association), broadcasters (Michelangelo Rucci, Karen Lyon, Bruce McAvaney and Tania Armstrong), and former players (Ross Glendinning, Graham Cornes, Michael O'Loughlin and David Parkin) as well as Mark Genge (statistics/history consultant) and Patrick Keane (secretary).
Previous selectors have included Mike Fitzpatrick, Kevin Bartlett, Brendon Gale, historian Col Hutchinson, and broadcasters Harry Gordon, Geoff Christian, Caroline Wilson, Tim Lane, Mike Sheahan, Patrick Smith, Dennis Cometti and Jim Main.
The Legends category is reserved for those who are deemed to have had a significant impact on the game of Australian rules football.
To date, 30 of the 33 Legends are former players who played the majority of or their entire career in the VFL/AFL, with three players in Barrie Robran, Jack Oatey (SANFL) and Merv McIntosh (WAFL) being selected for careers in other state leagues.
Being named as a Legend of the Australian Football Hall of Fame is the highest honour which can be bestowed onto an individual Australian footballer.
As of 2025, there are 33 Legends: this is less than one in 400 (<0.25%) of all VFL/AFL players in history, but the feat is much rarer still when considering the other leagues outside of the VFL/AFL.
In 2010, several amendments to the Legends category were made to ensure the exclusivity and prestige of the Hall of Fame. Among them were:
In 2023, Barry Cable, an inaugural inductee who had been elevated to Legend status in 2012, had his football honours rescinded after being found guilty of historical child sex abuse.
Every year there is a special Hall of Fame dinner to announce and welcome the new inductees to the Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame inductions started in Melbourne in 1996 to celebrate the VFL-AFL centenary season. Ceremonies have only been held outside of Victoria twice, once at Canberra in 2013 and once at Adelaide in 2017.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the usual annual induction event was not held, and instead the new inductees and legend elevation were announced over four nights in a series of television shows.
The Hall of Fame has been criticised by football writers and historians for being heavily biased towards figures from Victoria.
The initial selection committee was made up of 11 Victorians, one South Australian and one Western Australian, with the current selection committee being made up of six Victorians, two Western Australians and one South Australian. Of the 136 inaugural inductees into the Hall of Fame, 116 played substantial parts of their careers in Victoria, with eleven of the thirteen "Legends" from Victoria.
Criticism has also been slated at the under-representation of pioneers and other early stars of the game, as Adam Cardosi wrote in 2014: In 2018, the same criticism was levelled by ABC sport reporter James Coventry, who mentioned that over 60% of Legends inducted were either playing or coaching in 1969.
In 2021, Adam Goodes and Garry McIntosh both declined their nominations to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Goodes declined his induction due to the lack of support and remedial action taken by the AFL in response to the racial abuse he had endured in his final years playing in the AFL, while McIntosh stated that he "did not play the game for personal honours".
Barry Cable was removed from the Hall of Fame in 2023, with his Legend Status being revoked, after he was found civilly liable in a sexual abuse lawsuit.