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Australian rules football was codified in 1859 by members of the Melbourne Football Club.The first rules were devised by the Australian-born Tom Wills, who was educated at Rugby School; Englishmen William Hammersley and J. B. Thompson, fellow students at Cambridge's Trinity College; and Irish Australian Thomas H. Smith, who played rugby football at Dublin University.
Australia is unique among major sporting markets in having four football codes competing for market share. The irony is that the two international games, football (soccer) and rugby union, are getting trounced by the two parochial codes, rugby league and Australian Football, which are both fast and furious, and both built on deep tribal roots.
The earliest forms of football comprise the common ancestry of both association football and of rugby union. Two of the earliest recorded football type games from Europe include Episkyros [ 1 ] [ 2 ] from Ancient Greece and the Roman version Harpastum , [ 1 ] which similar to pre-codified " Mob Football " involved more handling the ball than ...
Australian football match at Linkbelt Oval in Nauru, where Australian football is the national sport Countries in red have participated in the International Cup, held triennially in Australia. During the colonial period, Australian rules was sometimes referred to as Australasian rules, reflecting its popularity in New Zealand .
Across the United Kingdom, rugby union is usually referred to simply as 'rugby' but in the North of England, the word 'rugby' could refer to either sport, [13] [14] but usually means "rugby league". In Australia and New Zealand, rugby league is usually known as "league" or "football" with the latter term potentially confusing as Australian ...
Samoa Rules is a game derived from Australian rules football that has also been played in Samoa. The game is played on rugby fields and each team consists of 15 players per side. Unlike Australian rules football, player movement is restricted to zones (similarly to Rec Footy). There is a line across the centre that backs and forwards can not cross.
Statue of Australian rules football star Ron Barassi Jr., namesake of the Barassi Line. The Barassi Line is an imaginary line in Australia which approximately divides areas where Australian rules football or rugby league is the most popular football code. The term was first used by historian Ian Turner in his 1978 Ron Barassi Memorial Lecture. [1]
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season in 1897.