Players leap high to mark the ball
The game that is now known as Australian Rules football was created in 1858.
Cricketers, Thomas Wills and his cousin, Henry Harrison, and two others W.J. Hammersley and J.B. Thompson invented the football game to keep themselves, and other cricketers, fit during winter.
The Melbourne Football Club was formed on August 7, 1858, and in the same year, the first recorded match was played between teams from two Melbourne schools, Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar.
Forty players on each side using a round ball played a match that lasted for more than five hours. The game attracted large crowds of spectators then, and continues to do so today.
| Tom Wills, one of the founders of Australian Football, returned to Australia in 1857 after being at school in England. Wills had been the football captain of Rugby School and a brilliant cricketer. |
The Geelong Football Club was formed in 1859. In1866 an updated set of rules was written and competition started.
| Go here for more about the history of the game from the Official AFL site http://www.afl.com.au/Season2007/Statistics/History/tabid/967/Default.aspx |
The game is played between two teams of 18 players. Only 18 members of each team are allowed on the field during a match, but each team is allowed 3 interchange players)
The game is fast, and a free kick is awarded to any player who marks the ball (clean catches it) after it has been kicked more than 15 metres.
A match is played in four 20 minute quarters. The game begins with a coin toss and the winning captain decides which goal his team will defend. At the end of each quarter teams change ends and kick to the opposite goal.
Players attempt to drive the ball down the field to score a goal. Players can kick or hand pass the ball to team mates. They may not throw the ball.
Umpires control the game and may award free kicks when rules are broken.
Go here to the official AFL website with links to all AFL clubs
Read about the sport here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football
Acknowledge this
source in your bibliography like this:
Australian Rules Football (2007) [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au
Links to some other kidcyber
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Track & Field: throwing events
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updated December 2007