AFL: What Are We Teaching the Next Generation About Family Violence?
The issue
Children learn from what the people and institutions they look up to are willing to stand for — and what they are willing to stand against.
At the 2026 AFL Grand Final, thousands of children will watch the players they admire, the clubs they support and the adults around them, alongside more than 6 million Australians sharing one of the country’s biggest sporting moments.
We are asking the AFL to give them one minute that means more than football — one that shows young Australians that respect matters, violence should never be accepted as normal, and real strength means showing respect, taking responsibility and having the courage to stand up for others.
If Aussies really do look after our mates, then calling out domestic and family violence is something we should all get behind.
Each year, the AFL Grand Final brings more than 100,000 people together at the MCG to support their teams and share one of Australia’s biggest sporting moments. Across Australia, police recorded or responded to approximately 447,000 domestic and family violence-related incidents, occurrences or offences in 2024–25.
That is enough to fill the MCG more than four times over.
In that same period, 79 Women and 29 Children were killed in domestic homicides in Australia.
This year, real-time tracking has already recorded 48 women and 19 children killed by violence in Australia.
Sixty-seven lives lost.
And behind every number are families, friends and communities left shattered.
Few moments bring so many Australians together at once, and the AFL has shown this leadership before. In 2024, all 18 clubs came together across an entire round to pay silent tribute to women who had lost their lives to gender-based violence.
Now the AFL has the opportunity to carry that message forward on its biggest stage: domestic and family violence has no place in our homes, our communities or our game. This is not about placing responsibility on individual players, but standing alongside Australians across the country who want to see change.
If you believe the 2026 AFL Grand Final should honour those whose lives have been taken by domestic and family violence, sign this petition and share it.
We have been silent about domestic and family violence for too long.
Let this silence mean something different.
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The issue
Children learn from what the people and institutions they look up to are willing to stand for — and what they are willing to stand against.
At the 2026 AFL Grand Final, thousands of children will watch the players they admire, the clubs they support and the adults around them, alongside more than 6 million Australians sharing one of the country’s biggest sporting moments.
We are asking the AFL to give them one minute that means more than football — one that shows young Australians that respect matters, violence should never be accepted as normal, and real strength means showing respect, taking responsibility and having the courage to stand up for others.
If Aussies really do look after our mates, then calling out domestic and family violence is something we should all get behind.
Each year, the AFL Grand Final brings more than 100,000 people together at the MCG to support their teams and share one of Australia’s biggest sporting moments. Across Australia, police recorded or responded to approximately 447,000 domestic and family violence-related incidents, occurrences or offences in 2024–25.
That is enough to fill the MCG more than four times over.
In that same period, 79 Women and 29 Children were killed in domestic homicides in Australia.
This year, real-time tracking has already recorded 48 women and 19 children killed by violence in Australia.
Sixty-seven lives lost.
And behind every number are families, friends and communities left shattered.
Few moments bring so many Australians together at once, and the AFL has shown this leadership before. In 2024, all 18 clubs came together across an entire round to pay silent tribute to women who had lost their lives to gender-based violence.
Now the AFL has the opportunity to carry that message forward on its biggest stage: domestic and family violence has no place in our homes, our communities or our game. This is not about placing responsibility on individual players, but standing alongside Australians across the country who want to see change.
If you believe the 2026 AFL Grand Final should honour those whose lives have been taken by domestic and family violence, sign this petition and share it.
We have been silent about domestic and family violence for too long.
Let this silence mean something different.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on 21 August 2026