In 1859, the first trials of a revolutionary sport were played in Melbourne between two private schools. Not unusual in itself, most football codes were developed at private schools throughout england in the mid 19th century, where Sheffield and Rugby rules were the dominant amongst their peers. It was an Englishman, Tom Wills who in 1859, wrote the first rules for the game called melbourne rules, today known as Australian rules.
Australian Rules football has remained strong over the last 160 years with minor setbacks at the turn of the 20th century in Queensland and NSW which opted for rugby codes as their main sport of choice. Today Australian Rules is the main sport by spectator numbers and revenue, and arguably just behind the NRL in tv viewership (but way ahead in terms of income derived from TV rights). It is the dominant sport in all mainland states bar NSW and QLD, sharing the honors in the Northern Territory.
The code of Australian Rules continues to expand overseas, sometimes with help from the AFL, but usually thanks to dedicated individuals and teams of people who want to see the game they are passionate about grow in the places they live. This site is dedicated to those folks.
The tabs at the top of the site will take you to the various leagues, by continental area. The news feed next to this post consists of news from the AFL, Melbourne media outlets, US Footy, AFL Sweden and anywhere else I could find a working RSS feed.
This site is currently a work in progress. Information will generally come from league or club “about us” or history pages, or if required, Wikipedia. IF any of this information is out of date, please dont hesitate to advise.
International Australian Rules 
