by Jaimela King

Created on: March 03, 2009   Last Updated: March 05, 2009

Australian Rules football, or footy, has been played in Australia for over 150 years. It's now played in some 30 countries, but in Australia, it has become the most popular spectator sport. The game originally emerged as an in-between cricket season game. The intent was to keep Aussie cricketers fit during the off season.

The game is played between two teams of 18 players on an oval shaped outdoor field with a ball that is in the shape of a prolate spheroid. Goals are scored by kicking the ball through the 2 posts of the opposing goal with the winning team garnering the higher total score by the end of the fourth quarter.

The popularity of Australian Rules football has been captured in music, film, literature and television. The subject has captivated Australian popular culture and fans can't seem to get enough. Songs like the 1979 hit, Up There Cazaly, by Mike Brady, and Greg Champion's 1995 hit, That's the Thing About Football, have been well received by Footy's cult following and Aussies in general. The songs of cult band TISM and hip hop Australian band, The Hilltop Hoods, deal extensively with the Australian Rules football in their lyrics.

The opening lyrics to Mike Brady's "Up There Crazy", illustrates the love of the game;

Well you work to earn a living

But on weekends comes the time

You can do what ever turns you on

Get out and clear your mind

Me, I like football

But there's a lot of things around

When you line them up together

The footy wins hands down

In the film world, Australian Rules football also garners a fair amount of coverage. The 1997 documentary about the Western Bulldogs team entitled, The Year of the Dogs, was a hit in Australiaas was the movie, Kick to Kick, released in 2000. Other notables include The Great Macarthy (1975), Australian Rules (2002) and The Club (1980)

The Film Australian Rules, released in 2002 and directed by Paul Goldman, is essentially a film about race, with Australian Rules football playing a central role. It is the story about a young man growing up in rural Australia and dealing with racism through his involvement with Australian Rules football and relationships with other characters.

Perhaps the sport's greatest claim to fame in popular culture is its portrayal on television. A variety of television programming pays homage to Australian Rules football. More recent television shows to highlight the game include, Neighbors, an Australian soap opera , Before the Game, The Footy Show and City Homicide.

Australian literature is another arena where the game is immortalized in popular culture. In 1963, Alan Hopgood's play, The Big Men Fly, is an aptly named tribute to the sport. Several players' autobiographies, biographies, and several non-fiction books, including children's books, have been dedicated to Australian Rules football. The book Australian Popular Culture(Australian Cultural Studies), edited by Ivan Craven, includes Australian Rules football in a wonderful commentary about Australian culture.

Australian Rules football is definitively Australian. It is no accident that the AFL draws more spectators than any other sporting league in Australia. With an average of 36,000 in attendance, and highly rated Television broadcasts, Australian Rules football is intricately embedded in the culture of Australia.

Learn more about this author, Jaimela King.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.