Australian Football League

Research on the country?

The History of Australia refers to the history of the area and people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians are believed to have first arrived on the Australian mainland by sea from Maritime Southeast Asia between 40,000 and 70,000 years ago. The artistic,musical and spiritual traditions they established are among the longest surviving such traditions in human history.

Rules:  A.F.L is a sport played between two teams of eighteen players on the field of either an Australian football ground Or a modified cricket field, or a similarly sized sports venue. The main way to score points is by kicking the ball between the two tall goal posts. The team with the higher total score at the end of the match wins unless either a draw is declared or a tie-break which then will go into a golden point.

Skills:

Understand the basics of the game. Australian football, or "footy" as it is known the ball is also often referred to as the footy is played on a large oval field 135 - 185 meters long from goal and 110 -115 meters wide and has four large goalposts on each side of the field. Points are scored by kicking goals, which occurs when the football is kicked between the 2 middle goalposts, and behinds, when the ball is kicked through the outside goalposts. Goals are worth 6 points and behinds are worth 1 point. There are 18 players on each side, with 3 interchange bench players and 1 substitute on the side. The ball can be disposed of either by kicking or handballing bumping the ball with the fist similar to volleyball, and goals can only be scored by kicking the ball through the goalposts.

Equipment:

The equipment you need for AFL is football boots, AFL shorts and a AFL singlet. The most important thing you need is a mouth guard. You can have a head guard if you want to use one.

Teams:

Carlton

Adelaide Crows                                            

Brisbane Lions

Blues

Collingwood Magpies

Bombers

Fremantle Dockers

Geelong Cats

Hawthorn Hawks

Melbourne Demons

North Melbourne Kangaroos

Port Adelaide Power

Richmond Tigers

Melbourne St. Kilda

Sydney Swans

West Coast Eagles

Western Bulldogs

Gold Coast Suns

Essendon

GWS Giants

Collingwood Magpies

History

In 1857 Tom Wills was  one of the founders of Australian Football league after he returned to Australia after schooling in England where he was football captain of Rugby School and a brilliant cricketer. He advocated the winter game of football as a way of keeping cricketers fit during off-season.

The new game was devised by Wills, his cousin H.C.A. Harrison, W.J. Hammersley and J.B. Thompson. The Melbourne Football Club was formed on August 7, 1858 – the year of the code's first recorded match between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar School.                                                                                    

Popularity:

In 1857 when A.F.L. was made there were 205,464. Now there are 23,344,735 people in Australia.