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In Australia, Australian rules football is the most popular spectator sport and the second most participated code of football. Since originating in Victoria in 1858 and spreading elsewhere from 1866, it has been played continuously in every Australian state since 1903 plus the two major territories since 1916.
Australian rules football is known by several nicknames, including Aussie rules, football and footy. [9] In some regions, where other codes of football are more popular, the sport is most often called AFL after the Australian Football League , while the league itself also uses this name for local competitions in some areas.
Australian rules has the highest rate of football participation (5.7%) in Outback Australia and Aboriginal Australian communities. Australian rules football traditionally has seen its greatest support in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Riverina region of New South Wales.
Football in Australia refers to numerous codes which each have major shares of the mainstream sports market, media, broadcasting, professional athletes, financial performance and grassroots participation: Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union and soccer (known in many other countries as "football").
In the Riverina, Australian rules football is the equal most popular football code (with rugby league) and has a long history since the establishment of the Federal Football Club (founded 1861 now known as the Wagga Tigers) with the earliest recorded interclub match occurring in 1881 against the Albury Football Club (founded 1876).
Australian rules was the most popular football code for participation and spectators in the nation's capital Canberra between 1978 and 1982. At its peak popularity in 1981 it was the first state or territory outside of Victoria to make an official bid to start a national league now known as the Australian Football League (AFL).
The Australian Bureau of Statistics "Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Australia, Apr 2009" estimated that there were only 18,000 Australian rules football participants [125] however the ABS used a small sample size of 20,126 private dwelling in obtaining their data of participation numbers for the 2011/12 season.
Toggle the table of contents ... recent years to a current rate of 4.1% and 63,969 adults and 28,692 ... highest level of Australian rules football in South Australia ...