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The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional competition of Australian rules football.It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season in 1897.
In 1994, the Fremantle Football Club was formed in Western Australia; they joined the AFL in 1995, becoming the fifth interstate club. In 1996, the VFL/AFL celebrated its centenary; the Australian Football Hall of Fame was established and the VFL/AFL Team of the Century was named. However, several Victorian clubs were in severe financial ...
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 governs the code nationally through the AFL Commission based in Melbourne. The AFL originated in Victoria and changed its name from Victorian Football League in 1990 after a successful program of national expansion and for these reasons the governing body is often seen by those from other states as having a strong Victorian bias.
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]
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.
The AFL's first target was one of the fastest growing and wealthiest per capita television markets in the world, and home to the world's busiest airport by international passenger traffic - the United Arab Emirates. The AFL began a grassroots push there beginning with a NAB Cup exhibition match in Dubai and promoted a 9-a-side competition there ...
The AFL Grand Final is one of the most watched sporting events on television in Australia. The national AFL is the main league which is shown on television in Australia. The 2005 AFL Grand Final was watched by a record television audience of more than 3.3 million people across Australia's five most populous cities—the five mainland state ...