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AFL history

How it all began

Australian Football is the only major sport we play today that was actually developed in Australia.

Simple forms of football were played as early as the 1840s, and included rugby-like scrimmaging and kicking off the ground as in soccer. These games were brought here by the early settlers. Several Aboriginal tribes played a game called Marngrook, where a ball made of animal skin stuffed with feathers or charcoal was kicked high into the air. As time passed, new and unique skills like high marking, long kicking, handpassing, running and bouncing were invented.

Australian Football was first played in the parklands near the Melbourne Cricket Ground on a very large rectangular field three or four times as big as the grounds of today. It quickly became the 'game of the people'. Right from the beginning big crowds turned up to watch these games, and by the 1870s crowds of several thousand were common. This was quite remarkable when you consider Melbourne's small population at the time. People loved the spectacular long runs, high marks, dodging and physical clashes.

The Australian game became the first form of football to be codified when, in 1858, a set of rules was written on several sheets of paper. (Click here to see an image of these rules.) Over time new skills and tactics were developed, rules were changed and new ones added.

The most important person in the early days of footy was Thomas Wills. He played games which were forerunners to rugby and soccer while at school in England and, when in Australia, he suggested that football would be a good recreational sport for cricketers in the off-season.

Although he worked with others to invent the game, as a player, captain, umpire and administrator, Wills did as much as anybody to make the new game popular and to shape the new rules.

Australian Football is now played in at least 32 countries outside Australia and is recognised as one of the greatest games in the world. Its popularity shows no sign of fading. The Grand Final held at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground in September each year is one of the world's biggest sporting events and is watched by millions on television.

Click here to see highlights of the game over the years.