The history of the AFL

The Australian Football League is one of the most popular sports in Australia, second only to cricket. Whether you're looking at the AFL betting markets or the number of viewers and supporters at every game, you'll notice that we Australians love our football! But where did this passion come from, and how did the AFL come to be?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the AFL, it's the Australian Football League. It's made up of 18 teams who compete yearly for the AFL championship. In 2022, the AFL had an average of 90,000 viewers watching or streaming each game. By the end of 2023, statistics showed an average of 3.4 million viewers watching television. What a testament to the popularity of the game.

Okay, so we can see that the AFL is huge these days in Australia, but how did it start? Well, as we go through the humble origins of the AFL, picture the snowball effect because that's exactly what happened. Here's the history of the AFL:

It all started with a cricket player, funny enough. Tom Wills was a passionate sportsman who was keen to find a sport that was convenient to play during the winter. With the help of some of his mates, Tom created a list of rules that would govern the first game of footy, which was held at Richmond Paddock. The game was all over the show, but all the kinks were ironed out in the following matches.

August 7, 1858, saw the founding of the Melbourne Football Club with Tom appointed the captain. The Geelong Club was formed the following year, and the North Melbourne Club joined in 1869. During this time period, these teams started competing against one another more formally.

By the 1870s, more teams were formed, including:

As the game began to grow in popularity with more teams joining, the Victorian Football League was created in 1896, which began and became the leading body in football. The establishment of the VFL led to rule changes and the creation of a series final known today as the grand final of the football season. The VFL continued building and growing for at least a century before being renamed to the Australian Football League in the 1990s.

From its humble beginnings with the teams to growing to a following of 3.4 million people, the AFL has sky-rocketed over the last century. Another amazing statistic that shows its popularity is how much revenue the AFL made between 2012 and 2019, turning over 794 million dollars.

Every AFL season involves 18 teams, which we'll list just now. These teams all play 23 matches home and away over a 25-week period, which is then followed by the final series, which involves the top eight clubs competing against one another for victory. The current AFL teams are as follows:

The AFL has a rich history that has made it one of the most popular sports in Australia. But the game doesn't stop on the field. Each AFL team has a huge community of followers devoted to supporting their teams. Teams attract large sponsorships and investors, pouring their finances into teams, with a healthy betting community wagering on each match. Check out the AFL betting markets to get in on the action.

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