The 1999 AFL season was the 103rd season of the
Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior
Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixteen clubs, ran from 25 March until 25 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a
finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
Note: West Coast Eagles played its "home" final at the MCG despite being ranked above Carlton due to the agreement then in place with the
Melbourne Cricket Club that at least one game each week of the finals be played at the MCG.
Richmond and Adelaide played in torrential and stormy conditions at
Football Park in Round 9. Under new laws that were introduced following the power outage which interrupted a game at
Waverley Park in
1996, the captains met in the centre to decide whether to call the game off at three quarter time (accepting the progress score as final), due to the thunder and lightning having put out two light towers during half time. At that stage, Adelaide led by a point, but the captains agreed to carry on with the game. Richmond ended up winning by 11 points.
Two rounds later,
Richmond once again played in heavy and unrelenting rain at
Football Park, this time against
Port Adelaide. Port Adelaide won by the score of 4.8 (32) to 3.12 (30). It was Port Adelaide's lowest score, and remained as such until 2010 (also against Richmond), giving them the unique distinction during that period of time of having recorded a victory with their lowest score.
In round 10, Sydney's
Tony Lockett entered the game against Collingwood 2 goals shy of Gordon Coventry's 62-year standing record of 1299 career goals. Lockett kicked his 3rd of 9 goals to break the record, which he still holds as of 2022.
Brisbane's half-time score of 21.5 (131) against
Fremantle in round 20 set the new and enduring record for the highest half-time score in
VFL/AFL history.
In their Round 12 game,
Hawthorn trailed
St Kilda by 63 points early in the second quarter before recovering to win by thirteen points. This set a new record for the largest ever comeback in a
VFL/AFL game, a record which would stand until
2001.
The start of the Round 22 game between
Richmond and
Carlton at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground was delayed by about half an hour after the scoreboard at the city end caught fire ten minutes before the scheduled bounce down. Players returned to the rooms, and much of the Ponsford Stand was evacuated onto the playing arena.
Collingwood lost 13 games in a row following on from the end of the previous season. They finally won against Fremantle in Round 8.
Port Adelaide's percentage of 90.12 remains the worst of any team in VFL/AFL history which qualified a team for the finals (excluding the seasons affected by World War I).
The 1999 AFL season was the 103rd season of the
Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior
Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixteen clubs, ran from 25 March until 25 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a
finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
Note: West Coast Eagles played its "home" final at the MCG despite being ranked above Carlton due to the agreement then in place with the
Melbourne Cricket Club that at least one game each week of the finals be played at the MCG.
Richmond and Adelaide played in torrential and stormy conditions at
Football Park in Round 9. Under new laws that were introduced following the power outage which interrupted a game at
Waverley Park in
1996, the captains met in the centre to decide whether to call the game off at three quarter time (accepting the progress score as final), due to the thunder and lightning having put out two light towers during half time. At that stage, Adelaide led by a point, but the captains agreed to carry on with the game. Richmond ended up winning by 11 points.
Two rounds later,
Richmond once again played in heavy and unrelenting rain at
Football Park, this time against
Port Adelaide. Port Adelaide won by the score of 4.8 (32) to 3.12 (30). It was Port Adelaide's lowest score, and remained as such until 2010 (also against Richmond), giving them the unique distinction during that period of time of having recorded a victory with their lowest score.
In round 10, Sydney's
Tony Lockett entered the game against Collingwood 2 goals shy of Gordon Coventry's 62-year standing record of 1299 career goals. Lockett kicked his 3rd of 9 goals to break the record, which he still holds as of 2022.
Brisbane's half-time score of 21.5 (131) against
Fremantle in round 20 set the new and enduring record for the highest half-time score in
VFL/AFL history.
In their Round 12 game,
Hawthorn trailed
St Kilda by 63 points early in the second quarter before recovering to win by thirteen points. This set a new record for the largest ever comeback in a
VFL/AFL game, a record which would stand until
2001.
The start of the Round 22 game between
Richmond and
Carlton at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground was delayed by about half an hour after the scoreboard at the city end caught fire ten minutes before the scheduled bounce down. Players returned to the rooms, and much of the Ponsford Stand was evacuated onto the playing arena.
Collingwood lost 13 games in a row following on from the end of the previous season. They finally won against Fremantle in Round 8.
Port Adelaide's percentage of 90.12 remains the worst of any team in VFL/AFL history which qualified a team for the finals (excluding the seasons affected by World War I).