Australian Football League
 | |
| Industry: | Sports |
| Founded: | 1897 |
| Country: | Australia |
| Website: | www.afl.com.au |
| Facebook: | AFL |
| Twitter: |  @AFL
|
| Key People | |
| Andrew Demetriou, CEO Andrew Callerall, AFL General Managers | |
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the organization responsible for managing and promoting the the highest level of professional football competition in Australia. The AFL is composed of 17 football teams with an average of 36, 428 attendees per game in 2011. [1][2]
Proposal for .afl Brand gTLD[edit | edit source]
In February, 2012, AFL confirmed its application for the .afl Brand TLD. According to the AFL General Manager of Strategy and Marketing, the organization's applications for the .afl TLD is to ensure that its trademark is protected and to promote the different football clubs and its partners within the AFL community. He said, "We think that it’s worth getting the trust and mark secured and getting the space secured, and then we’ll see what commercial opportunities and marketing opportunities [will] evolve over time." AFL hired Melbourne IT to develop the business plan and the application for the .afl gTLD with ICANN while the back-end registry solutions will be provided by ARI Registry Services.[3]
Potential Benefits of the .afl gTLD[edit | edit source]
Melbourne IT identified some of the potential benefits of .afl TLD, which include:[4]
- Allows fans to easily find relevant online content
- Improves online protection for AFL, football clubs and players
- Supports the growth of clubs and media channels for the AFL
- Enhances the support and promotion of education for grass roots and community football
- Marketing call to actions will become more simple
- Provides opportunities for sponsors to promote partnerships with the AFL community
History[edit | edit source]
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.[5][6]