Australian rules football in the Australian Capital Territory

Australian rules football in the Australian Capital Territory
Goal posts at Manuka Oval in 2006, home of Australian rules football in Canberra
Governing body	AFL Canberra, AFL NSW/ACT
Representative team	Australian Capital Territory
First played	Canberra 29 July 1911; 113 years ago (29 July 1911)
Registered players	8,274 (2022)[1]
Club competitions
AFL Canberra ACT Women's AFL
Audience records
Single match	14,974 (4 June 2016), AFL Greater Western Sydney Giants v Richmond Football Club (Manuka Oval, Canberra)

Australian rules football has been played continuously in the Australian Capital Territory since 1911 and was the most popular football code in the nation's capital Canberra between 1978 and 1982. The current governing body is AFL Canberra founded 1922, while the development body is AFL NSW/ACT established in 1999.

Until 1982, the sport was widely covered in the local media and the premier local competition attracted significant interest. The ACT was one of the first proponents for a national Australian rules football competition (now the Australian Football League) and it became the first state or territory outside of Victoria to make an official bid to join the league. The (rejected) Canberra bid in 1981 was dismissed in favour of a team in Sydney, which became the Sydney Swans. Canberra has made numerous failed bids since, including bids to move the Swans when they became insolvent. However, the popularity of Australian rules football suffered substantially after the introduction of the Raiders (rugby league in 1982) and Brumbies (rugby union in 1996). As a result it fell behind both rugby codes and also soccer and is now classified as a minor sport with the lowest media profile and attendance of the four major football codes.

While it remains by far the second most participated football code and retains a loyal support base as well as a strong local competition, it has continued its slow decline since the 1980s. The ACT hosted its first AFL match in 1995 and AFL matches have been played every year since 2001 except 2020. Since 2012 the AFL has positioned Greater Western Sydney Giants (GWS) as a local side, scheduling three home games a year at Manuka Oval. In 2013, 2016, 2021 and 2022 the stadium's average attendance was higher than that of the Giants home, the Sydney Showgrounds, despite having 10,000 less available seats and a schedule of lower drawing opposition clubs. At least 6,400 GWS members were ACT-based at the end of 2022.^[2][3] The club in 2015 set a target to overtake the Raiders membership in 2018 with more than 10,000+ ACT-based members,^[4] however Raiders membership rapidly outpaced it growing its record to more than quadruple that of GWS.^[5]

The ACT debuted at representative level in 1925 against New South Wales. Its first win came in 1941 against New South Wales; it also went on to defeat Queensland and the National Amateur team numerous times between the 1950s and 1980s culminating in defeats of the powerhouses of the VFL in 1980 and Tasmania in 1981. Kevin "Cowboy" Neale captained the side to many of these victories. It was also the third side to enter the National Underage Championships in 1973; however, it never won the tournament and now participates as part of a combined NSW/ACT side.

Home grown hero Alex Jesaulenko and Australian Football Hall of Fame legend was a household name in the 1970s in Canberra. Jesaulenko has played more games and kicked more goals in the AFL than any other player from the ACT. James Hird is the only Canberran to win the prestigious Brownlow Medal. Both are multi premiership players. Britt Tully (games) and Jacqueline Parry (goals) share the honours in the AFLW. The ACT is classed as a development region by the AFL and in the AFL Draft, ACT is designated priority AFL recruitment zoning for the Greater Western Sydney Giants (and previously Sydney Swans), so most of the local players recruited from the ACT to the AFL (unless overlooked) generally start their careers at one of these two New South Wales based clubs.