Australian rules football, also called Australian football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by kicking the oval ball between the central pair of the four posts at each end of the ground, or between a central and outer post.
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). It is based in Melbourne, Victoria, and plays its home games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Melbourne are the reigning premiers of the AFL.
David "Neita" Neitz, nicknamed Neita, is a retired Australian rules footballer. The strongly built centre half back who became a full forward was the longest-serving captain in the history of the Melbourne Football Club and the first Melbourne player to achieve the 300-game milestone. He is considered one of the greatest ever players to come out of the island state of Tasmania.
Cameron Bruce is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently serving as an assistant coach for the Brisbane Lions. During his AFL career, he was known for his aerobic capacity and neat kicking skills.
Luke Darcy is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL) and now works for the Seven Network and Triple M covering the AFL and the Olympics.
David Rodan is a Fijian Australian rules footballer goal umpire and a retired professional who played for the Richmond Tigers, Port Adelaide Power and the Melbourne Demons.
Australian rules football in Queensland was the first official football code played in 1866. The Colony of Queensland was the second after Victoria to adopt Australian rules football and it became established across the colony as the most popular code however it soon fell into the shadow of British football variants for more than a century. The introduction of the Brisbane Bears to the national competition in 1987 did little to help the code grow and access to suitable stadiums hampered it until the 1993 redevelopment of the Brisbane Cricket Ground (Gabba) to host AFL matches. However the AFL's move from the Gold Coast to Brisbane set in motion enormous growth in popularity, resulting in average attendances tripling by 1996.
David Cloke is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club and the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional men's competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the game. Originally known as the Victorian Football League (VFL), it was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season commencing the following year. The VFL, aiming to become a national competition, began expanding beyond Victoria to other Australian states in the 1980s, and changed its name to the AFL in 1990.
David Pittman is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League (AFL).
David Spriggs is an Australian rules footballer with the Vermont Football Club in the Eastern Football League, who formerly played for the AFL's Geelong Football Club, Sydney Swans and the Port Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League.
The "Barassi Line" is an imaginary line in Australia which divides areas where Australian rules football is the most popular football code from those where rugby league and rugby union dominate. It was first used by historian Ian Turner in his "1978 Ron Barassi Memorial Lecture". Crowd figures, media coverage, and participation rates are heavily skewed in favour of the dominant code on both sides of the line.
David Hale is an Australian rules football coach and former player who is currently serving as an assistant coach with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League. As a player, he played with the North Melbourne Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League.
Todd Goldstein is an Australian rules footballer playing for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goldstein is a ruckman who wears the number 22, and was drafted from the Oakleigh Chargers with the 37th selection in the 2006 AFL Draft. In 2015 he became the first-ever player to reach 1000 hitouts in a season. He surpassed Aaron Sandilands for the most hitouts in VFL/AFL history in Round 17, 2021. Todd attended Trinity Grammar School (Victoria) during high school.
Michael Newton is an Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne in the Australian Football League (AFL) and the Norwood Football Club in the SANFL.
Zach Tuohy is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League. He previously played for the Carlton Football Club from 2010 to 2016. Tuohy grew up in Portlaoise, Co. Laois in Ireland and played Gaelic football before making a code switch to Australian rules football. He currently has the second highest number of games played by any Irish player in the history of the Australian Football League, second only to Jim Stynes.
Josh Smith is an Australian rules footballer who played for North Melbourne in the AFL between 2008 and 2010.
David Cockatoo-Collins is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Jenna McCormick is a professional Australian sportswoman who plays soccer for Danish Elitedivisionen club AGF Fodbold and has played Australian rules football for the Adelaide Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition.
David Mirra is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Following his AFL career, he joined Collegians Football Club in the VAFA competition.
