Editing Australian rules football (section)

==Cultural influence and popularity==
{{Main|Australian rules football culture}}
[[File:Yuendumu Gold 23.jpg|thumb|left|Australian football is popular among Indigenous communities.]]

Australian football has attracted more overall interest among Australians than any other football code.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sweeneyresearch.com.au/newsPDF/news_pdf_16.pdf |title=Sweeney Sport report for 2006–07 |access-date= 31 March 2021|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080527210104/http://www.sweeneyresearch.com.au/newsPDF/news_pdf_16.pdf |archive-date=27 May 2008 }}</ref>

The [[2024 AFL season]] saw an average attendance of 38,344 fans per match, making the AFL Australia's, and one of the world's best-attended sports leagues.<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date= |title=AFL and NRL Break All-Time Attendance Records in 2024 |url=https://ministryofsport.com/afl-and-nrl-break-all-time-attendance-records-in-2024/ |work=Ministry of Sport |location= |publisher= |access-date=23 April 2025}}</ref> Also that year, data indicated 1,319,687 people, or 1 in 20 Australians, are members of an AFL club.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jovanovski |first=Jack |date= |title=Vic powerhouse defends title; new No. 2 leapfrogs Eagles: 2024 AFL membership ladder revealed |url=https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-member-numbers-ladder-2024-club-membership-by-team-club-records-which-club-has-the-most-members-alltime-record-broken-collingwood-magpies-carlton-blues-west-coast-eagles-latest-news/news-story/3d39abb09b01db190be1b2a215552468 |work=Fox Footy |location= |publisher= |access-date=23 April 2025}}</ref> The most-visited sports website in Australia in 2023 was the AFL's, attracting 1.89 billion total visits.<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date= |title=AFL tops the chart as Australia's most visited sports website; Fox Sports, Sportsbet, NBA, TAB in top 5 |url=https://www.mi-3.com.au/19-01-2024/afl-tops-chart-australias-most-visited-sports-website-fox-sports-sportsbet-nba-tab-top-5 |work=Mi3 |location= |publisher= |access-date=23 April 2025}}</ref>

Approximately 40% of Australians aged 14+ watch AFL matches on TV either occasionally or regularly.<ref name=roytv>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=18 March 2025 |title=AFL stretches lead over NRL in TV viewership despite NRL’s rise |url=https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9842-afl-vs-nrl-2023-24 |work=Roy Morgan |location= |publisher= |access-date=23 April 2025}}</ref> The [[2024 AFL Grand Final]] was that year's highest-rating free-to-air television broadcast in Australia, with an in-home audience of 4 million watching [[Seven Network|Seven]]'s coverage;<ref>{{cite news |last=Snape |first=Jack |date=29 December 2024 |title=Which sport won 2024? Australian audiences feast on free-to-air despite streaming boom |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/dec/29/australia-sport-tv-ratings-2024-afl-nrl-olympics |work=The Guardian |location= |publisher= |access-date=23 April 2025}}</ref> overall TV viewership reached at least 7,569,000.<ref name=roytv/> The AFL's current TV broadcasting rights deal with Seven and Foxtel is worth an Australian record $4.5 billion.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mark |first=David |date=6 September 2022 |title=AFL announces 'unprecedented' $4.5 billion broadcast deal with Seven, Foxtel |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-06/afl-confirms-unprecedented-4-5-billion-television-broadcast-deal/101410752 |work=ABC News |location= |publisher= |access-date=23 April 2025}}</ref>

In terms of participation, there were at least 581,000 registered players in Australia in 2024. This figure encompasses community football at junior, youth, and senior levels, as well as programs such as [[Footy 9s]].<ref name=ministry/> Among Australian children aged 0–14, it is the fifth most common sporting activity, behind swimming, soccer, basketball and gymnastics.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 2024 |title=Clearinghouse for sport: Ausplay National Sport and Activity Physical Participation Report 2023-24 |url=https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/research/ausplay/results#data_tables_br_july_2023_june_2024 |access-date=24 April 2025 |website=Australian Sports Commission}}</ref> Women and girls account for 20% of all community football registrations.<ref name=ministry>{{cite news |last= |first= |date= |title=AFL Breaks Participation Record, Reflecting Strong Grassroots Growth |url=https://ministryofsport.com/afl-breaks-participation-record-reflecting-strong-grassroots-growth/ |work=Ministry of Sport |location= |publisher= |access-date=23 April 2025}}</ref><ref name="AFL Report 2024">{{cite web| url = https://www.afl.com.au/annual-reports/2024| title = AFL Annual Reports | archive-url = | archive-date = | url-status = live }}</ref>

===In the arts and popular culture===
{{Main|Australian rules football in popular culture}}
[[File:Tandy Fleiter Cazaly.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sydney Swans|South Melbourne]]'s ruck combination of the 1920s, left to right: [[Mark Tandy (Australian rules footballer)|Mark Tandy]], [[Fred Fleiter]] and [[Roy Cazaly]]. Fleiter coined the phrase "Up there, Cazaly!" as a signal for Cazaly to leap for the ball. It entered popular idiom as a phrase of encouragement, and was used as a [[battle cry]] by Australian soldiers during World War II. It remains well known through [[Mike Brady (musician)|Mike Brady]]'s 1979 Australian football anthem [[Up There Cazaly|of the same name]].]]

Australian football has inspired works by many writers and poets, including [[C. J. Dennis]], [[Helen Garner]], [[Peter Goldsworthy]] and [[Kerry Greenwood]].<ref name="double">{{Citation|author=Alomes, Stephen |year=2007 |title=The Lie of the Ground: Aesthetics and Australian Football |journal=Double Dialogues |publisher=[[Deakin University]] |issue=8 |issn=1447-9591 |url=http://www.doubledialogues.com/archive/issue_eight/alomes.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602204039/http://www.doubledialogues.com/archive/issue_eight/alomes.html |archive-date=2 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Heath |first=Nicola |date=3 December 2024 |title=New Helen Garner book The Season uses football to create a tender portrait of youthful masculinity |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-03/helen-garner-new-book-the-season-review/104673484 |work=ABC News |location= |publisher=ABC |access-date=3 April 2025}}</ref> Historians [[Manning Clarke]] and [[Geoffrey Blainey]] have also written extensively on the sport. [[Glossary of Australian rules football|Slang within Australian football]] has impacted [[Australian English]] more broadly, with a number of expressions taking on new meanings in non-sporting contexts, e.g., to "[[wikt:guernsey#Noun|get a guernsey]]" is to gain recognition or approval, while "[[wikt:shirt-front|shirt-front]]ing" someone is to accost them.<ref>[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/shirtfronting "Shirtfronting"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327110815/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/shirtfronting |date=27 March 2023 }}, Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved 29 March 2022.</ref>

[[File:Nicky Winmar statue.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Statue of Indigenous Hall of Famer [[Nicky Winmar]] pointing to his skin in 1993 in protest of racial vilification, erected outside Perth Stadium in 2019]]
In 1889, [[Heidelberg School|Australian impressionist]] painter [[Arthur Streeton]] captured football games ''[[en plein air]]'' for the [[9 by 5 Impression Exhibition]], titling one work ''The National Game''.<ref>Clark, Jane (1985). ''Golden Summers: Heidelberg and Beyond'', pp. 112–117</ref> Paintings by [[Sidney Nolan]] (''[[Footballer (painting)|Footballer]]'', 1946) and [[John Brack]] (''[[Three of the Players]]'', 1953) helped to establish Australian football as a serious subject for modernists,<ref>McAullife, Chris (1995). "Eyes on the Ball: Images of Australian Rules Football", ''[[Art & Australia]]'' (Vol 32 No 4), pp. 490–500</ref> and many [[contemporary Indigenous Australian art|Aboriginal artists]] have explored the game, often fusing it with the mythology of their region.<ref>Heathcote, Christopher (August 2009). "Bush Football: The Kunoth Family", ''Art Monthly'' (Issue 222).</ref><ref>Angel, Anita (23 November 2009). [http://www.cdu.edu.au/advancement/artcollection/lookingatart_dec.html "Looking at Art"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523230557/http://www.cdu.edu.au/advancement/artcollection/lookingatart_dec.html |date=23 May 2014 }}, [[Charles Darwin University]] Art Collection & Art Gallery. Retrieved 23 May 2014.</ref> [[Vincent Namatjira]] won the 2020 [[Archibald Prize]] for his portrait of [[Adam Goodes]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Sprague |first=Quentin |date=1 February 2021 |title=The paintbrush is a weapon: Vincent Namatjira |url=https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2021/february/1612098000/quentin-sprague/paintbrush-weapon-vincent-namatjira |access-date=1 April 2025 |website=[[The Monthly]]}}</ref>

In cartooning, [[William Ellis Green|WEG]]'s VFL/AFL premiership posters—inaugurated in 1954—have achieved iconic status among Australian football fans.<ref>Rielly, Stephen (30 December 2008). [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/cartoonist-spoke-to-afl-tribe/story-e6frg7mx-1111118433741 "Cartoonist William Ellis Green spoke to AFL tribe"], ''The Australian''. Retrieved 5 December 2013.</ref> [[List of Australian rules football statues|Australian football statues]] can be found throughout the country, some based on famous photographs, among them [[Haydn Bunton Sr.]]'s leap, [[Jack Dyer]]'s [[Jack Dyer#Photograph from 1944 Essendon match|charge]] and [[Nicky Winmar]] [[Nicky Winmar#Famous photograph|lifting his jumper]].<ref>Green, Warwick (16 September 2018). [https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/from-photo-to-statue-winmar-s-stance-still-powerful-20180916-p5043f.html "From photo to statue: Winmar's stance still powerful"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331170750/https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/from-photo-to-statue-winmar-s-stance-still-powerful-20180916-p5043f.html |date=31 March 2022 }}, ''The Age''. Retrieved 31 March 2022.</ref> In the 1980s, a group of [[postmodern]] architects based in Melbourne began incorporating references to Australian football into their buildings, an example being [[RMIT Building 8|Building 8]] by [[Edmond and Corrigan]].<ref>Reinmuth, Gerard (2019). "Reflection on Wars Past". In ''Sydney vs Melbourne''. UTS Architecture, p. 54. {{isbn|978-3-16-148410-0}}.</ref><ref>Van Schaik, Leon (1996). In ''Building 8: 10 Essays''. Schwarz Transition, pp. 48–53. {{isbn|978-1-863-95314-6}}.</ref>

Dance sequences based on Australian football feature heavily in [[Robert Helpmann]]'s 1964 ballet ''[[The Display]]'', his first and most famous work for the [[Australian Ballet]].<ref>Douglas, Tim (30 August 2012). [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/ballets-former-glories-show-footys-left-its-mark/story-e6frg8n6-1226461140091 "Ballet's former glories show footy's left its mark"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121130512/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/ballets-former-glories-show-footys-left-its-mark/story-e6frg8n6-1226461140091 |date=21 January 2015 }}, ''The Australian''. Retrieved 8 June 2014.</ref> The game has also inspired well-known plays such as ''[[And the Big Men Fly]]'' (1963) by [[Alan Hopgood]] and [[David Williamson]]'s ''[[The Club (play)|The Club]]'' (1977), which was [[The Club (1980 film)|adapted into a 1980 film]], directed by [[Bruce Beresford]]. [[Mike Brady (musician)|Mike Brady]]'s 1979 hit "[[Up There Cazaly]]" is considered an Australian football anthem, and references to the sport can be found in works by popular musicians, from singer-songwriter [[Paul Kelly (Australian musician)|Paul Kelly]] to the alternative rock band [[TISM]].<ref>Worrell, Shane (3 April 2010). [http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/news/local/sport/general/modern-footy-not-in-tune/1793202.aspx?storypage=2 "Modern footy not in tune"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924105026/https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/708100/modern-footy-not-in-tune/ |date=24 September 2021 }}, ''[[Bendigo Advertiser]]''. Retrieved 5 December 2013.</ref> Others, such as [[Tame Impala]]'s [[Kevin Parker (musician)|Kevin Parker]], have written songs for their favourite AFL club.<ref>{{cite news |last=Newstead |first=Al |date=24 May 2021 |title=Tame Impala's Kevin Parker writes new song for Fremantle Dockers |url=https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/news/tame-impala-kevin-parker-new-afl-song-for-fremantle-dockers/13356372 |work=Triple J |location= |publisher=ABC |access-date=1 April 2025}}</ref> Many [[List of Australian rules football video games|Australian football video games]] have been released, notably the [[AFL (video game series)|AFL series]].