Australsk fodbold: historie og udbredelse

Australian football is played more than 30 lands around the world

The sport was developed in Melbourne.

First match ever played was in Melbourne Australia in 1958

Australian football is played in weekend during the colder months; thousand of Australian people come to football stadiums to support their team

Football in Australia has been a male sport, but starting in the late twentieth century women began playing from a rooky level to the highest level of the game

In each Australian state and territory the word “football” has a different meaning. For those living in the Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, football usually refers to Australian football but in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, and Queensland, it could mean rugby league or rugby union.

In 1857 Tom Wills 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 their off-season. The new game was made 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 first recorded game between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar School. Australian Football quickly grew.