User:Teratix/Mark of the Year

In Australian rules football, a player can take a mark by catching the ball from a kick, which earns protection from tackles. In the Australian Football League (AFL), the mark subjectively judged the best in each season is named Mark of the Year.

The award is almost always given to spectacular marks – those where one player jumps upon another's back to reach the ball. Although there are no formal rules prescribing what a good mark is, some important factors are how high the player leaps, how long he stays in the air, whether his catch is clean, whether he catches the ball with extended arms, and how dramatic his fall is.

The award was inspired by a famous mark taken by Carlton's Alex Jesaulenko in the 1970 VFL Grand Final. Following Jesaulenko's mark, two football television shows – Channel Seven's World of Sport and The Winners on the ABC – began awarding the title "Mark of the Year" to the best marks as judged by their panels of football experts. The two shows would often choose different winners. Seven's award was more prestigious because the winning player received a car, but the ABC's edition only bestowed lesser prizes like mugs and bicycles – a disparity bemoaned by several players who only won the latter.

In 2001, the AFL itself began operating an official Mark of the Year award in competition with Seven, which became the more prominent award. Certain sources, like the AFL Record, only acknowledge these official winners as having taken Marks of the Year.

Thirty-two players have won the competition; of those, five have won multiple times and six are still active in the AFL. Peter Knights (Hawthorn) and Tony Modra (Adelaide/Fremantle) have won the most Mark of the Year awards, with three each.

The competition is run alongside the Goal of the Year contest, which recognises the best goal kicked during an AFL season. Two players have won both the "Mark of the Year" and "Goal of the Year" awards in the same season: Michael Mitchell and Peter Bosustow.

Background
Currently also known by its sponsorship name as the "Weet Bix AFL Mark of the Year", the competition is open to players in the AFL (Australian rules football's highest league). Winners receive an assortment of prizes, including $5,000 for their grassroots (junior) club, the use of a Toyota Kluger for 12 months and the Alex Jesaulenko Medal.

The current Victorian Football League (formerly known as the Victorian Football Association) runs a similar competition; however, the winners are selected only from the few games that are televised. Many other amateur Australian rules football leagues also run an equivalent competition, but they often rely on less comprehensive television footage; some amateur leagues rely on spectators who submit photos and amateur video recordings to the league or to television shows such as the AFL Footy Show.

Chris Tarrant's mark in round 11, 2001 has been used as the basis of the silhouette for the Mark of the Year logo, despite its losing the Mark of the Year to Gary Moorcroft's round 14 mark. Many of the best marks in the VFL/AFL were featured in a VHS/DVD named Miracle Marks.

History
The competition was initiated following Alex Jesaulenko's mark over Graeme "Jerker" Jenkin in the 1970 (Victorian Football League) Grand Final and later recognised officially as the Mark of the Year; the medal awarded to the winner now bears his name. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the award was decided by a panel of football experts on Network Seven's "World of Sport" program and during the 1980s and 1990s, the winning mark was determined by selected football journalists and experts. With minor modifications, the current selection process was first used in the 1998 season. In 1990, the competition (originally known as the VFL Mark of the Year) was renamed the AFL Mark of the Year, following the inception of the AFL.

The AFL ran the first official Mark of the Year competition in 2001, in direct competition with Seven's established contests.

In 2007, marks from finals were permitted for the first time.

Selection process
Although there is no set criteria for selecting the Mark of the Year, Robert Walls, who served on the selection panel in 2008, noted several key characteristics of excellent marks – "a big leap, a ride above the pack, holding onto the ball cleanly and for the correct length of time". Walls also identified marks taken by players running backward with the flight of the ball into packs as another type of excellent mark.

After each round of the regular AFL season, three "mark of the week" nominations are determined by a panel of football experts. The general public can then vote for a weekly winner on the AFL website.

After the regular season's end, the title is given to a single mark, which is chosen by the All-Australian selection committee; the public is not given a say in the final outcome. The selection committee is not restricted to choosing a winner from the mark of the week winners; indeed, in 2010, the two favourites both came in round 21, and although the public voted Brendon Goddard as mark of the week, the selection panel named Jurrah as Mark of the Year. The winner is announced during grand final week.

Channel Seven recipients
general source Barker x2? Roach/Barker 1979 general/Capper 1987/Hunter 1983