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The Australian Football League (AFL) is both the elite Australian national competition in the sport of Australian Rules Football and its highest governing body.
The AFL is the most attended professional sporting league in Australia: it is the most popular sport competition in terms of attendances and TV ratings of the nation.[1] The previous three AFL Premiership Seasons have had a total regular season attendance of over six million (currently the 10th most attended professional sports league in the world) and the average attendance of over 36,000 (the second highest of any professional sports league in the world).
The 16 teams play against each other in 22 rounds between late March and early September in a non-divisional format. These matches are followed by a series of finals matches which culminate in the two best teams playing off for the Premiership in the AFL Grand Final, the best attended domestic club championship event in the world.
The AFL evolved from the Victorian domestic competition, known as the Victorian Football League (VFL), and became the Australian Football League in 1990. Over the past 25 years it has grown into a national competition with teams based in five of the six Australian states. Since the national competition, the AFL has gained considerable media and financial strength, as well as control over the game at most levels. The Victorian Football Association has since changed it's name to the Victorian Football League.
The AFL Commission, which runs the league assumed the role of governing body for the sport of Australian rules football in Australia in 1993 when it dissolved the Australian National Football Council. It is now responsible for the Laws of Australian Football through the AFL Rules Committee (consisting of members from the AFL Players Association). The AFL also became the defacto world governing body in 2002 when it negotiated the disbanding of the International Australian Football Council. Since 2000, through the commission, the AFL has pushed for all affiliated leagues and bodies to co-brand with the league as well as refer to the sport as "AFL" in preference to its official name of "Australian Football".Since 1997 the AFL has consisted of nine clubs based in Melbourne, Victoria, one in Geelong, Victoria, two teams based in Adelaide South Australia, two Western Australian teams and one each in New South Wales Sydney and Queensland Brisbane. The AFL has stated that it plans to have teams based in both the Gold Coast and West Sydney in the coming years[2][3] Unlike most leagues in other football codes outside Australia, the AFL does not operate on a multi-division or conference system, with no relegation or promotion system. This system is standard for professional sport in Australia.
The Victorian Football League, commonly known as the VFL, started in 1897 with eight teams - Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, South Melbourne , and St. Kilda - some of those teams entering the VFL from the VFA (the Victorian Football Association). Richmond and University entered in 1908, but University disbanded in 1915. In 1925, Footscray (later known as the Western Bulldogs), Hawthorn and North Melbourne (later known as the Kangaroos) entered the competition, making 12 teams as a solely Victorian based league until 1982, when South Melbourne became the Sydney Swans in Sydney, New South Wales.
A further national expansion occurred in 1987, with the introduction of the West Coast Eagles from Western Australia and the Brisbane Bears from Queensland. The Victorian Football League then changed its name to the Australian Football League in 1990 to reflect the expanded nature of the competition. The Victorian Football Association has since changed it's name to the Victorian Football League.
South Australia was first represented in 1991 when the Adelaide Crows joined the league, and Fremantle joined as the second WA team in 1995. Fitzroy Lions merged with the Brisbane Bears the next year creating the Brisbane Lions, and Port Adelaide Power took their place in 1997.General consensus among the football community holds that Tasmania and the Northern Territory should be represented in the national league in preference to Sydney's western suburbs or the Gold Coast. Traditional rugby states of NSW & Queensland already have representation in the form of Sydney and Brisbane, yet Tasmania and the Northern Territory have none. Tasmania has a similar Australian rules football history to that of Victoria, extending back well over 100 years, while the inclusion of a Northern Territory team would likely provide a showcase of the talent of Indigenous Australians. A major setback to these plans is that apart from West Sydney (ANZ Stadium) none of these locations have a viable AFL stadium, and would either have to build one or put serious remodels on current stadiums.
Early in 2008, a meeting held by the AFL discussed the issue of two new teams entering the AFL competition. AFL officials confirmed that a new team on the Gold Coast and a new team in West Sydney would enter the competition around 2010. In April, a problem occured; the Gold Coast team was allowed to be formed, but they would not be allowed to host home games in Queensland until the end of 2016, which may also delay the arrival of the West Sydney team. Also in April, Tasmanian premier Paul Lennon, had a meeting with AFL boss Andrew Demetriou to discuss the posibillity of a Tasmanian team. The idea was thrown away because Andrew Demetriou claimed it would not be financially sustainable.
The AFL has been critisised for placing far too great a priority on a region's ability to attract financial success and not enough priority on the actual state of the game in said regions. With the prospect of too many teams being present in the national league, some have also suggested the the 2nd teams in WA & SA, Fremantle and Port Adelaide, be replaced by Northern Territory and Tasmanian teams to keep the competition at 16 teams.
The AFL is the dominant league in television, print, and radio news in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania.[citation needed] In addition, Australian rules football is the most participated football code in these states and territories.[citation needed]
Despite the traditional popularity of rugby league in the states of New South Wales and Queensland, the popularity of the AFL is increasing.[citation needed] This has been greatly assisted by recent premierships being won by the Brisbane Lions (2001, 2002, and 2003) and Sydney Swans (2005) and to a lesser extent also unsuccessful Grand Final appearances for both Brisbane (2004) and Sydney (1996, 2006). With the success of these sides, participation in Australian rules football has grown in these states in recent years.[citation needed]
Until Geelong won in 2007, the non-Victorian teams have, combined, won 10 of the last 15 premierships. The 3 AFL grand finals prior to 2007 were contested solely by non-Victorian sides.
To raise the profile of the AFL as a national competition and to raise funds for the clubs involved, some Victorian clubs have been transferring home games to interstate locations in return for a guaranteed income of up to $250,000 per game. [5]
Recently, this has included St Kilda and Hawthorn which have played home games at Aurora Stadium in Launceston, Tasmania, North Melbourne which has played games at Manuka Oval in Canberra, and Carrara Oval on the Gold Coast, the Western Bulldogs which has played games at Manuka and at Marrara Oval in Darwin, Northern Territory and at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and Melbourne which has played games at Carrara Oval and The Gabba in Queensland.
The major AFL Stadiums, and their capacity and home teams:
The MCG (Melbourne) - 100,000 - Melbourne Demons, Richmond Tigers, Collingwood Magpies, Hawthorn Hawks. Telstra Stadium (Sydney) - 83,500 - Sydney Swans Telstra Dome (Melbourne) - 53,355 - Carlton Blues, Essendon Bombers, North Melbourne Kangaroos, St. Kilda Saints, Western Bulldogs. AAMI Stadium (Adelaide) - 51,515-Adelaide Crows, Port Adelaide Power The SCG (Sydney) - 43,649 - Sydney Swans Subiaco Oval (Perth) - 42,922 - West Coast Eagles, Fremantle Dockers The Gabba (Brisbane) - 42,000 - Brisbane Lions Skilled Stadium (Geelong) - 28,500 - Geelong Cats (also play games in Melbourne at Telstra Dome.) Aurora Stadium (Launceston) - 23,000 - Hawthorn Hawks (play 4 home games a season here, and the rest at the MCG)The modern day Australian Football League (AFL) has many teams dating back to the beginnings of the sport of Australian rules football, including the very first club, Melbourne Football Club (1858), a foundation VFL/AFL club whose founders also first codified the sport in 1859.
Other early clubs still in existence include: Geelong (1859), Carlton (1864), North Melbourne (aka Hotham, now North Melbourne) (1869), Essendon, and St Kilda (1873), South Melbourne (now Sydney Swans) (1874), Footscray (now the Western Bulldogs) (1883), Richmond (1885), and Collingwood (1892
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