THE ANNUAL General Meeting of the AFL in Sydney today saw the retirement of Richard Goyder from the AFL Commission, having joined the Commission in 2012 and served as Chair for the last nine years from 2017 onwards.

Former Geelong Cats’ President Craig Drummond was elected by the club Presidents to join the Commission as Mr Goyder’s replacement and has been elected as the new Chair by the Commissioners.

Mr Drummond said Mr Goyder had overseen a period of huge growth for the game, while ensuring the game’s finances were strongly placed to build for the future and draw the next generation of fans to footy. 

Mr Goyder oversaw key milestones including: 

  • Largest broadcast-rights negotiation in Australian sporting history for the 2025-31 period
  • Record attendance, membership and participation marks for the game
  • The awarding of the new 19th club licence to Tasmania FC
  • Expansion of the AFLW from its original eight clubs to a full 18-team competition
  • Commission decision to enshrine a minimum 10 per cent of all football revenue to go back to community football / game development
  • Investments in stadium and football infrastructure, including the opening of Optus Stadium, redevelopment of Marvel Stadium and the future use for football of the new Brisbane Olympic Stadium at Victoria Park
  • Introduction / return of new marquee football events including Gather Round / Opening Round / Indigenous All Stars / Origin 

As incoming chair, Mr Drummond said Mr Goyder said had a profound impact for football.

“There has never been more people playing, watching, attending or participating in our game in our history than now,” Mr Drummond said.

“Richard has loved football since his earliest days, and has never lost that love for the game, but he’s also worked incredibly hard to build for the future success of the game and its financial stability.

“As Commission Chair, after the heavy impacts of Covid, he led the discipline across the industry to rebuild the game’s balance sheet while also ensuring that the joy of the game – the great players and the great contests – was central to everything that was done about how footy was played.

“The Laws of the game worked to open up the onfield game, reduce stoppages and increase the amount of time the ball was in play, while building strong sustainable clubs that could face into the future and develop real connections with our fans.

“On behalf of the Commission, I wish Richard and Janine an enjoyable retirement with their family and friends, knowing they will never be too far from the footy.

“I come into the role as Chairman with both of our elite AFL and AFLW competitions in strong health, providing both inspiration and aspiration for girls and boys around the country to emulate their heroes.

“The footy, the fans, and the future. That will be our mantra, working with all of our stakeholders to make Australia’s game even better.

“Growing the game in new markets, deepening our connection to our fans, and reaching new ones so our game is a true reflection of modern Australia.

“The experience of everyone in our game is central to their link to their clubs, and that requires us to work with our stakeholders at every level,” he said.

AFL Chief Executive Officer Andrew Dillon said Richard had provided incredible support as a mentor in his role, and greatly valued his friendship.

“Richard has always been incredibly supportive and readily offered his wisdom and experience for every situation. He has had an incredible business career and his guiding light has been his love for the game, and the determination to see football a part of the life of every Australian,” Mr Dillon said.

Mr Goyder chaired his last AGM today in Sydney, formally seeing in the election of Mr Drummond, and told the club Presidents on his retirement the game was in a strong position for the future.

“It has been a joy and privilege to be involved in footy from the first time I played the game as a young kid in country Western Australia,” Mr Goyder said to the meeting as his closing remarks.

“Footy in my view has always been the best sport in the world, with amazing athletes doing amazing things in our men’s and women’s competitions, and we have great people involved in our clubs at every level of the game.

“I’m incredibly excited about the opportunities for the game in the future and we can continue to grow and thrive if we continue to invest in the next generation of the game. We will soon have a new team in Tasmania and there are opportunities for growth and to bring new people to our game in every part of Australia.

“Football has an incoming Chair in Craig Drummond who puts the game first in everything he has done in football, and has had an outstanding business career, and he will lead the financial strength and balance sheet for the game.

“Andrew Dillon is a world-class CEO with a high-performing executive team around him and I’m looking forward to watching a lot of footy and seeing how the game takes its next steps.”

Richard Goyder – Major Game Milestones While Commission Chair

2018
- Optus Stadium opened as new home of football in WA

2019
- AFLW expansion to 10 teams.

2020
- AFLW expansion to 14 teams

2020- 21
- Mr Goyder and then-CEO Gillon McLachlan led the game’s Steering Group and journey through the Covid impacted-seasons of 2020 / 2021. The 2020 season was initially shutdown with the competition eventually resuming with a relocation to Queensland, requiring amendments or renegotiations to all of the AFL’s major CBA / commercial / broadcast / venue / government agreements through this initial period.

2022
- Biggest broadcast deal in history of Australian sport for 2025-2031 
- Full expansion to AFLW of 18 clubs.
- Commission enshrines a minimum 10 per cent of all football revenue to go back to game development / community football. By 2032 that will be $1billion.

2023
- Gather round introduced. 
- Appointment of Andrew Dillon as CEO.
- Awarding of 19th AFL club licence to Tasmania FC

2024 
- Introduction of Opening Round. 
- Largest attended, membership, viewership, participation season on record

2025
- Second largest attended season on record.
- Membership record broken again.
- Record participation. 
- Purchased Waverley Park.

2026
- Return of Origin football

By the numbers

2017 AFL attendances of 7.286m reached 8.25m in 2025.
2017 AFL club membership of 907,561 reached 1.363m in 2025
2017 AFL revenue of $650.6m reached $1.2b in 2025.