AFL (Aussie Rules Football)
Australian Rules Football was one of two demonstration sports at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. The other demonstration sport was baseball. The game was played on December 7th 1956, on Day 14 of the Games. As it was scheduled for the day after the final official events, the crowd turn out was quite poor.
The game was played between a side representing the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA), and a side from the combined Victorian Football League (VFL) and Victorian Football Association (VFA). As it was part of the Olympic Games, and the ideals of amateurism at that time was so cherished as the Olympic way, only amateur players were allowed to compete. This meant that many players from the mainly professional VFL and VFA were ineligible, so many stars of the game were missing. The VAFA wore white jumpers with emerald green collars and the five Olympic rings on their chest. The combined team wore the reverse coloring, green jumpers with white collars.
The game was played at the MCG, though the ground was smaller than usual as it was played inside of the athletics track. The game was played using the regular Australian Rules Football rules of the day. Surprising many, the VAFA easily won the game 12.9.81 to VFL/VFA 8.7.55.
Related Pages
- More about the sport of AFL
- Other Olympic demonstration sports
- AFL demonstration at the Commonwealth Games
- Olympic Games sites
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