Ontario Australian Football League
AFL Ontario is the largest Australian Football league in North America. It is currently composed of teams from the Greater Toronto Area, Southwestern Ontario and the National Capital Region, who play off for the Conacher Cup (named after Lionel Conacher), presently awarded to the winner of the annual AFL Ontario Grand Final.
In 2009, AFL Ontario established a second tier competition known as Division 2. The teams in this division compete for the Mike Pyke Cup (named after Mike Pyke) the first Canadian to play in the AFL. In 2011, with the increase interest in women's football, AFL Ontario established their Women's League with great success. With the help of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, 2011 also saw the development of AFL Ontario's junior competition. 2012 will see the women's division double in size with 6 teams competing and the junior competition continue over the summer holidays.
AFL Ontario, along with the North West Pacific Football League is a member of AFL Canada, the governing body for the sport in Canada.
In 2006, AFL Ontario had around 330 senior players consisting of over 170 Canadian nationals. With the rapid increase in awareness and interest in Australian football in Ontario, this has increased in 2012 with almost 650 senior men and women members.
Read more about Ontario Australian Football League: History, Principal Venues
Famous quotes containing the words australian, football and/or league:
“Each Australian is a Ulysses.”
—Christina Stead (1902–1983)
“...I’m not money hungry.... People who are rich want to be richer, but what’s the difference? You can’t take it with you. The toys get different, that’s all. The rich guys buy a football team, the poor guys buy a football. It’s all relative.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
“Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)