Ahead of the last Saturday in September, AFL Chairman Richard Goyder has announced the appointment of two fresh faces set to join the AFL Commission.
Sydney Swans board member and former Magpie Andrew Ireland has accepted a role on the AFL board. Ireland played 110 games for Collingwood across six seasons and was famously a part of three Grand Final defeats at the height of the 'Colliwobbles'.
Since retiring from football in 1980, Ireland moved into football administration. His first major role came at the Brisbane Lions (FKA Brisbane Bears) in 1990 where he served as club CEO until 2001. Ireland joined the Swans in 2002 as the General Manager of Football before moving into the club CEO role in 2009. He retired from the role in 2018.
Along with Ireland is former Docker and Giants player Matt de Boer. de Boer retired at the end of the 2022 season after playing a total of 223 games of AFL football. The 33-year-old featured in two losing Grand Final sides, one for Fremantle in 2013 and one for GWS in 2019.
Regarded as one of the best taggers in modern football, de Boer made a name for himself as a shutdown midfielder. He limited some of the best in the business including Nat Fyfe and Dustin Martin.
Both of the new commissioners have a wealth of both playing and off-field experience that will most definitely aid the AFL Commission in years to come.
Goyder expressed his delight in the new appointments in a statement released on Monday.
โAndrew and Matt bring a great mix of club and football playing and administration experience across four states that gives them an insight into both how we play the game and also how we support the growth of the game and engage communities who currently are not connected to our game," said Goyder.โThey are also leaders with strong values and strong views who are passionate about our game and what it needs to do to continue to be the game of choice for Australia's best athletes.โ
The pair will formally begin their roles at the next AFL commissioner's meeting scheduled for October.
