Australian rules football

Australian rules football—often shortened to Aussie rules, footy, or just football—is a contact sport where two teams of 18 players compete on an oval field, typically a repurposed cricket ground. The aim is to score points by kicking an oval ball through the central goalposts (worth six points) or between a central and an outer post (worth one point, known as a "behind").

During play, players can move anywhere on the field and use any body part to advance the ball. The main methods are kicking, handballing, and running with it. However, a player running with the ball must bounce or touch it on the ground at intervals; throwing is banned, and being caught holding the ball results in a turnover. A key feature is the "mark": if a player catches the ball from a kick under specific conditions, they gain unimpeded possession anywhere on the field. Except when a free kick or mark is awarded, the ball is always in dispute. Tackling with hands or obstructing with the whole body is allowed, but dangerous contact—like pushing an opponent in the back—interference during a mark, or deliberately slowing play draws free kicks, distance penalties, or match suspensions depending on severity. The game is known for frequent physical contests, spectacular marks, fast movement of players and ball, and high scores.

The sport traces its roots to football matches in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1858, inspired by English public school football. Wanting a game better suited to adults and Australian conditions, the Melbourne Football Club published the first official laws in May 1859.

Australian football draws the highest spectator attendance of any sport in Australia. The Australian Football League (AFL), its only fully professional competition, is the nation’s wealthiest sporting body. The AFL Grand Final, held annually at the 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground, is the best-attended club championship event of any football code. The sport is also played at amateur level in many countries and in several variations. Its rules are governed by the AFL Commission, advised by the AFL’s Laws of the Game Committee.

**Name**

The sport goes by several nicknames: Australian rules football, Aussie rules, football, and footy. In regions where other football codes are more popular, it is often called AFL after the league, and the league itself uses that name for local competitions in some areas.

**History**

**Origins**

Scattered, primitive football games occurred in Australian colonies during the first half of the 19th century, but colonists saw them as mere amusements compared to cricket and horse racing. Little is known about these one-off matches, and evidence does not link them to Australian football. In 1858, private schools in Melbourne (then called "public schools" after English usage) began organizing football games based on English public school precedents. The earliest known match was on 15 June between Melbourne Grammar and St Kilda Grammar.

On 10 July 1858, Tom Wills—captain of the Victoria cricket team—published a letter in *Bell’s Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle* calling for a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit in winter. Wills, born in Australia, had played an early form of rugby at Rugby School in England and returned home as a star athlete. Two weeks later, his friend and cricketer Jerry Bryant advertised a scratch match at Richmond Paddock near the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). This was the first of several "kickabouts" that year involving Melbourne Cricket Club members, including Wills, Bryant, W. J. Hammersley, and J. B. Thompson. Trees served as goalposts, and matches often lasted an entire afternoon. Without agreed rules, some players followed what they had learned in the British Isles, while "others by no rules at all." Another milestone in 1858 was a 40-a-side match under experimental rules between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College at Richmond Paddock, umpired by Wills and teacher John Macadam. It began on 7 August and continued over two subsequent Saturdays, ending in a draw with each side kicking one goal. A statue outside the MCG commemorates it, and the two schools still compete annually in the Cordner–Eggleston Cup, the world’s oldest continuous football competition.

Since the 1920s, some have suggested Australian football derived from Gaelic football, but no archival evidence supports a Gaelic influence. The shared style of play between the two modern codes appeared in Australia long before the Irish game evolved similarly. Another theory, first proposed in 1983, suggests Wills—who grew up among Aboriginals in Victoria—may have seen or played the Aboriginal ball game Marn Grook and incorporated features into early Australian football. Only circumstantial evidence exists that he knew of it, and biographer Greg de Moore’s research indicates Wills was "almost solely influenced by his experience at Rugby School."

**First rules**

A loosely organized Melbourne side captained by Wills played other football enthusiasts through the winter and spring of 1858. The following year, on 14 May, the Melbourne Football Club was formed.