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There are 3 regional governing bodies affiliated to the AFL: AFL Asia, AFL South Pacific and AFL Europe. Australia is the only country with professional teams, now located in every state. However it is strongest (by participation rate and overall interest) in the Australian states and territories of the Northern Territory , South Australia ...
AFL Europe, with backing of the AFL in Australia has overseen a large improvement in the organisation of Australian football in Europe. The sport has grown from a few clubs and leagues started mainly by expatriate Australians and returning nationals in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to now, having established leagues in almost 15 nations, [ 2 ...
Gillian Hibbins in the AFL's official account of the game's history published in 2008 for the game's 150th celebrations sternly rejects the theory: Understandably, the appealing idea that Australian Football is a truly Australian native game recognising the indigenous people, rather than deriving solely from a colonial dependence upon the ...
The AFL also hope to develop the game in other countries to the point where Australian football is played at an international level by top-quality sides from around the world. The AFL has hosted an International Cup regularly every three years, beginning in 2002, with the third game in 2008 corresponding to the 150th anniversary of the code. [167]
Map of the world indicating the nations where Australian rules football was most played in 2009. The stronger regions are indicated in shades of red, areas in which it was most played; areas where the game was unknown or least played are indicated in grey.
During the 1990s, regular exhibition matches became part of the growth strategy of the renamed Australian Football League, which began to realise that the effects of globalisation would threaten the future of the sport in the face of world sports like soccer. The focus of the AFL in this decade was New Zealand and South Africa.
TV audiences during the 2022 AFL season totalled 125.4 million viewers, with an average of 537,000 people watching each match; the TV audience for the 2023 AFL Grand Final was 4.98 million—plus an additional 756,000 on 7plus, for a total of 5.736 million [93] [94] [95] —and the game was seen by 100,024 stadium spectators, which was exactly ...
The last game in AFL history was the AFL All-Star Game, held in Houston's Astrodome on January 17, 1970. The Western All-Stars, led by Chargers quarterback John Hadl, defeated the Eastern All-Stars, 26–3. Buffalo rookie running back O. J. Simpson carried the ball for the last play in AFL history. Hadl was named the game's Most Valuable Player ...