Australian Rules Football
Australian rules football, commonly known in NSW as Australian Football League (AFL), is a developing game in most of NSW with increasing popularity. In 2007 it was forecast that there were 95,100 people participated in playing Australian Rules football.
In Sydney, local competitions established in 1880 and again in 1903 competed with rugby union football and then rugby league football. The code fared much better in the Riverina region, closer to the game's place of origin, Melbourne.
The AFL has two teams from Sydney, the Sydney Swans and the Greater Western Sydney Giants . Formerly South Melbourne, the club moved up to Sydney in 1982, after hitting financial trouble. The Swans have won two premierships since moving to Sydney (in 2005 and 2012). Attendance for Swans matches has slowly risen since their relocation. The Swans have been joined by a second Sydney team in 2012, the GWS Giants.
The sport is governed in the state and the enclosed Australian Capital Territory (ACT) by AFL NSW/ACT. In 2004, there were 7,229 senior players out of a total 25 834 club participants registered in New South Wales, and that number and indeed the popularity of Australian Rules continues to rise today.
Read more about this topic: Sport In Sydney
Famous quotes containing the words australian, rules and/or football:
“Beyond the horizon, or even the knowledge, of the cities along the coast, a great, creative impulse is at work—the only thing, after all, that gives this continent meaning and a guarantee of the future. Every Australian ought to climb up here, once in a way, and glimpse the various, manifold life of which he is a part.”
—Vance Palmer (1885–1959)
“Here was a place where nothing was crystallized. There were no traditions, no customs, no college songs .... There were no rules and regulations. All would have to be thought of, planned, built up, created—what a magnificent opportunity!”
—Mabel Smith Douglass (1877–1933)
“...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)