View source for Australian Football League

==History==
Originally, the Australian Football League was known as the Victorian Football League (VFL), which was founded in 1897 football clubs, and included Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St. Kilda and South Melbourne. Tom Wills is recognized as the founder of Australian football as introduced the sport in Australia 1857, developed the first rules of the game and formed the Melbourne Football Club in 1858.  In 1997, a hundred years after its founding, the AFL was composed of 16 teams. The name was changed from VFL to AFL in 1990 due to the national expansion of the sport.<ref>[http://www.afl.com.au/development/aflexplained/history/tabid/10296/default.aspx AFL History]</ref><ref>[http://www.footy.com.au/dags/FAQ2v1-5.html FAQ, Footy.com]</ref>