The new AFL season is here, with teams across Australia ready to go head-to-head to pursue success and silverware across another blockbuster campaign of action, from Victoria to Queensland, New South Wales to Western Australia, and beyond.
Comfortably the most attended club sport in the southern hemisphere, with average crowds to rival the Premier League, the competition is part of the Australian cultural identity as much as the Sydney Opera House and Uluru.
But for those beyond its borders, the game itself, Aussie Rules football, seems like a mystery to many, with its rules, structures, and systems unlike many other major ball sports across the globe, with Gaelic football arguably being its closest counterpart. However, that does not make it a complicated game to grasp with anyone able to understand the rhythms of an AFL match without the need for all of its nuances, allowing the sport to find new fans across the globe.
GOAL brings you everything you need to know about the AFL and Aussie Rules football, from its history and heavyweights of the competition to its laws and structures on the pitch below.
What is Australian Rules football?
Getty ImagesAustralian rules football is a code of football native to Australia, originally codified in the city of Melbourne during the mid-19th century. Initially known as Victorian rules football, for its origin in Victoria, it remains the most popular ball game in the south-east of the country, with most AFL clubs based there.
The game is a contact sport, contested between two teams of 18 players each, and played on an oval pitch - most typically a multi-purpose surface used for cricket, another of Australia’s most popular pastimes.
Taking place over four quarters, teams attempt to score between a quartet of goalposts located at either end of the field, with six-point and one-point goals able to be registered. Players can move the ball by any physical means, though individual rules govern certain movements, and throws are not allowed.
Possession is perpetually contested throughout, except for a free-kick for foul play or a mark, awarded when a player makes a clean airborne collection from a kick, which allows the umpires to grant them the ball. Tackles are made by using hands or full-body contact.
With a reputation for high contact, impressive scores, fast action and impressive marks, Aussie Rules Football has attracted a crowd of faithful supporters over generations in Australia, with its success in Victoria spreading across the rest of the country.
In South Australia and Western Australia, the sport remains the largest code of club football, though it contests with the more popular rugby league in New South Wales and Queensland. Even so, the main professional competition, the AFL, remains the most popular club sport by attendance in the country.
The origins of Aussie rules football
Getty ImagesAustralian rules football has been debated to have origins in both Gaelic football and the Indigenous game of Marn Grook. Still, it is now typically accepted to have derived partly from early rugby football, played by athlete Tom Wills during his time in England.
Developed in part as a sport for cricketers to maintain fitness during the off-season in winter, the game was initially contested without actual rules from its inception until 1859, when the first club, Melbourne, were officially formed in the British colony of Victoria.
The game spread to other colonies afterwards, with the code derived from The Rules of the Melbourne Football Club, as laid down by Wills, W. J. Hammersley, J. B. Thompson and Thomas H. Smith - all influential figures in creating the modern game.
The creation of the Victorian Football League
Getty ImagesThe Victorian Football League - the origins of the modern professional game of Aussie rules football - was initially formed as a breakaway from the Victoria Football Association following a power struggle over financial matters between teams.
The founding members - Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne and South Melbourne, subsequently joined by Carlton and St Kilda - formed their own competition, swiftly becoming the dominant league in Victoria as it transitioned to statehood at the turn of the century.
Professionalism was introduced in 1911, and it was credited for several introductions, such as the six-point and one-point scoring system and a finals tournament to award the end-of-season title, now standard across multiple sporting competitions.
Transition to the Australian Football League
Getty ImagesThe VFL began expanding its influence after breaking away from the National Football League, the highest governing body of Aussie rules football, during the seventies and ultimately accepted teams from beyond Victoria throughout a rapid period of growth in the eighties.
South Melbourne relocated to Sydney, bringing a New South Wales dimension, while clubs in Queensland and Western Australia helped to align the game on a national level further, culminating with the 1990 transition to the Australian Football League, or AFL.
Since then, the league has expanded to 18 teams, representing five states, with Tasmania set to enter an as-yet-unnamed squad starting in the 2028 campaign. Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are the only mainland areas not represented across the AFL.
List of 2024 AFL clubs
| AFL Club | Stadium |
|---|---|
| Adelaide Crows | Adelaide Oval |
| Brisbane Lions | The Gabba |
| Carlton Blues | Marvel Stadium |
| Collingwood Magpies | Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| Essendon Bombers | Marvel Stadium |
| Fremantle Dockers | Optus Stadium |
| Geelong Cats | GMHBA Stadium |
| Gold Coast Suns | Heritage Bank Stadium |
| Greater Western Sydney Giants | Giants Stadium |
| Hawthorn Hawks | Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| Melbourne Demons | Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| North Melbourne Kangaroos | Marvel Stadium |
| Port Adelaide Power | Adelaide Oval |
| Richmond Tigers | Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| St Kilda Saints | Marvel Stadium |
| Sydney Swans | Sydney Cricket Ground |
| West Coast Eagles | Optus Stadium |
| Western Bulldogs | Marvel Stadium |
FAQs
Getty ImagesWhen does the 2024 AFL season begin?
The 2024 AFL season begins on Thursday, March 7, with a game between Sydney and Melbourne at Sydney Cricket Ground. The campaign starts with an additional Opening Round, hosting four fixtures outside of the heartland state of Victoria.
The first round proper begins a week later on Thursday, March 14, with Carlton and Richmond squaring off in a Victorian derby at Melbourne Cricket Ground, the first of three games held across the weekend.
Who are the defending AFL premiers?
Collingwood are the defending AFL premiers after they defeated Brisbane Lions in a 12.18 (90)-(86) 13.8 thriller at Melbourne Cricket Ground last September, securing a record-tying 16th premiership to match Essendon and Carlton.
It marked the first triumph for the Magpies since 2010 when they famously won a replay against St Kilda after they drew the initial Grand Final encounter. Brisbane, meanwhile, was left to continue their wait for glory, having last won a hat-trick of titles in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
When does the 2024 AFL Grand Final take place?
The 2024 AFL Grand Final will take place on Saturday, September 28, at its traditional home of Melbourne Cricket Ground. The match has been continuously held at the stadium since 1992, save for 2020 and 2021, when it was held outside Victoria amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The match typically forms a double-header over the same weekend with the NRL Grand Final, but it will not do so this year, with the latter game scheduled to take place eight days later on Sunday, October 6.