The AFL’s commitment to being a more inclusive and accessible sport has been bolstered, with the introduction of closed captions on each AFL Club theme song during the 2022 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.

For the first time, closed captions will be displayed on the big screens for all 18 AFL Club theme songs on match days, allowing football fans from the Deaf and hard of hearing community the opportunity to be involved in their club’s song.

The AFL has worked closely with all 18 AFL Clubs and Expression Australia to deliver the initiative, with AFL Club theme songs reviewed by community members and experienced Auslan translators to ensure all accessibility requirements and considerations were met.

The closed caption initiative will commence from Round 1 of the 2022 Toyota AFL Premiership Season and run across all games nationally throughout the home and away season.

With one in six Australians experiencing hearing loss across the country, AFL Executive General Manager Inclusion and Social Policy Tanya Hosch said the initiative is another step forward to making Australian Football more accessible for fans. 

“There’s nothing better than being at the football and singing your club song after a win, so I’m thrilled the AFL has introduced closed captions for all 18 AFL Club songs to extend this joy to AFL fans from the Deaf and hard of hearing community,” Ms. Hosch said.

“I’d like to thank all 18 AFL Clubs for their support of this initiative who join with us in wanting to ensure that our game remains inclusive for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.”

AFL Disability Inclusion Manager Tim Nield said the new initiative would complement a host of services and programs available for people living with disability.

“The AFL’s closed caption initiative is one of a number of inclusion services available for fans at AFL matches, but this is just the start in terms of what we have planned to increase accessibility of our game for the Deaf and hard of hearing community. These will range from activations like this at the elite game, through increased participation opportunities at a grassroots level, and we look forward to announcing these once finalised,” Mr. Nield said.

“In addition, outside of our core participation programs, the AFL has a host of football programs available for people with disability including AFL Blind, AFL Wheelchair, all-abilities NAB AFL Auskick and community football competitions for people with an intellectual disability available across the country.”

For more information on AFL inclusion programs, visit community.afl/all-abilities or follow AFL Inclusion