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In the Australian state of Victoria, the sport of Australian rules football is the most popular football code. The game's popularity in Victoria stems from its origins in Melbourne in the 1850s, with the first club (the Melbourne Football Club) and the first league (the Victorian Football Association) both based in the city. Ten of the eighteen teams participating in the Australian Football League (AFL) are based in Victoria, as a result of the league's origins as the Victorian Football League (VFL). The Melbourne Cricket Ground, with a capacity of 100,024 people, is considered the "spiritual home" of the game, and hosts the sport's largest event, the AFL Grand Final, yearly. ==History== :''See also Origins of the Game, Australian rules football - Early years in Victoria.'' Tom Wills began to devise Australian rules in Melbourne in 1858. (Although H.C.A. Harrison, Wills' cousin, was also named, much later, as an official ''father of the game'' his role does not, now, seem to have been significant at this very early stage.) A letter by Wills was published in ''Bell's Life in Victoria & Sporting Chronicle'' on 10 July 1858, calling for a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter. A match, played at the Richmond Paddock (later known as Yarra Park next to the MCG) on 31 July 1858, was probably a game of folk football, or one based on unidentified English school rules. However, few details of the match have survived. The Melbourne Football Club was founded on Saturday 14 May 1859, one of the world's first football clubs in any code. For many years unjustified claims have been made about a football match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College. It began on 7 August 1858, umpired by Wills and John McAdam. A second day of play took place on 21 August and a third, and final, day on 4 September. The two schools have competed annually ever since. However, the rules used by the two teams in 1858 had little in common with the eventual form of Australian football since that code had not yet been written. The Melbourne Football Club rules of 1859 are the oldest surviving set of laws for Australian football. They were drawn up at the Parade Hotel, East Melbourne, on 17 May, by Wills, W. J. Hammersley, J. B. Thompson and Thomas Smith (some sources include H. C. A. Harrison). The 1859 rules did not include some elements that soon became important to the game, such as the requirement to bounce the ball while running, and Melbourne's game was not immediately adopted by neighbouring clubs. Before each match the rules had to be agreed by the two teams involved. By 1866, however, several other clubs had agreed to play by an updated version of Melbourne's rules. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Australian rules football in Victoria」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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