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 recipient is Tom Lewis from the Sturt Football Club.
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, the centenary of the Magarey Medal, ten players who had finished runner-up over prior years, owing to the countback rule, were retrospectively awarded the medal. A single design of the medal was used after this.
Recipients The first recipient of the Magarey Medal was Norwood’s Alby Green in 1898. Year Player TeamVotes 1898Alby GreenNorwoodnone 1899Stan MalinPort Adelaidenone 1900No Award 1901Phil SandlandNorth Adelaidenone 1902Tom MacKenzieWest Torrensnone 1903Hendrick WayeSturtnone 1904No Award 1905Tom MacKenzieNorth Adelaidenone 1906Tom MacKenzieNorth Adelaidenone 1907Jack MackPort Adelaidenone 1908James Tierney West Adelaidenone 1909Richard HeadWest Adelaidenone 1910Sampson HoskingPort Adelaidenone 1911Harold CumberlandSturtnone 1912Dave LowWest Torrensnone**** 1913Tom LeahyNorth Adelaidenone 1914Jack Ashley Port Adelaide*1915Frank BarrySouth Adelaide* Charlie PerryNorwood* Sampson HoskingPort Adelaide* Play suspended due to WWI 1919Dan MoriartySouth Adelaide*1920Vic RichardsonSturt* Dan MoriartySouth Adelaide*1921John KarneyWest Torrens5* Charlie AdamsPort Adelaide5* Dan MoriartySouth Adelaide5* Wat ScottNorwood5* 1922Robert BarnesWest Adelaide8* 1923Horrie RileySturt* 1924Wat ScottNorwood*1925Alick LillNorwood34*** Peter BamptonPort Adelaide34*** 1926Bruce McGregorWest Adelaide*** 1927Bruce McGregorWest Adelaide*** 1928Jim HandbyGlenelg*** 1929Robert SnellWest Adelaide48*** 1930Wat ScottNorwood53*** 1931Jack SextonWest Adelaide44*** 1932Max PontifexWest Torrens37*** 1933Keith DunnSturt31*** 1934George JohnstonGlenelg46*** 1935Jack CockburnSouth Adelaide42*** 1936Bill McCallumNorwood31*** 1937Harold Hawke North Adelaide37*** 1938Bob QuinnPort Adelaide32***1939Jeff PashNorth Adelaide16*** Ray McArthurWest Adelaide16*** 1940Mel BrockGlenelg19*** 1941Marcus BoyallGlenelg25*** Play suspended due to WWII 1945Bob QuinnPort Adelaide46*** 1946Bob HankWest Torrens23*** 1947Bob HankWest Torrens26*** 1948Ron PhillipsNorth Adelaide151949Ron PhillipsNorth Adelaide18 Allan CrabbGlenelg18 1950Ian McKayNorth Adelaide20 1951John MarriottNorwood33 1952Len FitzgeraldSturt25 1953Jim DeaneSouth Adelaide26 1954Len FitzgeraldSturt22 1955Lindsay HeadWest Torrens20 1956Dave BoydPort Adelaide181957Ron BentonWest Adelaide16 Jim DeaneSouth Adelaide16 1958Lindsay HeadWest Torrens20 1959Len FitzgeraldSturt18 1960Barrie Barbary North Adelaide24 1961John HalbertSturt20 1962Ken Eustice West Adelaide22 1963Lindsay HeadWest Torrens26 1964Geof MotleyPort Adelaide26 1965Gary WindowCentral District16 1966Ron KneeboneNorwood221967Trevor ObstPort Adelaide18 Don LindnerNorth Adelaide18 1968Barrie Robran****North Adelaide22 1969Fred PhillisGlenelg18 1970Barrie Robran North Adelaide24 1971Russell Ebert Port Adelaide21 1972Malcolm BlightWoodville21 1973Barrie RobranNorth Adelaide 29 1974Russell Ebert Port Adelaide28 1975Peter WoitePort Adelaide20 1976Russell Ebert Port Adelaide42 1977Trevor GrimwoodWest Adelaide32 1978Kym HodgemanGlenelg50** 1979John DuckworthCentral District44** 1980Russell Ebert Port Adelaide49** 1981Michael AishNorwood44** 1982Tony McGuinness Glenelg44** 1983Tony Antrobus****North Adelaide35** 1984John PlattenCentral District66** 1985Grantley FielkeWest Adelaide54** 1986Greg AndersonPort Adelaide23 1987Andrew Jarman****North Adelaide23 1988Greg WhittleseaSturt28 1989Gilbert McAdamCentral District23 1990Scott HodgesPort Adelaide16 First AFL Season. 1991Mark NaleySouth Adelaide29 1992Nathan BuckleyPort Adelaide27 1993Brenton PhillipsNorth Adelaide20 1994Garry McIntoshNorwood221995Glenn KilpatrickWest Adelaide17 Garry McIntoshNorwood17 1996Josh FrancouNorth Adelaide261997Brodie AtkinsonSturt23 Andrew JarmanNorwood23 1998Andrew OsbornSouth Adelaide16 1999Damian SquireSturt21 2000Damian SquireSturt212001Tony BrownPort Adelaide19 Ryan O'ConnorPort Adelaide192002Tim WeatheraldSturt16 Jade SheedySturt16 2003Brett EbertPort Adelaide25 2004Paul ThomasCentral District22 2005Jeremy ClaytonPort Adelaide24 2006Brett BackwellGlenelg26 2007James AllanNorth Adelaide19 2008Luke CraneSturt222009James EzardWest Adelaide18 Rhys ArchardNorth Adelaide18 2010James AllanNorth Adelaide22 2011James AllanNorth Adelaide252012Joel Cross****South Adelaide18 Brad Symes****Central District18 2013Matt ThomasNorwood26 2014Zane KirkwoodSturt29 2015Joel CrossSouth Adelaide25 2016Zane KirkwoodSturt24 2017Mitch GriggNorwood23 2018Mitch GriggNorwood26 2019Luke PartingtonGlenelg26 2020Campbell CombeNorth Adelaide192021Bryce GibbsSouth Adelaide21 James TsitasWoodville-West Torrens21 2022Aaron YoungNorth Adelaide232023Harry GrantCentral District272024Harry Boyd34Will Snelling34 2025Tom LewisSturt 332026Nik RokahrNorwood 38
(*) 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 competition's best player, but was declared ineligible for the award due to a fight with Ed Edwards of Norwood.
Multiple recipients The following players have been multiple recipients of the medal.
Years Player Team Quadruple winner 1971, 1974, 1976, 1980 R Ebert Port Adelaide Triple winners 1902, 1905, 1906 T D MacKenzie West Torrens / North Adelaide1921, 1924, 1930 W Scott Norwood1919, 1920, 1921 D Moriarty South Adelaide1952, 1954, 1959 L C Fitzgerald Sturt1955, 1958, 1963 L H Head West Torrens1968, 1970, 1973 B C Robran North Adelaide2007, 2010, 2011 J Allan North Adelaide Double winners1910, 1915 S Hosking Port Adelaide1926, 1927 H B McGregor West Adelaide1938, 1945 R B Quinn Port Adelaide1946, 1947 R W Hank West Torrens1948, 1949 H R Phillips North Adelaide1953, 1957 J Deane South Adelaide1994, 1995 G McIntosh Norwood1987, 1997 A N Jarman North Adelaide / Norwood1999, 2000 D Squire Sturt2012, 2015 J Cross South Adelaide2014, 2016 Z Kirkwood Sturt2017, 2018 M Grigg 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.
References
External links SANFL History of the Magarey Medal