Australian rules football in Australia

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Australian rules football in Australia
Contesting for possession in an indigenous community Aussie Rules game in the Northern Territory
Governing body	Australian Football League
National team	Australia
First played	1858, Melbourne, Victoria
Registered players	615,549 (total)[1] 120,000 (adult)
Clubs	2,548[citation needed]
Competitions
National
- AFL
Club
- SANFL
- VFL
- WAFL
- Queensland State League
- NTAFL
- Northern Tasmanian
- Southern Tasmanian
- O&M
- Sydney AFL
- AFL Canberra
Audience records
Single match	121,696 - 1970 VFL Grand Final
Season	6,283,788 - 2005 AFL season

Australian rules football in Australia is a popular spectator and team sport which originated in Melbourne and has become an important part of Australian culture.

The sport has been played continuously in every state and territory^[2] of Australia since 1915 and is particularly popular in Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania.

In the states where it is not as popular as other winter sports, New South Wales and Queensland, it has an equally long history and has grown rapidly since the 1990s.

The only national competition is the Australian Football League, which grew out of an expanded Victorian domestic club competition from 1982 beginning with the relocation of the South Melbourne Swans in 1982 and changing its name in 1990. The AFL now governs the code nationally.

Australia is currently the only nation in the world where Australian rules football is played professionally and while its participation is diverse, the sport is only played professionally by men.

[edit] Popularity

The sport has attracted more overall interest among Australians than any other winter sport for at least several years ^[3]. It is the most popular football code in Australia and it was created in Australia for Australians then is Australian national sport. It has over 150 years of immense support and it is linked into Australian culture permanetly. It is particularly popular amongst indigenous Australian communities. Approximately 10% of all AFL players are of indigenous origin.

[edit] Footy in Australian popular culture

Main article: Australian rules football in popular Australian culture

For many years, the game of Australian rules football captured the imagination of Australian film, music and literature.

Many songs inspired by the game have become anthems of the game, none more so than the 1979 hit Up There Cazaly, by Mike Brady.

[edit] Audience

Attendance

Football is the most highly attended spectator sport in Australia: government figures show that more than 2.5 million people (16.8% of the population) attended games in 1999.^[4] In 2005, a cumulative 6,283,788 people attended Australian Football League (AFL) premiership matches, a record for the competition.^[5] A further 307,181 attended NAB Cup pre-season matches and 117,552 attended Regional Challenge pre-season practice matches around the country^[6].

As well as the AFL attendances, strong state competitions also drew crowds. Although crowds for local leagues have suffered in recent years, they continue to draw support, particularly for finals matches. The South Australian SANFL drew an attendance of 303,354 in 2005, the Western Australian WAFL drew an official attendance of 202,797 in 2004 and the Victorian VFL (including a Tasmanian side, the Devils) also drew strong crowds (but with no available attendance figures).

As of 2005 the AFL is one of only six professional sports leagues in the world with an average attendance above thirty thousand (the others are NFL and Major League Baseball in the United States, and the top division soccer leagues in Germany, and England). The Indian Premier League cricket series is the newest addition to this list. (See also: Sports attendances.)

Television

According to OzTAM, in recent years, the AFL Grand Final has reached the top five programs across the five biggest cities in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Australian rules football has achieved a #1 rating in the sports category in both 2004 and 2005.

Some of the more popular regional leagues have the "match of the week" televised locally and free-to-air on ABC Television's state networks. In Victoria (ABV) and Tasmania (ABT) both show the VFL, in Western Australia (ABW) it is the WAFL, in South Australia (ABS) it is the SANFL and in the Northern Territory (ABD) it is both the NTFL and the SANFL (in the NTFL off-season).

Some regional leagues also attract a national audience through free-to-air broadcasting on television networks such as ABC2, which includes the VFL, SANFL, WAFL, NTFL and Tiwi Islands Football League (Grand Final only). OzTAM began measuring these audiences in 2006. The SANFL measured a total of 1,415,000 television viewers in 2007.^[7]

[edit] Participation

With more than 450,000 participants aged 15 years and over, Australian Rules Football is the 4th most-played team sport in Australia, behind netball, soccer and cricket. ^[8]

A total of 615,549 registered participants are playing Australian football in 2007. Participation rose 5.97% between 2006-07 and 7.84% between 2005-06. 6.7 per cent of all participants are from non-English speaking origin. The Australian Sports Commission statistics show a 42% increase in the total number of participants over the 4 year period between 2001-2005.^[9]

Around 87,000 participants are Indigenous Australians. In 2008, there were 72 indigenous players in the AFL.^[10]

Victoria has the largest number of participants over 15 years of age (205,000 participants or 5.2% of the Victorian population). The Tiwi Islands is said to have the highest participation rate in Australia (35%).^[11]

Amongst children aged 5 to 14 years, football is the third most popular organised sport for children to participate in (beyond soccer and swimming). An estimated 284,200 children aged 5 to 14 participated in football in the 12 months prior to interview in 2003 (13.6% of all children). ^[12]

[edit] Structure and competitions

An Australian Football League match at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast. Adelaide's Matthew Clarke and Melbourne's Mark Jamar contest a centre bounce. The man in the green shirt is a central field umpire.

The most powerful organisation and competition within the game is the elite professional Australian Football League (AFL). The AFL is recognised by the Australian Sports Commission as being the National Sporting Organisation for Australian rules football. There are also seven state/territory-based organisations in Australia, most of which are either owned by or affiliated to the AFL. Most of these hold annual semi-professional club competitions while the others oversee more than one league. Local semi-professional or amateur organizations and competitions are affiliated to their state leagues.

[edit] Relative Standards of Senior Club Competitions

The following represents the approximate tiers (in terms of playing standards and levels of professionalism) of Australian Rules Football:

• Top Tier - AFL
  • Second Tier - SANFL, VFL, WAFL
    • Third Tier - Queensland State League, Sydney AFL, AFL Canberra, Northern Territory Football League, Ovens & Murray League
      • Fourth Tier - Northern Tasmanian Football League, Southern Tasmanian Football League, Southern Football League (Victoria)

At the higher end at least, these are evidenced by professionalism and the respective competition salary caps.

In terms of pathways and the AFL National Draft, these leagues represent opportunities for AFL rookie draftees. Most AFL players are recruited at junior level and sourced from the TAC Cup competition or national and state Under 18 representative championships.

[edit] National Championships

[edit] Senior

Further information: Interstate matches in Australian rules football

[edit] Country Championships

[edit] Women's

Further information: AFL Women's National Championships

[edit] Under 18

Formerly the Teal Cup, the national championships are an annual national championship with two divisions.^[13]

In 1989, Victoria was split into two teams - Metro and Country to ensure that other states could remain competitive.

The competition is currently sponsored by National Australia Bank.

[edit] Under 18 All-Australian Team

[edit] Under 16

The competition is currently sponsored by National Australia Bank.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] See also

• Australian Football League
• Australian Institute of Sport
• List of Australian rules football clubs in Australia