Format
Since 2003, Divisions One, Two, and Three have contained eight teams split into two groups of four teams. Each team plays the other three teams in their group once, playing one game on Saturday morning, another on Saturday afternoon, and a third on Sunday morning. The winners of each group advance to their division's grand final, which is held on Sunday afternoon.
Division Four and the Women's Division have had either six or eight teams compete. When only six teams compete, the clubs are divided into two groups of three teams each. Each team plays the other two in the group once. The third place teams play for placement on Sunday morning, while the other four cross over for the semi-finals. The two semi-finals winners meet in the grand final on Sunday afternoon.
The top two divisions are played as 18-a-side, which each team permitted to dress a maximum of 24 players. All teams in Divisions One and Two must be single entity squads; they may not combine with other teams. Division Three is played as 16-a-side, with no restrictions on the number of players on the interchange bench. Division Four is played 14-a-side, and the Women's Division is played 12-a-side, again with no limit to the number of players dressed per game.
All Divisions are subject to the "50-50 Rule", which require at least half of the players on the field at any one time to be "nationals" of the country that their team represents. Players of other origin are considered "non-nationals". Prior to 2009, the players were designated "Australian" and "non-Australian", with at least half of the players on the field needing to be "non-Australian".
In addition to premiership medals, awards are also given to outstanding players in each division. The Paul Roos Medal, named after the former AFL player and coach and former US Revolution coach, is awarded to each division's Best and Fairest. The Coopers Medal goes to the most consistent player in each division, while the Geoff Cann Medal goes to each of the Grand Final MVP's. The field umpires of the Grand Final are also awarded medals, receiving the Hayden Kennedy medal.
The USAFL has, over the last couple of years, attempted to keep Nationals in the Midwestern part of the United States in order to keep travel costs down for teams on the East and West coasts and for all teams to be able to bring as many players as they can.
The 2012 USAFL Nationals are scheduled for October 13th and 14th in Mason, Ohio, which hosted the 2009 tournament. In September, 2012, the USAFL announced that the 2011 host, Austin, Texas, would host the 2013 National Championships. The league also announced that Dublin, Ohio, which hosted the 2012 edition of the 49th Parallel Cup carnival, would host the 2014 tournament.
Read more about this topic: USAFL National Championships