THE AFL has gone back to look at the key decisions that were central in building today’s national competition.

It may not be known to many current-day fans of the game, but the 1980s and 1990s were a time of incredible change in football as a national competition slowly evolved. The introduction of key pillars in the game such as revenue sharing, a salary cap, a national draft and the birth of new clubs was not without much controversy, and saw massive change to the traditional basis of the game, centred around strong state-based leagues.

Many of the key decision-makers of the time - including former Commissioners Peter Scanlon, Colin Carter and Graeme Samuel; former CEOs Ross Oakley and Andrew Demetriou; and the VFL/AFL's former lawyer Jeff Browne - have spoken about the work that went into those key moves, and the thinking behind the establishment of a national competition for Australian football.