Australian rules football

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"Australian rules" redirects here. For other uses, see Australian
rules (disambiguation).

Australian
football
Australian rules football

The Essendon
Football Club (black), playing against the St Kilda
Football Club (white) in an AFL match.

Highest governing
body

AFL
Commission

Nickname(s)

Australian rules football, football, footy, Aussie rules, AFL, Aussie
rules football

First played

1859, Melbourne, Australia

Registered players

693,052 (total) (2008)
130,000 (adult) (2007)

Clubs

2,659

Characteristics

Contact

Contact

Team members

22

Mixed gender

Single

Categorization

Outdoor

Equipment

Football

Olympic

No

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian
football,[1]
also informally known as football, Aussie rules or (colloquially)
as footy[2]
(and in some regions called—erroneously—AFL, after the Australian
Football League, the only fully professional Australian rules football
league) is a sport played
between two teams of 22 players (18 on the field, and four interchanges) on
either an Australian
rules football ground or a modified cricket field.

The objective of the game is to score points by passing the ball through the
opponent's goal. The main way to score points is by kicking the ball
between the major goal posts. The team with the higher total score at the end of
the match wins[3]
unless either a draw is declared or a tie-break is
used.[4]

During play, players may position themselves anywhere on the field and use
any part of their body to move the ball. The primary methods are kicking, handballing
and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled: for
example, players running with the ball must intermittently bounce
or touch it on the ground. Throwing the ball is not allowed and players must
not get caught holding
the ball. Possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when a
free
kick is paid. A distinctive feature of the game is the mark, where
players anywhere on the field who catch a ball from a kick (with specific
conditions), are awarded a free kick.[5]
Australian rules is a contact sport, in which players can tackle using
their hands or use their whole body to obstruct
opponents. Dangerous physical contact (such as pushing an opponent in the
back), interference when marking and deliberately slowing the play are
discouraged with free kicks, distance penalties or
suspension,
depending on the seriousness of the infringement. Frequent physical contests,
aerial marking or "speckies", fast movement of both
players and the ball and high scoring are the game's main attributes.

Details of the
game's origins in Australia are obscure and still the subject of much
debate. Australian football became organised in Melbourne in May 1859, when the
first laws of the
game were published by the Melbourne Football
Club.[6]

Australian football is a major participation and spectator sport in
Australia.[7][8]
Australian football is also played at amateur
level in several countries and in several
variations.

The most prestigious competition is the Australian
Football League (AFL), which culminates in the annual AFL Grand Final;
currently the highest attended club championship event in the world. Australian
football is governed by the AFL Commission which also runs the AFL competition
and the rules are decided by the AFL's Laws of the Game Committee.

Contents

1 Rules of the
game

2 Structure and
competitions

3 History

3.1 Origins

3.2 First
rules

3.3 Early competition in
Victoria

3.4 Spread to other
colonies

3.5 Emergence of the
VFL

3.6 Effects of the two
world wars

3.7 Interstate football and
the Australian National Football Council

3.8 Towards a national club
competition

4 Australian football
internationally

4.1 International Rules
Football

5 Australian rules football
culture

6 Australian Football Hall of
Fame

7 See also

8 References

9 External
links

[edit]
Rules of the game

Main article: Laws of
Australian football

For terminology, see Glossary
of Australian rules football.

See also: Australian
rules football playing field and Australian
rules football tactics and skills

Precise field and goal kicking using the oval
shaped ball is the most important skill in Australian rules.

Catching (called marking in the game) an oval
shaped football in the air is another important skill

Typical Australian
rules football playing field.

Both the ball and the field of play are elliptical in shape. No more
than 18 players of each team are permitted to be on the field at any time.

Up to four interchange
(reserve) players may be swapped for those on the field at any time during the
game. In Australian
rules terminology, these players wait for substitution "on the bench" — an
area with a row of seats on the sideline. Players must interchange through a
designated interchange "gate" with strict penalties for too many players from
one side on the field.

There is no offside rule nor are
there set positions in the rules; unlike many other forms of football, players
from both teams may disperse across the whole field before the start of play.
However, a typical on-field structure consists of six forwards,
six defenders
or "backmen" and six midfielders,
usually comprised of two wingmen, one centre
and three followers,
including a ruckman,
ruck-rover
and rover.
Only four players from each team are allowed within 50 metres (55 yd) of
the centre square before every centre bounce, which occurs at the commencement
of each quarter, and to restart the game after a goal is scored. There are also
other rules pertaining to allowed player positions during set plays (that is
after a mark or free kick) and during kick-ins following the scoring of a
behind.

A game consists of four quarters and a timekeeper officiates their duration.
In professional Australian football, quarters are 20 minutes plus time on. Time
on refers to clock being stopped when the ball is out of play, meaning that an
average quarter could last for 27 to 31 minutes. At the end of each quarter,
teams change their scoring end.

Games are officiated by umpires.
Australian football begins after the first siren, the umpire
bounces the ball on
the ground (or throws it into the air if the condition of the ground is
poor), and the two ruckmen
(typically the tallest players from each team), battle for the ball in the air
on its way back down. This is known as the ball-up. Certain disputes
during play may also be settled with a ball-up from the point of
contention. If the ball ever goes out of bounds (beyond the oval boundary line
around the edge of the field), a boundary umpire will stand with his back to the
infield and return the ball into play with a throw-in, a high backwards
toss.

The ball can be propelled in any direction by way of a foot, clenched fist
(called a handball
or handpass) or open-hand tap but it cannot be thrown under any
circumstances. Once a player takes possession of the ball he must dispose of it
by either kicking or handballing it. Any other method of disposal is illegal and
will result in a free kick to the opposing team. This is usually called
"incorrect disposal", "dropping the ball" or "throwing". If the ball is not in
the possession of one player it can be moved on with any part of the body.

A player may run with the ball but it must be bounced or touched on the
ground at least once every 15 metres. Opposition players may bump or tackle the player
to obtain the ball and, when tackled, the player must dispose of the ball
cleanly or risk being penalised for holding the ball. The
ball carrier may only be tackled between the shoulders and knees. If the
opposition player forcefully contacts a player in the back whilst performing a
tackle, the opposition player will be penalised for a push in the back. If
the opposition tackles the player with possession below the knees (a low
tackle or a trip) or above the shoulders (a high tackle), the
team with possession of the football gets a free kick.

If a player takes possession of the ball that has travelled more than
15 metres (16 yd) from another player's kick, by way of a catch, it is
claimed as a mark and
that player is then awarded a free kick (meaning that the game stops
while he prepares to kick from the point at which he marked). Alternatively, he
may choose to "play on": forfeiting the set shot in the hope of pressing an
advantage for his team (rather than allowing the opposition to reposition while
he prepares for the free kick). Once a player has chosen to play on, normal play
resumes and the player who took the mark is again able to be tackled.

There are different styles of kicking
depending on how the ball is held in the hand. The most common style of kicking
seen in today's game, principally because of its superior accuracy, is the drop punt (the ball is dropped
from the hands down, almost to the ground, to be kicked so that the ball rotates
in a reverse end over end motion as it travels through the air). Other commonly
used kicks are the torpedo
punt (also known as the spiral, barrel, or screw punt; the ball is held at
an angle and kicked, which makes the ball spiral in the air, like a rugby throw, resulting in
extra distance) and the checkside punt or
"banana", kicked across the ball on the outside of the foot is used to curve the
ball (towards the right if kicked off the right foot) towards targets that are
on an angle. There is also the "snap," which is almost the same as a checkside
punt, except that it is kicked off the inside of the foot and curves in the
opposite direction. It is also possible to kick the ball so that it bounces
along the ground. This is known as a "grubber". Grubbers can bounce in a
straight line, or curve to the left or right.

Apart from free kicks or when the ball is in the possession of an umpire for
a ball up or throw in, the ball is always in dispute and any
player from either side can take possession of the ball.

The two tall central posts are the goal posts, and
the two shorter outer posts are the behind posts.

A goal is scored when the football is propelled through the goal posts
at any height (including above the height of the posts) by way of a kick from
the attacking team. It may fly through "on the full" (without touching the
ground) or bounce through, but must not have been touched, on the way, by any
player from either team. A goal cannot be scored from the foot of an opposition
(defending) player.

A behind is scored when the ball passes between a goal post and a
behind post at any height, or if the ball hits a goal post, or if an attacking
player sends the ball between the goal posts by touching it with any part of the
body other than a foot. A behind is also awarded to the attacking team if the
ball touches any part of an opposition player, including his foot, before
passing between the goal posts. When an opposition player deliberately scores a
behind for the attacking team (generally as a last resort, because of the risk
of their scoring a goal) this is termed a rushed behind. Before the
start of the 2009 season, there was no penalty imposed for rushing a behind.
However, in 2008 a new rule was introduced[9]
whereby a player rushing a behind deliberately will concede a free kick in the
goal square as well as the behind.

A goal is worth 6 points whereas a behind is worth 1 point. The goal
umpire signals a goal with two hands raised at elbow height, a behind with
one hand, and then confirms the signal with the other goal umpire by waving
flags above his head.

The team that has scored the most points at the end of play wins the game. If
the scores are level on points at the end of play, then the game is a draw;
extra time applies only during finals matches in some competitions.

As an example of a score report, Team 1 and Team 2. Team 1's score of 15
goals and 10 behinds equates to 100 points. Team 2's score of 13 goals and 12
behinds equates to a 90 point tally. Team 1 wins the match by a margin of 10
points. Such a result would be written as "Team 1 15.10 (100) defeated
Team 2 13.12 (90)" and is said "Team 1: fifteen, ten, one hundred,
defeated Team 2: thirteen, twelve, ninety".

[edit]
Structure and
competitions

Main article: Australian
rules football in Australia

See also: Australian
rules football around the world

The football season, proper, is from March to August (early autumn to
late winter in Australia) with finals being held in September.[10]
In the tropics, the game is
sometimes played in the wet
season (October to March).[11]
Pre-season competitions in southern Australia
usually begin in late February.

The AFL is recognised by the Australian
Sports Commission as being the National Sporting Organisation for Australian
rules football.[12]
There are also seven state/territory-based organisations in Australia, most of
which are now either owned by or affiliated to the AFL.[13]

Most of these hold annual semi-professional club competitions while the
others oversee more than one league. Local semi-professional or amateur
organisations and competitions are often affiliated to their state
organisations.

The AFL is the de
facto world governing body for Australian rules football. There are also
a number of affiliated organisations governing amateur
clubs and competitions around the world.[14]

For almost all Australian rules club competitions the aim is to win the
Premiership. The premiership is always decided by a finals series.
The teams that occupy the highest positions on the ladder play off in a
"semi-knockout" finals series. From the 1930s the finals series was usually
contested by the top four teams (3rd versus 4th (First semifinal); 1st
versus 2nd (Second semifinal); winner of First versus loser of Second
(Preliminary final); the winner of Second versus winner of Preliminary
playing in the Grand Final for the
premiership). Many leagues have adopted a final series involving 5, 6 or 8 teams
with a variety of methods used to determine the winner. The AFL finals system is
contested by the top 8 teams.

Unlike many association
football competitions there are usually no separate "league" and "cup"
trophies. The team finishing first on the ladder is often referred to as a
'minor premier', although this bears little or no significance. In the AFL, this
is the McClelland
Trophy[15]
and is considered a consolation prize. The
team that finishes at the bottom of the ladder at the end of the season receives
'the wooden spoon'.[16]

It is uncommon for promotion and
relegation to occur in Australian football state level competitions although
it is common among suburban leagues (such as the Eastern
Football League and Victorian Amateur Football
Association in Melbourne).

[edit]
History

[edit]
Origins

See also: Origins
of Australian rules football

A statue next to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on
the approximate site of the 1858 "foot-ball" match between Melbourne Grammar and
Scotch College. Tom Wills is depicted umpiring behind two young players
contesting the ball. The plaque reads: "Wills did more than any other person –
as footballer and umpire, co-writer of the rules and promoter of the game – to
develop Australian Football during its first decade."

As early as 1841, there is documented evidence of "foot-ball" being played in
metropolitan and country Victoria as well as
mention of early matches in Adelaide (1843) and southern Van Diemen's Land
(Tasmania). While the exact rules being played in these matches are unknown they
may have shared similarities and influences.

In 1858 English
public school football games began to be played in Melbourne and surrounding
districts. The earliest known such match was played on 15 June 1858 between
Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar
School on the St Kilda
foreshore.[17][18]

A letter by Tom Wills
was published in Bell's Life in
Victoria & Sporting Chronicle on 10 July 1858, calling for a
"foot-ball club," or some other "athletic game," with a "code of laws" to keep
cricketers fit during
winter.[19]
This letter is regarded by many historians as being a catalyst for the
development of a new code of football in 1859 today known as Australian
football.

On 31 July, a knock-a-bout match at Yarra Park was played between a "St Kilda
scratch team" and
"Melbourne scratch team". Trees were used for goal posts and there were no
boundaries and the match lasted from 1pm until dark. There were no rules and
fights frequently broke out. Melbourne being a relatively young city, the
majority of the early players were migrants and the media of the time noted that
participants of each nationality played the game their own distinctive way: the
English played in a fashion that resembled rugby football, the
Scottish played recklessly, and the Irish played in a fashion that resembled the
ancient Irish sport of Gaelic football.[20]

Another significant milestone in the sport's development was a match between
Melbourne
Grammar School and Scotch
College, which began on 7 August 1858 at Richmond Park, was umpired by Wills
and Macadam,[21]
and which also involved Scotch headmaster Thomas H. Smith.[22]
A second day of play took place on 21 August[23]
and a third, and final, day on 4 September.[24]
While the full rules that were used is unknown, some details of the match
survived. It was played with a round ball, the distance between the goals was
approximately half a mile (approximately four times longer than the modern Melbourne Cricket
Ground playing surface), there were 40 players per side and one goal each
side was scored with the game being declared a draw. The two schools have
competed annually ever since for the Cordner-Eggleston
Cup.[25]

[edit]
First rules

See also: History
of Australian rules football in Victoria (1859-1900)

The Melbourne Football Club rules of 1859 are the oldest surviving set of
laws for Australian football. The ten
simple rules were drawn up on 17 May in a meeting was chaired by Wills and
in attendance were journalists W. J. Hammersley and
J. B. Thompson.[24]
Accounts of the people directly involved differ. Some sources claim that Thomas
H. Smith,[26]
Alex Bruce[26]
and or H. C. A.
Harrison[27]
were also present. The meeting was held at the Parade Hotel, East Melbourne hosted by
owner and Melbourne Cricket Club member Jerry Bryant. The publican was a friend
of Tom Wills with a personal interest in introducing football to Melbourne's
schools. Bryant had played a role in organising early football matches at the
nearby Richmond Park and his son was one of the first players.[28]
The rules were signed by Tom Wills, William Hammersley, J. Sewell, J. B.
Thompson, Alex Bruce, T. Butterworth and Thomas H. Smith. Importantly, the rules
were widely publicised and distributed.

[edit]
Early competition in
Victoria

See also: List
of Australian rules football clubs by date of establishment

A game at the Richmond Paddock in the
1860s. A pavilion at the MCG is on the
left in the background. (A wood engraving made by
Robert Bruce on 27 July 1866.)

In 1859 several new football clubs formed including the Castlemaine
Football Club, Geelong Football
Club (which Wills directly helped to form) and the Melbourne
University Football Club. While many one-off matches are recorded to have
taken place between several early teams from Melbourne's suburbs and country
Victoria (such as the Ballarat and Geelong
competitions), in the early days many had not yet formed clubs for regular
competition.

The first ever trophy for Australian Football, the 1861 Challenge Cup,
was won in 1862 under Melbourne's rules by University over Melbourne. The
competition continued into the 1860s with the addition of other teams from
Melbourne's suburbs. Two further competitions, the South Yarra Challenge Cup
(which had evolved from the Caledonian Games) and "Second Twenties" were held in
the 1860s and 1870s.

Some rival rules eventually gave way to an acceptance of the Melbourne rules.
In 1860, the Melbourne Football Club redrafted its rules following the input of
several other clubs. The requirement to bounce the ball while running was
introduced in a significant redraft of the Melbourne rules in 1866 by H.C.A.
Harrison and his rules committee to satisfy the Geelong Football Club's own set
of very different rules.[29]
Behind posts were introduced at this time are also believed to have come
directly from the Geelong rules. The new rules became known as the Victorian
rules, which became more widely adopted. In 1869, a 100-minute time limit was
introduced to the game for the first time. Previous to this, winners were
decided in a number of ways, but most commonly the first side to kick two
goals.

The relationship with cricket primarily came out of co-existence and many of
football's founders were cricketers. As a result, the sport shares some
terminology (i.e. "umpires" and "boundary"). However cricket authorities did not
initially allow football to be played on their grounds and in the early years
football was played primarily in parks. The first football match played at the
Melbourne
Cricket Ground (MCG) was not until 1876. Cricket authorities soon saw the
opportunity to capitalise on the rapid growth of Australian Football, however,
and soon most grounds in Victoria were expanded to accommodate the dual purpose,
a situation that continues to this day.

Football matches between 1859 and 1899 were played in a 20-per-side
format.

[edit]
Spread to other
colonies

An engraving of the first intercolonial match
between Victoria and South Australia in Melbourne in 1879. Victoria won 7 goals
to 0

Main article: Australian
rules football in Australia

Gradually the game – known at first as "Melbourne rules" became "Victorian
rules" and then "Australian rules" or "Australasian rules" following its spread
from Victoria into other Australasian colonies, beginning with South
Australia (Although there is conjecture that the game co-developed in South
Australia, with games recorded as far back as 1843),[30]
Tasmania
(1864), Queensland
(1866), and New
Zealand (1871). In 1877, the sport's first governing bodies,
the South Australian Football
Association and the Victorian Football
Association were formed on 30 April and 17 May respectively. The game began
to be played in New
South Wales in 1877, in Western
Australia in 1881 (During the 1880s,
young men sent to school in Adelaide brought the game home when they had
finished their education - more came from the eastern states later in the WA
gold rush) and the Australian
Capital Territory in 1911. By 1916, the game was first played in the Northern
Territory, establishing a permanent presence in all Australian
states and mainland territories.

The South
Australian National Football League (SANFL), formerly named the South
Australian Football Association, and the West
Australian Football League (WAFL), formerly named the Western Australian
Football Association, were strong, separate competitions by the 1890s.[31]
However, late in the century the code began to decline in New South Wales and
Queensland largely due to interstate
rivalries and the lack of strong local governing bodies. In the case of
Sydney, denial of access to grounds and the loss of professional players to
other football codes directly inhibited to the game's growth.

The first intercolonial
match had been played between Victoria and South Australia on 2 August
1879.

[edit]
Emergence of the VFL

In 1896, delegates from the stronger and wealthier VFA clubs - Geelong,
Essendon, Collingwood, Fitzroy, Melbourne and South Melbourne met to form a
breakaway competition and in 1897, the Victorian
Football League (VFL), was born as an eight-team competition. Popularity of
the VFL grew rapidly and by 1925 with 12 teams, had become the most prominent
league in the game and would dominate so many aspects of the sport from that
point on.

[edit]
Effects of the two
world wars

Australian soldiers, sailors, and airmen take part
in an impromptu game of end-to-end Australian rules football in Central Australia in
1944.

A NSW player outmarks a West Australian opponent in
the goal square at the 1933 Australian
Football Carnival at the Sydney Cricket
Ground.

Further information: The VFL during
the World Wars and VFL/AFL
players who died in active service

Both World War I and World War II had a devastating effect on the sport of
Australian football and on Australian sport in general. While scratch matches
were played by Australian "diggers" in remote
locations around the world, the game lost many of its great players to wartime
service. Some competitions never fully recovered. Between 1914 and 1915 talks
were held for a proposed amalgamation with rugby league, the
predominant code of football in New South Wales and Queensland was considered
and trialled.[32][33]
World War I saw the game in New Zealand go into recess for three quarters of a
century. In Queensland, the state league went into recess for the duration of
the war. VFL club University left the league and went into recess due to severe
casualties. The WAFL lost two clubs and the SANFL was suspended for one year in
1916 due to heavy club losses. The ANZAC Day clash
is one example of how the war continues to be remembered in the football
community.

[edit]
Interstate football and the Australian National Football
Council

Further information: Interstate
matches in Australian rules football

The Australian National Football Council's primary role was to govern the
game at national level to facilitate interstate representative and club
competition.

The ANFC ran the Championship of
Australia, the first national club competition, which first ran in 1888 and
saw clubs from different states compete on an even playing field. During this
time, the Port
Adelaide won a record four national club championships. Although clubs from
other states were at times invited, the final was almost always between the
premiers from the two strongest state competitions of the time, – South
Australia and Victoria – and the majority of matches were played in Adelaide at
the request of the SAFA/SAFL.
By the 1960s, as VFL clubs increasingly recruited the best players from other
states, they began to dominate the competition and the last match was played in
1976, with North
Adelaide being the last non-Victorian winner in 1972. Between 1977 and 1987,
the Australian Football Council (AFC) in conjunction with the VFL ran a night
series, which invited clubs and representative sides from around the country
to participate in the "National Football League" for the Wills Cup, however
Victorian sides still dominated.

With the lack of international competition, representative matches between
state teams were regarded with great importance. Originating from the early
intercolonial matches, these tests continued well after Federation of
Australia in 1901 and the Australian Football Council co-ordinated regular
interstate carnivals. In 1908, a Jubilee Australasian
Football Carnival was held to celebrate 50 years of Australian rules
football. The carnival included teams representing Victoria,
South
Australia, Queensland,
New
South Wales, Tasmania,
Western
Australia and New
Zealand.[34]
Again, due primarily to the VFL recruiting the best players, Victoria dominated
interstate matches for three quarters of a century. Representative football was
kept alive longer than the national club competition with the introduction of State
of origin rules in 1977. The new rules mean that rather than representing
the state of their adopted club, players would return to play for the state they
were first recruited in. This instantly broke Victoria's stranglehold over state
titles and Western Australia and South Australia began to win many of their
games against Victoria. Both New South Wales and Tasmania scored surprise
victories at home against Victoria in 1990.

[edit]
Towards a
national club competition

An AFL Premiership season match at Carrara Stadium on the
Gold Coast
between Adelaide and Melbourne. The
AFL is the most
attended national competition in Australia and the only fully professional
league for Australian football in the world.

In 1978, the term Barassi
Line was used to describe the football dichotomy that had emerged in
Australia over three quarters of a century and also the first suggestion of
regular interstate club competition or national league.[35]

By 1980, the way the game was played had changed dramatically, with the
phasing out of many of the game's kicking styles, changing rules and the
influence of the handballing game and television.[36]

In 1982, in a move that heralded big changes within the sport, one of the
original VFL clubs, South Melbourne, relocated to the rugby league stronghold of
Sydney and became known as the Sydney Swans as it was on
verge of going out of business. In the late 1980s, due to the poor financial
standing of many of the Victorian clubs, the VFL led to a more national
competition; two more non-Victorian clubs, the West Coast Eagles and
the Brisbane
Bears began playing in 1987. In their early years, the Sydney and Brisbane
clubs continued to struggle both on and off-field before an eventual bailout by the league, which
granted significant draft concessions and financial aid to keep them
competitive. Each club was required to pay a licence fee which allowed the
Victorian based clubs to survive.

The league changed its name to the Australian
Football League (AFL) following the 1989 season. In 1991, it gained its
first South Australian team, Adelaide, which paid five
million dollars to enter the AFL. During the next five years, two more
non-Victorian teams, Fremantle and Port
Adelaide, joined the league. The AFL, currently with 16 member clubs, is the
sport's elite competition and the most powerful body and continues to seek
further opportunities to expand into new markets.

Following the emergence of the Australian Football League, the SANFL, WAFL
and other state leagues rapidly declined to a secondary status. Apart from these
there are many semi-professional and amateur leagues around Australia, where
they play a very important role in the community, and particularly so in rural
areas. The VFA, still in existence a century after the original schism, merged
with the former VFL reserves competition in 1998. The new entity adopted the VFL
name and remained a primarily state based competition.

State of origin games also declined in importance, especially after an
increasing number of withdrawals by AFL players. The AFL turned its focus for
representation to an annual International
Rules Series against Ireland in 1998 before abolishing State of Origin in
1999. The second-tier state and territorial leagues still contest interstate
representative matches.

Although Tasmanian
AFL Bid has been ongoing, rather than pursue a national competition, the
AFL's focus has become gaining marketshare in lucrative and broadcasting rights
in the more populous Australian states and has advanced plans to create football
franchises on the Gold Coast,
Queensland (Gold Coast Football
Club) and in Greater Western
Sydney (Greater
Western Sydney Football Club). The AFL regularly schedules pre-season
exhibition matches in all Australian states and territories as part of the Regional
Challenge.

[edit]
Australian
football internationally

Action from a 1999 Aussie rules football match in
Nauru
at the Linkbelt
Oval

Main article: Australian
rules football around the world

Australian rules football is played at an amateur level in various
countries around the world. Over 30 countries are home to clubs or leagues
who play regularly, with around 20 that have either affiliation or working
agreements with the AFL.[37]
There have been several players in
the VFL/AFL who were born outside Australia and since 1982, an increasing
number of players have been recruited from outside Australia through initiatives
such as the Irish
experiment and more recently, international scholarship programs.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the game spread with the Australian Diaspora
to areas such as New Zealand and South Africa; however this growth went into
rapid decline following World War I. After World War II, the sport experienced a
small amount of growth in the Pacific region, particularly in Nauru,
Papua
New Guinea and later New
Zealand.

Most of the current amateur clubs and leagues in existence have developed
since the 1980s, when leagues began to be established in North
America, Europe
and Asia.
As the size of the Australian diaspora has increased, so has the number of clubs
outside Australia. This expansion has been further aided by
multiculturalism and assisted by exhibition
matches as well as exposure generated through players
who have converted to and from other football codes. In Papua New Guinea,
New Zealand, South Africa and the United States there are many thousands of
players.

The AFL became the de facto governing body when it pushed for the closure of
the International
Australian Football Council in 2002. The Australian
Football International Cup is currently the highest level of senior
international competition.

[edit]
International Rules
Football

Main article: International
rules football

Since 1967 there have been many matches between Australian rules football
teams (mainly from Australia) and Gaelic football teams
(mainly from Ireland), under various sets of hybrid, compromise rules known as
International
rules football. In 1984, the first official representative matches of
International Rules were played, and these were played annually each October
between the AFL and the Gaelic Athletic
Association, also known as the GAA, between 1998 and 2006. These were part
of the official International
Rules Series, which attracted large crowds and media interest in Ireland and
Australia. In 2007 the international rules series was abandoned because of the
aggression and the severity of the Australian team in the previous year, but in
2008, under new rules to protect the player with the ball, it resumed in
Australia.

[edit]
Australian rules
football culture

Before the start of each AFL match, players run
through a banner constructed by supporters.

Australian rules football is popular amongst
indigenous communities.

Main article: Australian
rules football culture

See also: Australian
rules football in Australia and Barassi Line

Australian football is a sport rich in tradition and Australian cultural
references, especially surrounding the rituals of gameday for players, officials
and supporters.

Australian football has attracted more overall interest among Australians (as
measured by the Sweeney Sports report) than any other football code, and, when
compared with all sports throughout the nation, has consistently ranked first in
the winter reports, and most recently third behind cricket and swimming in summer.[38]

In 2006, a total of 615,549 registered participants played Australian
football in Australia.[39]
Participation increased 7.84% between 2005–06.[39]
The Australian
Sports Commission statistics show a 42% increase in the total number of
participants over the 4 year period between 2001–2005.[40]

Australian football is played in more than 30 countries around the world.[14]
In 2004, there were a total of over 25,000 participants outside of
Australia.[41]
This has grown to about 35,000 people in 32 countries playing in structured
competitions outside of Australia[42]
Australian rules is the national sport of Nauru.[43]

Many related games have emerged from football, mainly with variations of
contact to encourage greater participation. These include Kick-to-kick (and its
variants such as 'End to End Footy' and 'Markers Up'), Auskick, Rec Footy,
Women's
Australian rules football, 9-a-side Footy, Masters
Australian Football, handball and longest-kick competitions. Players outside
of Australia sometimes engage in related games on the available fields, like Metro Footy (played on
gridiron fields) and Samoa
Rules (played on rugby fields).

[edit]
Australian Football
Hall of Fame

Main article: Australian
Football Hall of Fame

For the centenary of the VFL/AFL in 1996, the Australian Football Hall of
Fame was established. In that year 136 identities were inducted, including 100
players, 10 coaches, 10 umpires, 10 administrators and six media
representatives.[44]

The selections have caused some controversy, mainly because of the
predominance of VFL players at the expense of those who played in other leagues
in the years before there was a national competition.[citation
needed]

The elite Legend status was bestowed on 12 members of the Hall of Fame
in 1996: Ron Barassi, Haydn Bunton Senior,
Roy Cazaly, John
Coleman, Jack Dyer, Polly Farmer, Leigh Matthews, John
Nicholls, Bob Pratt, Dick Reynolds, Bob Skilton and Ted Whitten (see above list
for further details).

The following ten members have been promoted to the status of "Legend" since
1996: Ian
Stewart (1997), Gordon Coventry (1998),
Peter Hudson (1999), Kevin
Bartlett (2000), Barrie
Robran (2001), Bill
Hutchison (2003), Jock
McHale (2005), Darrel
Baldock (2006), Norm
Smith (2007), Alex
Jesaulenko (2008)[45]
and Kevin
Murray (2010).[46]

[edit]
See also

Australian
rules football portal

Australian
rules football attendance records

Australian
rules football positions

List
of Australian rules football clubs

List
of Australian rules football terms

[edit]
References

^
"Australian Football (Official title of the code)".
Afl.com.au. http://www.afl.com.au/About/tabid/13532/default.aspx#title. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
"History
website". Footy.com.au. http://www.footy.com.au/dags/FAQ1v1-5.html. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
(p. 10)[dead
link]

^
In some special situations such as the 1977 VFL Grand Final or other such
knock out situations, if the score is tied, either extra time or a rematch the
following week is required to get a result.

^
(pg 51)[dead
link]

^
History Official Website of the Australian Football
League

^
"4174.0 – Sports Attendance, Australia, Apr 1999".
Abs.gov.au. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/ProductsbyReleaseDate/E298CEE24565C911CA256DEF007248FF?OpenDocument. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
"4174.0 – Sports Attendance, Australia, 2005–06".
Abs.gov.au. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4174.02005-06?OpenDocument. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/all-clear-for-rushed-behind-rule/story-e6frf9jf-1225700531493

^
http://mm.afl.com.au/afl_archive/cp2/c2/webi/article/304261bn.pdf

^
(pg 7)[dead
link]

^
"Australian
Institute of Sport – Australian football". Ais.org.au. http://www.ais.org.au/austrules/index.asp. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
(pg 3)[dead
link]

^ a
b
"International – Official Website of the Australian Football
League". Afl.com.au. http://www.afl.com.au/Development/International/tabid/10238/Default.aspx. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
"The McClelland Trophy". Fullpointsfooty.net. http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/the_mcclelland_trophy.htm. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
"AFL Explained – Official Website of the Australian Football
League". Afl.com.au. http://afl.com.au/Development/AFLExplained/tabid/10294/Default.aspx#wooden. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
"St Kilda Historical Society Aug–Sep 2008." (PDF). http://www.skhs.org.au/~SKHSnewsletter1/newsletters/Insert%20%20Footy%20150,%20Aug-Sept%202008.pdf. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
The Melbourne Book – A History of Now. Published 2003. Hardie Grant Books.
South Yarra. ISBN 1
74066 049 8. pg. 182

^
"Letter from Tom Wills". MCG website. Archived from the original on June 25, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060625081726/http://www.mcg.org.au/default.asp?pg=footballdisplay&articleid=37. Retrieved 14 July 2006.

^
http://www.skhs.org.au/~SKHSnewsletter1/newsletters/Insert%20%20Footy%20150,%20Aug-Sept%202008.pdf

^
The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848–1954) Monday 9 August 1858

^
pg 36. Melbourne FC Since 1858 – An Illustrated History

^
The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848–1954) Tuesday 17 August 1858

^ a
b
Ken Piesse (1995). The
Complete Guide to Australian Football. Pan Macmillan Australia. ISBN 0-330-35712-3.  p303.

^
"Scotch College – Cordner-Eggleston Cup". Scotch.vic.edu.au.
17 August 2000. http://www.scotch.vic.edu.au/Sport/Arules/coregg/cordegg.htm. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^ a
b
Thomas Smith himself made this claim in response to an article about the
history of Melbourne FC in The Australasian published 26 February 1876 (from
Melbourne FC Since 1858 – An Illustrated History pg 36). Smith's personal
account mentions Thompson arriving after the decision to form the club

^
Harrison's involvement in the early stages is believed by many to be due to
him being perceived as the "father of the game" in later decades and
subsequent erroneous reporting

^
pg 20–10. Melbourne FC Since 1858 – An Illustrated History. Goeff Slattery
Publishing

^
G.M. Hibbins Sport and Racing in Colonial Melbourne: The Cousin and Me –
Colden Harrison, Tom Wills and William Hammersley Lynedoch 2007 chs 8, 9

^
SANFL – History of the SANFL

^
http://www.sanfl.com.au/the_sanfl/history_of_the_sanfl/

^
"Football in australia". Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII,
Issue 122, (New Zealand): p. 8. 19 November 1914. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19141119.2.81.6. Retrieved 3 December 2009.

^
"Football amalgamation". Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX,
Issue 27 (New Zealand): p. 8. 2 February 1915.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19150202.2.110. Retrieved 3 December 2009.

^
"A False
Dawn". Fullpointsfooty.net. 20 August 1908. http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/a_false_dawn.htm. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
Referenced in Hutchinson, Garrie (1983). The
Great Australian Book of Football Stories. Melbourne: Currey
O'Neil.

^
WICKS, B. M. Whatever Happened to Australian Rules? Hobart, Tasmania, Libra
Books. 1980, First Edition. (ISBN
0-909619-06-9)

^
AFL International Development

^
Media Release, Sweeney Sport report for 2006–07
"If you can kick it, Australia will watch it". The Sydney
Morning Herald. 22 May 2003. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/22/1053196670542.html.

^ a
b
"More chase Sherrin than before". Realfooty.com.au. http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/we-love-aussie-rules/2007/06/19/1182019117471.html. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
Participation in Exercise, Recreation and Sport Survey 2005
Annual Report[dead
link]

^
Brett. "World Footy Census". Worldfootynews.com. http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php?story=20050301074107992. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
Curtis, R. (2008) "Pacific nations bemoan AFL neglect", The Sunday Age,
11 May 2008

^
"Team Profile: Nauru Chiefs". Afl.com.au. 30 July 2008. http://afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=64399. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
2005,15,8. "AFL
Hall of Fame and Sensation". Getaway.ninemsn.com.au.
http://getaway.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=50720. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
"Legends – Official Website of the Australian Football
League". Afl.com.au. http://www.afl.com.au/Season2007/Awards/HallofFame/Legends/tabid/855/Default.aspx. Retrieved 19 February 2010.

^
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/95647/default.aspx

[edit]
External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Australian
rules football

Laws of Australian Football 2008

Australian Football explained in 17 languages – a publication
from AFL.com.au

Culture Victoria – Football Stories from Country
Victoria

Australian Football League (AFL) official site

Aussie Rules International

Masters – Australian Football for the over 30s

Australian Institute of Sport AFL website

Australian Sports Commission website

Full Points Footy – comprehensive history site

Links to related articles

v ·
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History

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Grook ·
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Variations

Comparison
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Footy ·
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International

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Awards

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v ·
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Hybrid sport

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Rules

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