The national game of Australia
You probably have no idea what the national game of Australia is. Many people outside of Australia have no idea what it is either. If you guessed cricket, you would be wrong on both accounts. The correct answer is AFL (Australian Football League) or football as we call it in America or the UK, the sport known as American football in Canada and Mexico, Rugby Union in New Zealand and Fiji, and rugby league elsewhere including Papua New Guinea, France, Ireland, England, Wales, and Italy.
There is no one sport in Australia
So, if cricket isn’t the national game of Australia, then what is? Various sports are played in Australia, but there isn’t one that can be considered the nation’s sport. There have been numerous attempts to decide upon an official Australian sport—including many federal election campaigns (pity whoever had to keep a tally on that scorecard)—and these sorts of debates continue today.
Australian Football isn’t like American Football
Australia’s inaugural AFL game was played on May 17, 1897, at Bateman’s Crystal Hotel in Carlton, when eight clubs met.
Aussie Rules is a combination of Rugby, Soccer, Gaelic Football, and Baseball.
While Aussie Rules is commonly called the national game of Australia, many folks would consider that a bit misleading. Although most countries have one sport that’s closest to their hearts, many native-born Australians prefer Rugby or Soccer. That said, Aussie Rules and Cricket are probably more widely played. Than any other sports in Australia—and we love our National League as much as anyone else does theirs.
Australian Rules Football
History of WORD FOOTBALL: It may come as a surprise to many that Australian Rules Football, has its origins in England and was NOT played until the mid-19th century (the 1850s) some people believe that Australian Rules Football evolved from two main sources ‘Association football and Gaelic football. History tells us though that neither were played here in any structured way till much later, if ever.
How did Australians come up with these rules?
When an Englishman named H.C.A. Harrison visited Melbourne in 1852, he saw some boys playing a game with a ball and sticks and wrote that football was played there. In 1858, a newspaper reported that football was common among schoolboys in Victoria. But there were no formal rules for Australian football until late 1859 when delegates from several Melbourne schools met at the Parade Hotel in East Melbourne to devise a set of rules for interschool competitions.
Why do they play so hard?
The national game of Australia is Australian Rules Football (AFL). AFL players are famous for playing very hard, but there’s more to it than that. It turns out that how we approach things shapes our outcomes in life. Let’s talk about why Australian football players are so focused on playing hard and how we can apply that lesson to our everyday lives.
It’s more than just sports in Australia.
Football (soccer) was first played in Victoria in 1859 by Irish immigrants, but quickly caught on across all areas of society and became known as the universal language. Over 150 years later, it remains an important part of Australian culture. Football matches regularly attract crowds of close to 40,000 people. The sport also has a rich history linked to other games in Australia including Gaelic football and Aussie Rules football. However, despite its popularity and long history in Australia, football isn’t considered a national game like cricket or rugby. Why?
Watch out for flying collars.
Most Australian Rules football matches feature two sets of goals, one on each side of the oval-shaped field, equidistant from a central point. During each match, the teams have six forwards and four defenders inside their 20-meter defence zones and five forwards and three defenders inside their 30-meter forward zones.
Players may move freely within these zones during play. The ball can be passed in any direction by hand or foot, but only kicked in one direction—towards one of the goals at either end of the field.
Did I mention that it gets heated?
Football (by which I mean soccer) has been played in Australia since at least 1846. When Scottish and Irish immigrants brought their love for soccer with them. For most of its history, though, football wasn’t played professionally in Australia; there was no need to—the country’s popularity as a sports destination meant that teams from other countries were happy to come to play matches.
This all changed in 1967 when FIFA announced that host nations would be required to field professional teams.
