Australian rules football in Victoria

Australian rules football in Victoria
The grand final of the Omeo & District Football League in 2001.
Governing body	AFL Victoria
Representative team	Victoria
First played	Melbourne 31 July 1858; 166 years ago (31 July 1858)
Registered players	235,970 (2023)[1]
Clubs	1,242 (76 competitions)
Club competitions
Victorian Football League Victorian Amateur Football Association Eastern Football League Northern Football Netball League Essendon District Football League Southern Football Netball League Western Region Football League Ovens & Murray Football League
Audience records
Single match	121,696 (1970 VFL Grand Final)

Australian rules football is the most watched and second most participated code of football in Victoria. Australian rules football originated in Melbourne in the late 1850s and grew quickly to dominate the sport, which it continues to. Victoria has more than double the number of players of any other state in Australia accounting for approximately 42% of all Australian players in 2023 and continues to grow strongly. Soccer is the only football code that is more popular than Australian rules in Victoria, though it has made up much ground lost to soccer over previous decades. Today, they have a similar number of players. The sport is governed by AFL Victoria based in Melbourne. The national governing body, the AFL Commission is also based in Melbourne.

The national Australian Football League (AFL) grew out of the Victorian Football League, founded in 1896, as it expanded nationally in the 1980s. 10 of 18 AFL clubs remain Victoria-based including the 4 oldest and the most successful with two thirds of all premierships. Victoria is home to the Cordner–Eggleston Cup, first contested in 1858 and the longest continuously running football competition in the world. It is home to the oldest club in the sport, the Melbourne Football Club which wrote the first rules in 1859 also is the oldest professional football club of any code in the world. It was home to the first official tournament in the sport, the Challenge Cup in 1861. It is home to the second oldest football league in Australia, the semi-professional Victorian Football Association founded in 1877 which, like the AFL has also begun to expand nationally. While Victoria in 2017 accounted for just 30% of all players worldwide, and 40% of Australian players, more than 60% of professional AFL players are recruited from the state.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground, with a capacity of 100,024 people, is considered the "spiritual home" of the game, and is contracted to host the sport's largest event, the AFL Grand Final, annually until 2058. This event is traditionally staged on the afternoon of the last Saturday in September.^[2] The state also holds regular blockbusters including the annual Anzac Day match, King's Birthday match and Dreamtime at the 'G.^[3]

The Victoria Australian rules football team has won more championships than any other state (until the introduction of State of Origin rules) winning 16 of the 19 carnivals up until 1975. Since other states were removed from contesting State of Origin, Victoria has been undefeated, having won against a combined rest of Australia team at home in both 2008 and 2020. Victorian teams have also dominated the National underage championships with two thirds of the titles since it went national in 1976. Victorian clubs have also won 10 of the 19 Championships of Australia.^{[citation needed]}

Victoria has produced the most greats in the history of the game. All four of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Australian Football legends are Victorian: Ron Barassi, Ted Whitten, Bob Skilton and Leigh Matthews. In 2024 the vast majority of the Australian Football Hall of Fame Legends are also from the state (20 of 31). Victoria also holds the world record for attendance with 121,696 attending the 1970 VFL Grand Final between Carlton and Collingwood.^{[citation needed]}