The AFL today advised the 18 clubs that it does not plan to introduce player surnames as a permanent feature on AFL club guernseys.

A trial of names on the back of all player guernseys was conducted by the AFL during Round Five of the Toyota AFL Premiership Season this year.

AFL General Manager Commercial Operations, Darren Birch, said the trial had highlighted the practical limitations in making the concept work for AFL guernseys.

“The Round Five trial demonstrated that the unique cut of AFL guernseys restricts the size of lettering that can be used and this in turn limits the legibility of the player names for fans at the ground, and to a lesser extent, for those watching on television or via other media channels,” Mr Birch said.

“To varying degrees depending on the club, there is only limited space available on the back of match day guernseys for suitably sized names due to player numbers, club acronyms and sponsor logos.

“The trial demonstrated that while the concept of player names might be a good one in theory, in practice it does not work as well as we would like.”

Mr Birch said there had to be compelling benefits to the overall fan experience to justify such a significant change to the traditional look of player guernseys.

“The guernsey is such an integral part of our game’s heritage, particularly the iconic feature of player numbers as the standalone point of reference for identifying players,” Mr Birch said.

“Feedback from fans and clubs to the Round Five trial of player names was mixed, with some seeing it as moving with the times, whereas others believing strongly we should hold onto this element of the game’s heritage by sticking to player numbers. However, consistent amongst much of the feedback was that the player names were not visible enough to be truly effective.”

Mr Birch thanked the club’s on-field apparel partners for their support in enabling the Round Five trial to go ahead and said that player names could still feature from time-to-time as part of one-off matches should clubs want to go down that path and the AFL agrees.