Names of Australian rules football

A New South Wales player outmarks a Western Australian opponent in the goal square at the 1933 Australian Football Carnival at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The sport of Australian rules football has been called by a number of different names throughout its history. Since 1905, with the formation of the Australasian Football Council, the game has been called "Australian football". The name has been codified by the AFL Commission, as the game's name in the "Laws of Australian football".[1][2] Historically, the sport has been referred to as "Victorian rules" (referring to its origins in Melbourne), the "Victorian game", "Australasian rules", the "Australian game" and "Australian national football", "national football", the "bouncing game" and, derisively, "aerial ping pong" as well as several other names. Today, the common names for the sport are "Australian Football" and "Australian rules football" and it is referred to as "football", "footy", "Aussie rules" or sometimes as "AFL" (a genericised abbreviation of Australian Football League, the sport's pre-eminent and professional competition).[3]

  1. ^ "About the AFL: Australian Football (Official title of the code)". Australian Football League. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  2. ^ "AFL Rules – Laws of the Game". Australian Football League. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  3. ^ Connolly, Rohan (22 March 2012). "Name of the game is up in the air in NSW". The Age. Retrieved 4 April 2012.