October 2, 1896: The Australian Football League Is Founded

October 2, 1896: The Victorian Football League is founded in Melbourne, in the Australian colony of Victoria. Australia gained independence (more or less) in 1901, making Victoria a State. It would take until 1990 for the League to expand enough to rename itself the Australian Football League (AFL).

The 1st Final was held on September 3, 1897, at the Lake Oval, now known as Lakeside Stadium, in Albert Park, a southern suburb of Melbourne. Essendon, of northwest Melbourne, defeated Melbourne Football Club, now nicknamed the Demons, 14-8.

Australian rules football -- a.k.a. Aussie rules, or footy -- is, like American football, a derivative of rugby, although the players are dressed more like basketball players, including shorts, with no pads. The ball isn't as pointed as an American football, and the field is oval, since most teams started out playing on cricket grounds. Sort of like basketball, the ball must periodically be bounced. Like American football prior to 1906, forward passing is illegal.

The average attendance for a game is usually over 60,000. The season lasts 22 games, from March to September, and ends with an AFL Grand Final, nearly always at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the League's hometown, usually on the last Saturday in September or the 1st Saturday in October.

The battle for most Grand Final wins, or "premiers," is very tight: Essendon have won 16, but none since 2000; Carlton, of north Melbourne, havealso won 16, but none since 1995; and Collingwood, formerly playing in the north Melbourne suburb of that name but now playing home games at the MCG, have won 15, most recently in 2010.

(UPDATE: Collingwood won in 2023, tying Essendon and Carlton with 16.)

The Melbourne area has so dominated the event that the only club from the Sydney area ever to have won the premier is Sydney Swans, with 5 -- but only 2 of those have come in Sydney, because they had moved, and were previously known as South Melbourne. The West Coast Eagles, based in Perth, have won 4, to lead the West of the country.

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October 2, 1896 was a Friday. There were no scores on this day: The baseball season had ended, and while there were college football games the day before and the day after, none were played on this day.