Australian Rules football was first played in the 1850's, the first club formed was the

Melbourne Football Club founded in 1859 and during that year the game received its first

coded rules.

The year 1897saw the formation of a league, The Victorian Football League, with a membership of

eight teams. To reflect the expansion of the game to other states the league was renamed

The Australian Football League in 1990 and now (2012) has 18 teams Australia wide. 

The game is played with teams of 18 players on the field (generally an oval) and the objective is

to kick the ball through the opposing team’s goal posts. The ball used in this game is slightly smaller than a rugby ball and the ends are more

rounded.

Any part of the body may be used to propel the ball but generally it is kicked, handballed or it may be run with provided it is intermittently

bounced making it a spectacularly quick game. Physical match ups between players and the high

scoring nature of the game adds to its excitement.

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