The 2026 AFL Grand Final Haiku Kukai

Welcome to the annual celebration of Australian footy and haiku!

Calling haiku poets from all over the planet to participate in the Annual AFL Grand Final Haiku Kukai for 2026. Over the past decade this has become a much-loved event – the one day of the year when haiku poets (expert and novice), footy fans and misanthropes turn their Zen or otherwise addled minds to producing a live haiku call of the AFL Grand Final. Sounds bonkers, doesn’t it? Come along and find out!

This year, the grand final match up sees the Fremantle Dockers take on the Brisbane Lions in a much-anticipated clash at the home of football, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday 27th September at 2.30 pm AEST.

Like the game itself, there are no hard and fast rules. Any style of haiku is acceptable (*see tips below). Even 5-7-5. One line or three. Just keep it nice. I reserve the right to remove any ‘questionable’ posts.

So, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, whoever you are supporting, send us some haiku of your experience of watching the game. Whether you are inside the stadium, on your couch, bed, backyard, dunny or at the local pub, send us haiku throughout the game. This is a most unique grand final experience.

The event is open now (on Facebook, or in the comments section below) and we will be accepting haiku all week in the lead-up to the game to capture some of the pre-game atmosphere.

Happy haikuing and see you at the game!

Rob Scott (aka Haiku Bob)

* For hints, tips, ideas about the different styles of haiku click on the following links:

https://australianhaikusociety.org/haiku-resources/
https://echidnatracks.com/