2011 Foxtel Cup


The 2011 Foxtel Cup was the inaugural season of the Australian rules football club knockout cup competition involving clubs from the various state league competitions from around Australia. The first year of the competition also included the AFL's newest expansion side Greater Western Sydney Giants.
Its purpose was to support and promote the second-tier Australian rules football competitions and to provide another way of developing the lower-tier AFL players. It was originally designed to be a one-off, but due to a significant amount of public interest the AFL said the competition would continue for at least the next five years.
The competition began on 26 March 2011 and ran through to August. Matches were played as curtain-raisers to AFL Saturday night games and were screened on Fox Sports in a late-afternoon slot between afternoon and night AFL matches. $40,000 of prize money was awarded to eventual winners, Williamstown Football Club.
The AFL originally invited the three highest ranked teams from the South Australian National Football League, the Victorian Football League and the West Australian Football League; the top two teams from the Queensland Australian Football League; and the top team from AFL Sydney and the Tasmanian Football League. The Northern Territory Football Club and Greater Western Sydney Giants received special invitations.
However, despite the SANFL on 9 December 2010 signing on to be part of the Cup competition, opposition to the proposal came from its top three clubs Central District, Norwood and Woodville-West Torrens. The three clubs were given until 14 December 2010 to reconsider with the SANFL willing to extend invitations to its next best teams from 2010 if its top three clubs refused to participate. After the top five SANFL clubs released a joint statement on 15 December 2010 declining the invitation to participate in the Cup competition, citing lack of prize money, sponsorship conflicts, salary cap implications, schedule concerns and removing the focus from their SANFL premiership ambitions, their places were taken up by fellow SANFL clubs West Adelaide, North Adelaide and Port Adelaide Magpies.
The AFL gave the Cup competition the go ahead on 17 December 2010 with the fixture released publicly. The official name of the tournament, finalised fixture and participating teams were formalised on 9 February 2011 by the AFL.
Williamstown became the inaugural Foxtel Cup champions when they defeated Claremont by 21 points in the Grand Final at Patersons Stadium on 6 August 2011. Williamstown midfielder Ben Jolley won the Coles Medal as best afield for his game-high 30 possessions and eight clearances.

2011 season

Participating clubs

; NEAFL Eastern Conference
; NEAFL Eastern Conference
; SANFL
; Sydney AFL
; TFL
; VFL
; WAFL
GuernseyClubNicknameLocationQualified as
Ainslie Football ClubTri- ColoursAinslie, ACTAFL Canberra
premiers 2010
Claremont Football ClubTigersClaremont, Western AustraliaWest Australian Football League
runners-up 2010
Clarence Football ClubKangaroosClarence, TasmaniaTasmanian Football League
premiers 2010
East Coast Eagles Australian Football ClubEaglesRouse Hill, NSWSydney AFL
premiers 2010
East Perth Football ClubRoyalsLeederville, Western AustraliaWest Australian Football League
3rd place 2010
Greater Western Sydney GiantsGiantsBlacktown, NSWAustralian Football League
Expansion club
Labrador Australian Football ClubTigersLabrador, QueenslandQueensland Australian Football League
runners-up 2010
Morningside Australian Football ClubPanthersHawthorne, QueenslandQueensland Australian Football League
premiers 2010
North Adelaide Football ClubRoostersProspect, South AustraliaSouth Australian National Football League
7th place, 2010
SA invitee
North Ballarat Football ClubRoostersBallarat, VictoriaVictorian Football League
premiers 2010
Northern Bullants Football ClubBullantsPreston, VictoriaVictorian Football League
runners-up 2010
Northern Territory Football ClubThunderDarwin, Northern TerritoryQueensland Australian Football League
5th place 2010
NT representative
Port Adelaide Football Club MagpiesAlberton, South AustraliaSouth Australian National Football League
8th place 2010
SA invitee
Swan Districts Football ClubSwansBassendean, Western AustraliaWest Australian Football League
premiers 2010
West Adelaide Football ClubBloodsRichmond, South AustraliaSouth Australian National Football League
6th place 2010
SA invitee
Williamstown Football ClubSeagullsWilliamstown, VictoriaVictorian Football League
3rd place 2010

Stadiums

AdelaideAdelaideDarwin
AAMI Stadium
Capacity: 51,224		Adelaide Oval
Capacity: 36,000		TIO Stadium
Capacity: 15,000
Gold CoastHobartMelbourne
Metricon Stadium
Capacity: 25,000		Bellerive Oval
Capacity: 16,200		Etihad Stadium
Capacity: 56,347
MelbournePerthSydney
Melbourne Cricket Ground
Capacity: 100,018		Patersons Stadium
Capacity: 43,500		Sydney Cricket Ground
Capacity: 46,000

Fixtures

Bracket

Round of 16

Quarter Finals

Semi Finals

Grand Final