Championship of Australia
The Championship of Australia was an Australian rules football tournament which was contested between football clubs from the Victorian, South Australian, Western Australian and Tasmanian football leagues. The Championship took place four times in the 19th century and then from 1907 to 1914—with the exception of 1912—and every year from 1968 to 1975. All but two of the Championships were played in Adelaide, and all of them occurred after the respective league seasons had ended. The 1975 Championship of Australia was the last edition of the competition, with the 1976 NFL Championship replacing the format, albeit for only one year with VFL clubs.
North Adelaide playing Hawthorn for the 1971 Championship of Australia at Adelaide Oval.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, also called Australian football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by kicking the oval ball between the central goal posts, or between a central and outer post.
A ruckman leaps above his opponent to win the hit-out during a ball-up
Statue next to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the approximate site of the 1858 football match between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College. Tom Wills is depicted umpiring behind two young players contesting the ball. The plaque reads that Wills "did more than any other person – as a footballer and umpire, co-writer of the rules and promoter of the game – to develop Australian football during its first decade."
Engraving of a football match at the Richmond Paddock, 1866. The MCG and its first pavilion are visible in the background, as are kick-off posts, the forerunner of today's behind posts.
Engraving of the first intercolonial football match between Victoria and South Australia, East Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1879
