User:Mattinbgn/Sandbox - Notability Australian football leagues and clubs

The following is a tool to help determine whether an Australian rules football league or town (professional or otherwise) is a valid subject for a Wikipedia article. The scope of this proposal covers all Australian rules football leagues and clubs.

These guidelines do not cover individual Australian football players covered by WP:Notability (people).

Notable means "worthy of being noted" or "attracting notice". It is not synonymous with "fame" or "importance". Please consider notable and demonstrable effects on culture, society, athletics, history or literature. Large leagues are likely to have more readily available verifiable information from reliable sources that provide evidence of notability; however, smaller leagues and clubs can be notable, just as individuals can be notable, and arbitrary standards should not be used to create a bias favoring larger leagues and clubs.

Primary criterion
A league or club is notable if it has been the subject of secondary sources. Such sources must be reliable, independent of the subject and independent of each other. The depth of coverage of the league or club by the source must be considered. If the depth of coverage is not substantial, then multiple independent sources should be cited to establish notability. Trivial or incidental coverage of a subject by secondary sources is not sufficient to establish notability. Once notability is established, primary sources may be used to add content. Ultimately, and most importantly, all content must be attributable.

The "secondary sources" in the criterion include reliable published works in all forms, such as (for examples) newspaper articles, books and television documentaries except for the following:
 * Press releases; advertising for the club or league or group; and other works where the league or club talks about itself &mdash; whether published by the league or club itself, or re-printed by other people. Self-published material or published at the direction of the subject of the article would be a primary source and falls under a different policy.

Additional criteria for specific leagues or clubs
The following sections discuss other alternate methods for establishing notability for specific leagues. However, the text of the article must be supported by independent sources, and avoid primary research. Note that failure to meet these criteria does not disprove notability if it can be otherwise demonstrated.

Fully professional leagues and clubs
Any league or club that is fully professional, i.e. football is the main profession of all players, is considered notable. In practise this would only apply to the Australian Football League (AFL). Note that as professional athletes, it is likely that AFL players will meet the notability guidelines of WP:BIO for an article.

Semi professional, regional and local leagues and clubs
This category covers the vast majority of Australian football leagues and clubs where players are paid, but in general not as a sole or main source of income. These leagues and clubs are in general notable for either
 * 1) The quality of football played; and/or
 * 2) Its social and/or historical background.

Criterion 1 is met only by the peak leagues in each state and territory, i.e. Victorian Football League, Western Australian Football League, Northern Territory Football League, and their constituent clubs. As such, the results for individual seasons may be notable enough for inclusion in the article and if necessary, for articles to be split from the main article. Clubs at this level are likely to be notable, although this would need to be established. Note that most players at this level are not likely to be notable solely for playing football at this level, especially since the creation of the Australian Football League in 1990. Notability could be established through the holding of records for games played, competition best and fairests won, premierships etc

Criterion 2 is, in general, met by most other semi-professional leagues and clubs. As such, while the leagues are notable, other than premierships and grand finals the results of individual matches and seasons are unlikely to be notable for inclusion or split articles. It is unlikely, although possible that clubs at this level would be notable enough for a separate article. Information on the football club would be suitable for inclusion in the the town/suburb or league article. Clubs and leagues meeting this criteria would include affiliates of the Victorian Country Football League, Football Victoria, AFL Queensland and the equivalent in other states. Examples include Murray Football League, Mallee Football League (South Australia) and AFL Mackay. Note that players at this level are not notable solely for playing football at this level.

Amateur and social football leagues and clubs
Purely amateur and social leagues and clubs are unlikely to be notable. This would include most non-Australian competitions and clubs where notability is not otherwise demonstrated. Note that players are definitely not notable solely for playing football at this level.

Junior clubs and competitions
Junior clubs and competitions are unlikely to be notable enough for an article unless otherwise demonstrated. It may be appropriate to include details of junior clubs and leagues affiliated with a notable league or club in that article.

Other criteria
Nothing in the above would deny notability for any league or club where otherwise demonstrated. Articles, even for notable leagues and clubs, are still required to be encyclopaedic in nature, verifiable and written from a neutral point of view. In particular, Wikipedia is not a fan site.