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AFL Record celebrates 100 Years

  • Friday, May 04 2012 @ 12:25 pm ACST
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Australia

MEDIA RELEASE FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The AFL Record is celebrating 100 Years in 2012.   The first edition was available for football fans attending Round One VFmatches on Saturday April 27 1912. It was in pocket form, cost a penny and was 32 pages.

While the Record has become more comprehensive and been published in various forms, some things haven’t changed. The inaugural editorial said the Record will cover “every point of interest in the football world’ and “news will be up-to-date, and presented in a crisp fashion, that cannot fail to meet with the approbation of readers”.

 
 
The Record’s first year coincided with the first season players were required to wear numbers. From 1912 until the 1990s, the publication held the official licence to publish the player numbers.
 
In 2012 the AFL Record continues to be sold at every AFL match across the country. It is the longest running publication of its type in the world.
 
The AFL Record enters an exciting new era this weekend as it enters the digital age.
 
To complement the print edition of the publication, AFL Media is pleased to announce the launch of an iPad® version of the AFL Record.
 
The AFL Record for iPad allows fans to download the publication each week and read it from home or while on the move using the tablet device.
 
As well as incorporating a host of elements from the print edition, including features, stories, news and views, analysis of the game and a 15-page statistical match centre for every game of the round, AFL Record for iPad features complementary video and extensive photo galleries.
 
AFL Chief Operating Officer Gillon McLachlan said the evolution of the Record has always run parallel to the game itself. “There is no doubt that the Record is still very much an essential part of the match day ritual for countless fans.
 
“There is much to be proud of as we look back at the Record’s evolution, but we look to the future with much anticipation and excitement.
 
“One of the most exciting aspects is of the iPad edition is that it enables us to take the Record to more audiences throughout the country and even around the world,” Mr McLachlan said.
 
The launch issue of the AFL Record iPad edition is available for free from the Newsstand category on the App Store on iPad or at www.itunes.com/appstore. Regular pricing for the home and away season is $2.99 per issue, or subscribe for only $1.99 per week.  All subscribers receive a complimentary first issue. 
 
The special commemorative edition of the AFL Record is available at AFL matches this weekend.
 
Key Facts
 
1912                First edition of The Record is published “under patronage of the Victorian Football League”. The Record cost 1c, adult match admission was 5c and an adult membership was $1.05.
 
1914-16           Production is maintained during the war years even though materials were scarce and in 1916 there were only four teams in the competition.
 
1961                An image from the previous round of matches replaces a line drawing on the cover. For the first time the cover also includes the line “Official Organ of the Victorian Football League”.
 
1963                The finals series Records were produced in colour for the first time.
 
1966                The Grand Final edition was the first Record to be produced as an A4 publication.
 
1968                All final Records are produced as A4 publications.
 
1978                All home and away editions are printed in colour for the first time.
 
1994                The Record is produced with new “desktop” technology.
 
1999                The masthead The Football Record is changed to AFL Record.
                        A record sale – by percentage against attendance – of 48.3 per cent is achieved at the final match at Victoria Park between Collingwood and the Brisbane Lions.
 
2012                The AFL Record is available online as an iPad edition.
 
There have been 16 editors of the Record: George Cathie (deceased), Bill Cathie (deceased), Terry Young (deceased), Graham Burke, Alan McKenzie, Jim Robb, John McLaghlan (deceased), Robert White, Paula Barras, Greg Hobbs, Nick Place, Corrie Perkin, Geoff Slattery, David Adamson, Michael Lovett and current editor Peter Di Sisto.