Australian Football: History, Funding, and Societal Impact

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Australian football, also known as Australian rules football. It begins with a historical background, tracing the sport's origins in Melbourne during the 1850s and its evolution from Victorian football. The report examines the development of the game, including rule changes and the formation of key clubs and associations. It details the current landscape, including the 20 largest stadiums in Australia, with their seating capacities. The report then delves into sports funding in Australia, highlighting government support, the role of the Australian Sports Commission (ASF), and funding for various leagues, clubs, and programs, including the AFL, Hyundai A-League, and Westfield W-League. The report also analyzes participation rates, including the number of adults, women, and children involved in Australian football, and discusses the financial contributions from various parties to improve facilities and promote the sport at the grassroots level. Finally, the report provides references to all the sources used.

Running Head: Australian Football 1
Australian Football
Student’s Name
Institution
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Australian football
Australian football is also called Australian rules football and Melbourne football. Australian
rules football performs the prediction of other football games in football and was the first to
create a play code. This football was invented in the 1850s in Melbourne and was initially named
Melbourne football or Victorian football. It was made up of many rules of football that had to be
exercised in the Australian independent schools. It is the commonest Sport played today in
Australia while the National Professional Australian Football league is the sport’s most popular
competition that consists of many viewers via television or the physical presence, (Books,
Marsh, & Murray, 2012).
Origin of the Australian Rules football
Australian football first appeared in 1858 in Melbourne while the primary summer sport was
cricket. There was a man called Thomas Wentworth Wills who found it wise to form a football
club to make his teammates in the cricket team compete during winter, a suggestion that they
agreed. A committee was established to come up with a set of football rules and in the year 1858
and 1859, two clubs of football were formed which were Melbourne and Geelong football clubs
which are the oldest in the world. The football rules were rewritten by Wills cousin in 1929.
The rules of the Rugby school game were banned to prevent tackling and hacking. In 1865, a
player was allowed to bounce the ball off the turf, at 33 feet. No offside rule was developed by
then thus the football players in both teams were placed behind and at the front of the ball during
the game. In 1874, players could score by kicking the ball through the goalposts. They came up
with a unique set of goalposts and a goal was instituted in 1891, a rule that is still significant in
Australian football. Goal umpires wee for the first time mentioned in 1874 in the games account

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Goals were signaled through a waving flag in 1884 in a place called Tasmania which was as well
adopted in Victoria in 1886. Many spectators were attracted by the various games held in the 70s
and the 80s who came to watch the matches by Melbourne and Carlton for free. Many clubs were
formed such as Albert Park, East Melbourne, Geelong and others came together to form Victoria
Football Association in 1877. Over 125 clubs were formed in Melbourne while in Victoria other
60 senior clubs were formed a factor that led to regular scheduling of matches. The football
grounds became enclosed and the VFA started charging for admissions. Most of the players
started to be paid by 1899 and in 1906, the Australian Football council was formed whose
mission included keeping the game alive, regulate the movement of players and develop
national-level contests. VFL changed its name to Australian Football League and composed of
16 teams by 2005. The rules of football are deeply engaged in the Australian Society Fabric.
The number of Stadiums in Australia
There are 20 stadiums in Australia. The largest stadium is the Melbourne Cricket ground whose
capacity is 100, 024 people. It is located in Melbourne at the state of Victoria. Other stadiums
have been provided in the table below. They are in ranking order and the number of people they
can comfortably accommodate.
Melbourne cricket ground 100, 024
Stadium Australia 84,000
Dockland’s stadium 56, 347
Adelaide oval 53, 583
Lang Park 52,500
Sydney Football stadium 45,500
Kardinia Park 34,074

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Hunter stadium 33,000
Melbourne Rectangular stadium 30, 050
Robina stadium 27, 400
Perth Oval 27, 000
Willows Sport complex 26, 500
Canberra stadium 25,011
Ballymore Stadium 24,000
Wollongong Stadium 23, 750
Parramatta stadium 21, 500
Campbell town stadium 21,000
Central coast stadium 20,059
Central Coast Stadium 20,000
Knights stadium 19,890
Data retrieved from ("Largest Football Stadiums in Australia," 2017).
All these stadiums are comprised of tiers and seats that spectators seat on during a sporting
event. Some of these stadiums are used for more than one sport, and the national team does not
play in a specific field but in different stadiums in the country which contain facilities of high
level.
Sports funding in Australia
The Australian government supports sports, especially soccer by the provision of policies and
distribution of whole – of –support reform Agenda, ("Sports funding: federal balancing act –

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Parliament of Australia,”). Though this agenda, the government decided to introduce an
education strategy that may increase the number of children participating in sports. Funding is
done in terms of the games ‘participation outcomes, addresses issues affecting the participation
of women and sports leadership. Coaches are assisted via new funding, offering training and
support. More funding is done in search of new talents, and to the local sporting champions
program where the youth are encouraged to join sports to expand domestic competitions for the
Australians. The sports volunteers are rewarded and their efforts supported through subsidies.
There is more funding support that is given to the players /athletes who perform highly and more
retention of the coaches who perform well. Those who perform well are supported by the
government to join international teams during competitions. ASF offers all sporting support to
individuals and organizations as mandated by the government, (Australian Government budget
papers Australian Sports Doping Authority and Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority annual
reports).
The big agenda for the football in Australia is to identify and support talents from the grassroots.
They mostly focus on Hyundai A-League and the Westfield W-League. $121 million is used to
fund the growth and development of football while the most of the funding is received by the
Hyundai A-League and its ten clubs. National teams and member federations follow respectively
in the funding amounts. Junior and senior clubs for women receive funding as well.
5.4%of adults’ male mostly participates in football while 396,000 or more girls and women
participates also. Children who participate in out of school football are 681,000 and above. An
adult is paid an average of $300 per year while a child receives $200, ("AusPlay Confirms
Football the Most Popular Organized Sport in Australia," 2019).

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ARF has been promised $131 million by various parties while out of theses, 44% is set aside by
federal parties to enable the upgrading of the facilities and others channeled to grassroots clubs,
projects, and facilities while $80m is preserved to upgrade professional clubs and facilities.
Labor party has promised to co-fund Tasmanian team $25, while Liberal party promised $15m to
upgrade Adelaide Crows’ current headquarters. WA labor pledged $20m for a football Centre for
the community, to be located in Perth, Tasmanian Independent has promised $12m for new
precinct in Hobart.
Since 2016, the number of Australians participating in football has increased from 59.9% to 63%
in 2018.
The number of women participating in football has surged from once two twice a week as shown
below.
Fig 1: 15+ women frequency of football participation, 2017 and 2018
once per week once per week twice per week twice per week
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
32000
58000
18000
48000
number of women 15+ participating in football once and twiceper
week, and the changes after AFLW
Series 1 Linear (Series 1)
Series 2 Series 3

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References
AusPlay Confirms Football the Most Popular Organised Sport in Australia. (2019, April 30).
Retrieved from https://capitalfootball.com.au/ausplay-confirms-football-the-most-
popular-organised-sport-in-australia/
Australian Government budget papers Australian Sports Doping Authority and Australian
Sports Anti-Doping Authority annual reports.
Books, M., Marsh, N., & Murray, P. (2012). The History of Australian Rules Football.
The Largest Football Stadiums in Australia. (2017, April 25). Retrieved from
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-are-the-largest-soccer-stadiums-in-
australia.html
Sports funding: federal balancing act – Parliament of Australia. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/
Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2012-2013/SportFunding

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