The AFL Commission is the official governing body of the Australian Football League. The Commission is responsible for the administration of the competition and its constitution proclaims it as the “keeper of the code”, the body universally responsible for the sport of Australian Football.
There are 9 members that comprise the AFL Commission who are elected by the 18 AFL clubs, with each club entitled to make nominations. As CEO, Gillon McLachlan is also a member of the Commission.
Richard Goyder has been chairman since April 2017, replacing Mike Fitzpatrick.
Elections
Commissioners are elected by the 18 AFL clubs, who each are entitled to make nominations. Should an election be necessary, then the membership is decided by a vote of the AFL clubs. Under the current constitution, member clubs have the power to veto commission decisions only with over 75% of votes.
So who are the AFL Commissioners? It is hard to find any information about them on the AFL website, so please find below some information on the people who are in charge of running our game.
Richard Goyder is the first West Australian-based commissioner since the clubs ousted Terry O’Connor and the only one to have served on a club board (Fremantle). Goyder became deputy managing director and chief financial officer of Wesfarmers in 2004, becoming CEO in 2005. In 2007, he oversaw the purchase of Coles Group for A$19.3 billion, bringing Coles Supermarkets, Kmart, Target and Officeworks under the control of Wesfarmers. Goyder served on the board of the Fremantle Football Club from 2006 to 2011, and in 2011 was appointed to the AFL Commission. He became chairman of the AFL Commission in 2017.
Gillon McLachlan was appointed CEO of the AFL in April 2014, succeeding Andrew Demetriou. McLachlan worked as a management consultant with Accenture, before being employed in 2000 as a strategy consultant to the AFL by CEO Wayne Jackson. In 2003 he was appointed as General Manager of Commercial Operations and in 2008 was appointed Chief Operating Officer. In December 2012 he was appointed Deputy CEO. In 2013 he supervised the AFL’s investigation into the Melbourne FC tanking scandal and the negotiations with Essendon FC supplements controversy.
Paul Bassat has been a member of the AFL Commission since 2012. A director of Wesfarmers Ltd, he is on the board of a number of not for profit organisations including the Faculty of Business and Economics at The University of Melbourne, Innovation Australia, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation, the Mount Scopus College Foundation and the P&S Bassat Foundation. He co-founded SEEK in 1997 and served as CEO and then as Joint CEO from 1997-2011. He is currently based at Square Peg Capital. He started his career as a lawyer and holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Melbourne.
Kimberley Lynton “Kim” Williams is an Australian media executive and composer. He has headed a wide range of prominent organisations such as Musica Viva Australia, Foxtel, the Australian Film Commission, the Sydney Opera House Trust and News Limited (now News Corp Australia). In 1995 he left the ABC to accept Rupert Murdoch’s invitation to head Fox Studios. In December 2001 he became Chief Executive of Foxtel. He remained until 2011 and was praised for reversing Foxtel’s fortunes from a chronic loss-maker to high-profitability. In December 2011 Williams was appointed CEO of News Limited. In February 2014 he was appointed to the AFL Commission.
Major General Simone Louise Wilkie, AO is an Australian Army officer who was the Australian Deputy National Commander in the War in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012. She was Assistant Chief of Staff to General David Petraeus during the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, and was the first female Commanding Officer of the Royal Military College, Duntroon and Commandant at the Army Recruit Training Centre at Kapooka. In 2013 she was promoted to major general to take over as Commander of the Australian Defence College. In 2014 she was appointed to the AFL Commission.
Jason Ball played with both the West Coast Eagles and Sydney Swans in the AFL. The ruckman made his AFL debut for the West Coast Eagles in 1992, and went on to play 103 games for that club, scoring 114 goals, being part of the 1994 premiership side and winning the 1995 goal kicking award. He was traded to Sydney after the 1999 season and went on to play 90 games for the Swans. During the 2005 finals series, he announced he would retire at the end of the season. Sydney then reached the grand final, and Ball ended his career on a high note, winning his second premiership, against his former club.
Andrew Newbold is a former President of the Hawthorn Football Club, and has had a very successful commercial career as a lawyer, manager and entrepreneur. He is currently a Director of Bryson Funds Management PTY LTD, RealAs, and Sports Education Development Australia. He was a Director of Hawthorn FC for 13 years and was appointed President in 2012. During his term as President, the club won three Premierships and played in four successive Grand Finals, had four years of collective club profit and signed off on plans for a new home and development at Dingley.
Gabrielle Trainor is a former lawyer, journalist, public sector executive and consultant in public policy, government relations and issues management. She has more than 20 years experience as a non-executive director in entities such as in urban development, major projects, transport and infrastructure. She is Chair of Temple Executive Search. She is a director of two ANZ Banking Group subsidiary boards, of Infrastructure Australia, the Barangaroo Delivery Authority and Clarius Group. Gabrielle was appointed as an inaugural Director of the Greater Western Sydney Giants FC in 2011 and chaired the Giants Integrity Committee. She joined the AFL Commission in 2016.
Robin Bishop was on the Macquarie Group Management Committee and Head of Macquarie Capital Australia and New Zealand, overseeing the region’s largest and most active investment banking team of more than 300 staff. One of Australia’s leading investment bankers, he has advised on some of Australia’s most significant mergers and acquisition and equity capital markets transactions across a range of sectors and markets. Among his many transactions, he advised the AFL on its $2.5Bn broadcast rights agreement in 2015. He is non-executive director of the Burnet Institute for Medical Research and a member of the Australian Takeovers Panel. He joined the AFL Commission in 2017.
Helen Milroy is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Winthrop Professor at the University of Western Australia. She has been on state and national mental health advisory committees and boards with a particular focus on the wellbeing of children. Her work and research interests include holistic medicine, child mental health, recovery from trauma and grief, application of Indigenous knowledge, cultural models of care, Aboriginal health and mental health, and developing and supporting the Aboriginal medical workforce. She is a descendant of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia and was born and educated in Perth.
THE CURRENT COMMISSION
The current VFL/AFL Commission structure has been in existence since 1993.
There is no doubt that the Commission has achieved some great outcomes for the sport of Australian Football. These include a national competition, fantastic stadiums and growth in new markets.
However, 1993 was 26 years ago. We believe it is time for a full and independent review of the AFL’s governance and structure, to ensure that our great game can continue to be the best that it can be.
The VFL Commission was created because it was felt there was a need for a decision-making body independent of club partisanship.
Over time, however, it has been said by many that the AFL’s role has morphed from one of leadership to dictatorship. Clubs are told what to do, when to do, and how to do.
The Commission has a total stranglehold on clubs. Even today many clubs remain reliant on the Commission to balance their books.
