1997 AFL season
The 1997 AFL season was the 101st season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season ran from 27 March until 27 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
| 1997 AFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 16 |
| Premiers | Adelaide 1st premiership |
| Minor premiers | St Kilda 2nd minor premiership |
| Pre-season cup | Carlton 1st pre-season cup win |
| Brownlow Medallist | Robert Harvey (St Kilda) |
| Leading goalkicker | Tony Modra (Adelaide) |
| Attendance | |
| Matches played | 185 |
| Total attendance | 6,402,997 (34,611 per match) |
| Highest | 99,645 (Grand Final, Adelaide vs. St Kilda) |
Before the season, the Port Adelaide Football Club (SANFL) was admitted to the league, increasing the South Australian membership to two clubs. Foundation club Fitzroy, which had gone into administration in 1996, merged with the Brisbane Bears to form a new Queensland-based club known as the Brisbane Lions. The Footscray Football Club changed its name to the Western Bulldogs. With these changes, the league's size remained at sixteen clubs.
The premiership was won by the Adelaide Football Club for the first time, after it defeated St Kilda by 31 points in the 1997 AFL Grand Final.