As such, the match now recognised as the first grand final took place in the league's second season, on 24 September 1898, between Essendon and Fitzroy at the St Kilda Cricket Ground.

This match too had been in doubt until the night before it was played, Essendon disputing the choice and fitness-for-use of the St Kilda ground, which had already been top-dressed for the cricket season.

Despite appealing to the league and even announcing it intended to forfeit,[6] Essendon relented and played the game,[7] and Fitzroy won the inaugural grand final 5.8 (38) d. 3.5 (23) before a crowd of 16,538.

Most VFL finals systems utilised until 1930 comprised a short finals system, usually a simple knockout tournament ending with a match called the 'final'; if the 'final' was not won by the home-and-away season's minor premiers, then the minor premiers had the right to challenge the winner of the 'final' to a playoff match for the premiership.

In 1902, the Grand Final was first played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, when Collingwood 9.6 (60) defeated Essendon 3.9 (27) before a then-record Australian football crowd of 35,000.

However, many diggers supported the continuance of the game, and returned servicemen were granted free admission to a portion of the grandstand for the 1918 grand final, with many attending in uniform.

A new record crowd of 64,288 was set in 1925, when Geelong played and won its first grand final, attracting a huge contingent of both provincial and metropolitan supporters.

The last of those games, in 1945, saw a capacity crowd of 62,986 squeeze into the Carlton ground, which was played just weeks after the armistice with Japan was declared.

When the Melbourne Cricket Ground was relinquished by the government in August 1946, there was great expectation in the buildup to the grand finals, and attendances were soon back to 1930s levels.

The sight of thousands sitting between the fence and the boundary line was now usual at the grand final,[15] often resulting in injuries to spectators when players collided with them.

Spectators were admitted on a first-come basis, and thousands took to lining up outside the stadium from the Friday before the match to gain the best vantage point when the gates opened on the morning.

Some spectators who gained entry perched dangerously on the back fences of the grandstands and even the roof of the southern stand to get a view of the game; and in violent scenes outside the ground, at least 2,500 gained entry by mobbing gates, climbing fences or sneaking in when the Military Band arrived, while at least 20,000 more were turned away at the gate.

The establishment of the modern premiership cup in 1959 gave the after-match a ceremonial focus and allowed the attention to settle on the premier team, ending the previous custom of the crowd descending on the arena and variously chairing or walking the players off the ground.

[21] The grandstands were expanded again in 1968, and an enduring record crowd of 121,696 saw one of the most famous grand finals of all in 1970, in which Carlton overcome a 44-point half-time deficit to defeat Collingwood.

The 1989 Grand Final, a high scoring and very physical encounter in which Hawthorn defeated Geelong by six points, is considered to be one of the greatest of all time.

Perth-based West Coast, which joined the league in 1987, became the first non-Victorian club to both contest and win a grand final, in 1991 and 1992, respectively; and, between 1992 and 2006, non-Victorian clubs won ten out of the fifteen grand finals, with the Brisbane Lions enjoying the greatest success, with three premierships in a row between 2001 and 2003.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the scheduling of the match in 2020 and 2021, as outbreaks of the virus in Melbourne during finals precluded unrestricted travel and mass gatherings in Victoria.

It does not feature in post-match presentations, but tradition dictates that it be ceremonially unfurled from the flagpole at the premiers' first home game of the following season.

The most prestigious award for supporters is the AFL premiership cup, which is presented to the captain and coach of the winning team in a ceremony after the game.

This was discontinued after 1981, popularly attributed to the negative spectacle of Collingwood's Peter Moore — in his fourth losing grand final — throwing the medal on the ground shortly after receiving it.

[25] Since 1902, only seven Grand Finals have been played at other grounds: The match sells out most years, and routinely qualifies as the world's most attended domestic sports championship event.

[45][46][47] The VFL resented its reliance on the arrangement, as the ground's government-appointed trust fixed admission prices, and the MCC took a large portion of the gate and retained free entry privileges for its members, an entitlement it had held since 1902.

Throughout its history, the grand final has remained scheduled for the traditional Saturday afternoon timeslot, most recently at 2:30pm AEST, even after night premiership football became common in the 1980s and when rival codes such as the NRL began regularly broadcasting the NRL Grand Final in the evening for primetime television.

The provision to play extra time in the event of a draw was introduced in 2016, ensuring that future grand finals will always be decided on the scheduled day.

It is a corporate-style breakfast event, featuring keynote speakers and guests including prime ministers, state premiers and football celebrities.

It is the most well-known corporate hospitality event associated with the grand final, and it rose to prominence in the 1970s when it was first televised across Victoria; it was endorsed by the VFL as the official pre-match function.

Since the match was televised live in the late 1970s, many big Australian and international music stars have performed on the ground as part of pre-match, or occasionally half-time, entertainment.

Each year, a motorcade is staged, in which players who have retired since the previous grand final are given a lap of honour in open top cars.

[82] A premiership poster, generally showing a caricature of the winning club's mascot smiling gleefully, is produced and available for purchase after the match through the Herald Sun newspaper each year.

[140] When television was first introduced to Australia in 1956, the VFL was reluctant to broadcast the grand final into Victoria, fearful that crowd numbers would be affected.