Football in Australia

Football in Australia refers to football codes played in the country including Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, association football, American football and Gaelic football. Professional football is played in Australia for four of these codes, with the leagues involved including the Australian Football League (Aussie rules), the National Rugby League(Rugby League), Super Rugby (rugby union), and the A-League (soccer). Professional football has been televised for many years, with Australian rules football and rugby league being the most popular codes on television. Australia has a number of national football teams encompassing several football codes including Australian rules, rugby league, rugby union, soccer, Gaelic and gridiron.

Some form of football was first played in Australia in 1829. By the 1860s, Australian rules and rugby union clubs were established in Melbourne and Sydney. Soccer or "British Association Football" as it was referred to would arrive in the colony by 1870, with the first official match played in 1880. Intercolonial football matches were being played by 1879. Women's football matches were being organised by the 1920s. National football governing bodies were being established in the same time period. The regional football code divide in Australia was still present in the 1980s, with rugby league being the dominant code in Queensland and New South Wales while Australian rules football dominated in the rest of the country, whilst still being played throughout all of Australia and with soccer being played in ethnic enclaves. Attempts to move outside these traditional boundaries were largely unsuccessful. , The different codes attract different participation levels that reflect historical trends. In 2011, soccer had more junior participants nationally than any other football code with Australian rules the second-most played. Historically, soccer drew largely from minority ethnic groups, and rugby league and rugby union drew from populations in Queensland and New South Wales. Australian rules football attracted participants primarily from the remaining states and territories but also throughout all of Australia. Australian rules also has had one of the highest rates of participation amongst Australia's indigenous communities.

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