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 (Foxtel Cup), 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 (2) Ainslie Greater Western Sydney NEAFL Eastern Conference (3) Labrador Morningside Northern Territory SANFL (3) North Adelaide Port Adelaide Magpies West Adelaide
Sydney AFL (1) East Coast Eagles TFL (1) Clarence VFL (3) North Ballarat Northern Bullants Williamstown WAFL (3) Claremont East Perth Swan Districts
Club details
Guernsey Club Nickname Location Qualified as Ainslie Football Club Tri- Colours Ainslie, ACT AFL Canberra premiers 2010 Claremont Football ClubClaremont Football Club Official Website Tigers Claremont, Western Australia West Australian Football League runners-up 2010 Clarence Football ClubClarence Football Club Official Website Kangaroos Clarence, Tasmania Tasmanian Football League premiers 2010 East Coast Eagles Australian Football ClubEast Coast Eagles Football Club Official Website Eagles Rouse Hill, NSW Sydney AFL premiers 2010 East Perth Football ClubEast Perth Football Club Official Website Royals Leederville, Western Australia West Australian Football League 3rd place 2010 Greater Western Sydney GiantsGreater Western Sydney Giants Official Website Giants Blacktown, NSW Australian Football League Expansion club Labrador Australian Football Club Tigers Labrador, Queensland Queensland Australian Football League runners-up 2010 Morningside Australian Football ClubMorningside Australian Football Club Official Website Panthers Hawthorne, Queensland Queensland Australian Football League premiers 2010 North Adelaide Football ClubNorth Adelaide Football Club Official Website Roosters Prospect, South Australia South Australian National Football League 7th place, 2010SA invitee North Ballarat Football ClubNorth Ballarat Official Website Roosters Ballarat, Victoria Victorian Football League premiers 2010 Northern Bullants Football ClubNorthern Bullants Official Website Bullants Preston, Victoria Victorian Football League runners-up 2010 Northern Territory Football ClubNorthern Territory Football Club Official Website Thunder Darwin, Northern Territory Queensland Australian Football League 5th place 2010 NT representative Port Adelaide Football Club (SANFL)Port Adelaide Magpies Football Club Official Website Magpies Alberton, South Australia South Australian National Football League 8th place 2010SA invitee Swan Districts Football Club Swans Bassendean, Western Australia West Australian Football League premiers 2010 West Adelaide Football ClubWest Adelaide Football Club Official Website Bloods Richmond, South Australia South Australian National Football League 6th place 2010SA invitee Williamstown Football Club Seagulls Williamstown, Victoria Victorian Football League 3rd place 2010
Stadiums
Adelaide Adelaide Darwin AAMI StadiumCapacity: 51,224 Adelaide OvalCapacity: 36,000 TIO StadiumCapacity: 15,000 Gold Coast Hobart Melbourne Metricon StadiumCapacity: 25,000 Bellerive OvalCapacity: 16,200 Etihad StadiumCapacity: 56,347 Melbourne Perth Sydney Melbourne Cricket GroundCapacity: 100,018 Patersons StadiumCapacity: 43,500 Sydney Cricket GroundCapacity: 46,000
Fixtures
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Grand final
References
External links Official Foxtel Cup website Official AFL Canberra website AFL Northern Territory AFL Queensland State Site
Official Sydney AFL Site Tasmanian Football League Website