Australian Rules Football was first played in 1858.
A match is between two teams.
18 players from each team are on the ground during a match.
A match is played in four 20 minute quarters.
The game that is now known as Australian Rules football was created in 1858.
Cricketers Thomas Wills and his cousin, Henry Harrison, with W.J. Hammersley and J.B. Thompson, invented the football game to keep themselves and other cricketers fit during winter.
The Melbourne Football Club was formed on August 7, 1858, and in the same year the first recorded match was played between teams from two Melbourne schools, Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar. Forty players on each side using a round ball played a match that lasted for more than five hours. The game attracted large crowds of spectators then, and continues to do so today.
Tom Wills, one of the founders of Australian Football, returned to Australia in 1857 after being at school in England. Wills had been the football captain of Rugby School and a brilliant cricketer.
The Geelong Football Club was formed in 1859. In 1866 an updated set of rules was written and competition started.
A model of an AFL football ground. Image©Getty.
In 2017, the AFLW -the national Australian Football League Women - began competition. It is run by the AFL, and began with eight teams of talented women who played to large and enthusiastic crowds. The teams were: Western Bulldogs, Fremantle, Adelaide, Brisbane, Collingwood, Carlton, Greater Western Sydney. Adelaide were premiers. In 2018 and 2019 more clubs will be added gradually. In the 2022 season the full 18 teams played.
©Getty Images
Rules of Australian Rules Football
The game is played between two teams of 18 players. Only 18 members of each team are allowed on the field during a match, but each team is allowed 3 interchange players.
How Australian Rules football is played
The game is fast, and a free kick is awarded to any player who marks the ball (clean catches it) after it has been kicked more than 15 metres. A match is played in four 20 minute quarters. The game begins with a coin toss and the winning captain decides which goal his team will defend. At the end of each quarter teams change ends and kick to the opposite goal.
The aim of the games is to kick the ball between the two tall goal posts. © Getty Images
Players attempt to drive the ball down the field to score a goal. Players can kick or hand pass the ball to team mates. They may not throw the ball. Umpires control the game and may award free kicks when rules are broken.
Go to the official Australian Rules football website with links to all AFL clubs.
And go to the official AFLW website too to read about the women's competition.
The competition ends each year with a match between the two best teams. It is the Grand Final. Crowds of more tham 100 00 people fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) to watch the match.
On the day before the Grand Final there is a street parade of the players who will play in the final game of the season.
Thousands of fans line the streets to watch the Grand Final parade ©iStock