Made In Australia MadeinOz.com.

Australian rules football, (most popular code of any sport in Australia) also known as Australian football, Aussie rules, or simply "football" or "footy" is a code of football played with a prolate spheroid ball, on large oval shaped fields (cricket fields), with four posts at each end. No more than 18 players of each team are permitted to be on the field at any time, with four interchange players on the bench, and the primary aim of the game is to score by kicking the ball between the posts. The winner is the team who has the higher total score by the end of the match.
There are several different ways to advance the ball, including kicking and hand passing. When hand passing one hand must be used to hold the ball and the other fist to hit it — throwing the ball is not allowed. Players running with the ball must bounce or touch it on the ground every 15 metres. There is no offside rule and players can roam the field freely. Australian rules is a contact sport. Possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when a free kick is paid. Players who hold on to the ball too long are penalised if they are tackled by an opposition player who is then rewarded, whilst players who catch a ball from a kick exceeding 15 metres (known as a mark) are awarded uncontested possession. The duration of play varies, but is longer than in any other code of football.
Frequent contests for possession including aerial marking or "speckies," and vigorous tackling with the hands, bumps and the fast movement of both players and the ball are the game's main attributes as a spectator sport.
The game originated in Victoria during the Victorian gold rush, and organised and codified in Melbourne in 1858 in a bid to keep cricketers fit during the winter months. The first laws of Australian football were published in 1859 by the Melbourne Football Club. The most prestigious professional competition is the Australian Football League (AFL), which culminates in the annual AFL Grand Final, the highest attended club championship event in the world. The league has governed the sport through the AFL Commission and the AFL Rules Committee, since it disbanded the Australian National Football Council in 1993.

Congratulations to the GEELONG FOOTBALL CLUB for winning the 2009 Grand Final.

St Kilda 3.2 7.7 9.11 9.14 (68) Geelong 3.0 7.1 9.4 12.8 (80)

GOALS
St Kilda: Schneider 2, Goddard, Hayes, Koschitzke, Jones, Dempster, Riewoldt, Montagna
Geelong: Chapman 3, Mooney 2, Hawkins 2, Rooke 2, Selwood, Byrnes, Ablett

BEST
St Kilda: Gram, Hayes, Ball, Jones, Montagna, Baker, Goddard
Geelong: Chapman, Rooke, Milburn, Taylor, Selwood, Ablett, Corey, Bartel, Ling, Scarlett

Umpires: McBurney, Ryan, Rosebury

Official crowd: 99,251 at the MCG

The National Rugby League (NRL) is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL competition (sometimes referred to as the Telstra Premiership for sponsorship purposes) is contested by 16 clubs, 15 based in Australia and one club based in New Zealand, and is the region's elite rugby league championship. The premiership also boasts the world's highest attendance figures for any rugby club competition of either code and is generally regarded as the most competitive.
The NRL was formed in the aftermath of the Super League war as a joint partnership between the sport's national governing body, the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the News Corporation-controlled Super League after both organisations ran premierships parallel to each other in 1997. Since then, the NRL championship has been won by seven teams: Brisbane Broncos, Bulldogs, Melbourne Storm, Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers. Of these, current premiers Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos are the only teams to have won the NRL premiership on more than one occasion, having claimed victory in 1999 and 2007 and 1998, 2000, and 2006 respectively.
Each year the NRL champions play a game against the premiers of the European Super League competition in the World Club Challenge.

Congratulations to the MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB for winning the 2008 NRL Grand Final.
Final Scores: Manly Warringah 40 - 0 Melbourne Storm

In 1985 the Australian Rugby Football Union was incorporated.
In 1874 the Southern Rugby Union was established, administered from Twickenham in England. The administration was handed over to New South Wales in 1881 and in 1892 the Southern Rugby Union of New South Wales and the Northern Rugby Union of Queensland (formed in 1883) became New South Wales and Queensland Rugby Unions respectively.
New South Wales, as the senior union, was responsible for the administration of all tours and for representing Australia on the International Rugby Board. However in 1947 the various State Unions agreed that the future of rugby union in Australia would be better served by forming one administrative body. In 1948, the International Board invited Australia specifically (rather than a New South Wales representative), to take a seat on the Board.
The inaugural meeting of the Australian Rugby Football Union was held on November 25th, 1949 with 11 delegates from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. The Australian Capital Territory became a member in 1972 and the Northern Territory an associate member in 1978. In 2004, the ACT union changed its name to the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union after two regional unions in southern New South Wales switched affiliation to the ACT union.

The National Basketball League is Australia's top-level professional basketball competition.
The league commenced in 1979, playing a winter season (April-September) and did so until the completion of the 20th season in 1998. The 1998/99 season, which commenced only months later, was the first season after the shift to the current summer season format (October-April). This shift was an attempt to avoid competing directly against Australia's various football codes.
There are currently twelve teams in the league, with teams in most capital cities (all except Canberra, Hobart and Darwin), regional centres Cairns, Townsville and Wollongong, as well as New Zealand and Singapore. A second Melbourne club, the South Dragons, entered the league in season 2006/07. The NBL has also become the first Australian sporting league to field a team from Asia with the Singapore Slingers playing in the 2006/07 season. On November 21, 2006, the NBL announced that a 13th team, based on the Gold Coast, (Blaze) will join the league in 2007/08.

Cricket Australia, formerly (and still often referred to as) the Australian Cricket Board, is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket Matches.
Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport contested by two teams, usually of eleven players each. A cricket match is played on a grass field, roughly oval in shape, in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called a cricket pitch. A wicket, usually made of wood, is placed at each end of the pitch.
The bowler, a player from the fielding team, hurls a hard, fist-sized cricket ball from the vicinity of one wicket towards the other. The ball usually bounces once before reaching the batsman, a player from the opposing team. In defence of the wicket, the batsman plays the ball with a wooden cricket bat. Meanwhile, the other members of the bowler's team stand in various positions around the field as fielders, players who retrieve the ball in an effort to stop the batsman scoring, and if possible to get him or her out. The batsman - if he or she does not get out - may run between the wickets, exchanging ends with a second batsman (the "non-striker"), who has been waiting near the bowler's wicket. Each completed exchange of ends scores one run. Runs are also scored if the batsman hits the ball to the boundary of the playing area. The match is won by the team that scores more runs.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) is the governing body for the sport of football (soccer) in Australia. Before 1 January 2005, it was known as the Australian Soccer Association (ASA), which succeeded Soccer Australia in this role in 2003.
Among other duties, the FFA oversees Australia's national football teams (including the Socceroos (men), the Matildas (women), and various youth teams); national coaching programmes; coordination with the various state and territory governing bodies; and the national club competition. Until 2004 the national competition was the National Soccer League; the FFA launched a new national league in 2005, the A-League.
Ben Buckley is currently the CEO of the FFA and Frank Lowy is the chairman.

Australia qualified for the 2006 World Cup last sixteen only to lose to eventual champions Italy in the last minute on a highly questionable penalty. Australia are now part of the Asia Qualifying Group for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and have secured a place in the last 32 for World Cup South Africa 2010.

The Australian Hockey League (AHL) is Australia’s premier national domestic field hockey competition. Despite its non-professional nature, AHL is considered one of the strongest and most competitive national field hockey leagues in the world. The AHL consists of both men's and women's competition. It includes many players from the Kookaburras and the Hockeyroos, and participating in the AHL is a selection requirement for all Australian national squad members.

AUSTRALIAN SPORT
	Australian rules football, (most popular code of any sport in Australia) also known as Australian football, Aussie rules, or simply "football" or "footy" is a code of football played with a prolate spheroid ball, on large oval shaped fields (cricket fields), with four posts at each end. No more than 18 players of each team are permitted to be on the field at any time, with four interchange players on the bench, and the primary aim of the game is to score by kicking the ball between the posts. The winner is the team who has the higher total score by the end of the match. There are several different ways to advance the ball, including kicking and hand passing. When hand passing one hand must be used to hold the ball and the other fist to hit it — throwing the ball is not allowed. Players running with the ball must bounce or touch it on the ground every 15 metres. There is no offside rule and players can roam the field freely. Australian rules is a contact sport. Possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when a free kick is paid. Players who hold on to the ball too long are penalised if they are tackled by an opposition player who is then rewarded, whilst players who catch a ball from a kick exceeding 15 metres (known as a mark) are awarded uncontested possession. The duration of play varies, but is longer than in any other code of football. Frequent contests for possession including aerial marking or "speckies," and vigorous tackling with the hands, bumps and the fast movement of both players and the ball are the game's main attributes as a spectator sport. The game originated in Victoria during the Victorian gold rush, and organised and codified in Melbourne in 1858 in a bid to keep cricketers fit during the winter months. The first laws of Australian football were published in 1859 by the Melbourne Football Club. The most prestigious professional competition is the Australian Football League (AFL), which culminates in the annual AFL Grand Final, the highest attended club championship event in the world. The league has governed the sport through the AFL Commission and the AFL Rules Committee, since it disbanded the Australian National Football Council in 1993. Congratulations to the GEELONG FOOTBALL CLUB for winning the 2009 Grand Final. St Kilda 3.2 7.7 9.11 9.14 (68) Geelong 3.0 7.1 9.4 12.8 (80) GOALS St Kilda: Schneider 2, Goddard, Hayes, Koschitzke, Jones, Dempster, Riewoldt, Montagna Geelong: Chapman 3, Mooney 2, Hawkins 2, Rooke 2, Selwood, Byrnes, Ablett BEST St Kilda: Gram, Hayes, Ball, Jones, Montagna, Baker, Goddard Geelong: Chapman, Rooke, Milburn, Taylor, Selwood, Ablett, Corey, Bartel, Ling, Scarlett Umpires: McBurney, Ryan, Rosebury Official crowd: 99,251 at the MCG
	The National Rugby League (NRL) is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL competition (sometimes referred to as the Telstra Premiership for sponsorship purposes) is contested by 16 clubs, 15 based in Australia and one club based in New Zealand, and is the region's elite rugby league championship. The premiership also boasts the world's highest attendance figures for any rugby club competition of either code and is generally regarded as the most competitive. The NRL was formed in the aftermath of the Super League war as a joint partnership between the sport's national governing body, the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the News Corporation-controlled Super League after both organisations ran premierships parallel to each other in 1997. Since then, the NRL championship has been won by seven teams: Brisbane Broncos, Bulldogs, Melbourne Storm, Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers. Of these, current premiers Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos are the only teams to have won the NRL premiership on more than one occasion, having claimed victory in 1999 and 2007 and 1998, 2000, and 2006 respectively. Each year the NRL champions play a game against the premiers of the European Super League competition in the World Club Challenge. Congratulations to the MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB for winning the 2008 NRL Grand Final. Final Scores: Manly Warringah 40 - 0 Melbourne Storm
	In 1985 the Australian Rugby Football Union was incorporated. In 1874 the Southern Rugby Union was established, administered from Twickenham in England. The administration was handed over to New South Wales in 1881 and in 1892 the Southern Rugby Union of New South Wales and the Northern Rugby Union of Queensland (formed in 1883) became New South Wales and Queensland Rugby Unions respectively. New South Wales, as the senior union, was responsible for the administration of all tours and for representing Australia on the International Rugby Board. However in 1947 the various State Unions agreed that the future of rugby union in Australia would be better served by forming one administrative body. In 1948, the International Board invited Australia specifically (rather than a New South Wales representative), to take a seat on the Board. The inaugural meeting of the Australian Rugby Football Union was held on November 25th, 1949 with 11 delegates from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. The Australian Capital Territory became a member in 1972 and the Northern Territory an associate member in 1978. In 2004, the ACT union changed its name to the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union after two regional unions in southern New South Wales switched affiliation to the ACT union.
	The National Basketball League is Australia's top-level professional basketball competition. The league commenced in 1979, playing a winter season (April-September) and did so until the completion of the 20th season in 1998. The 1998/99 season, which commenced only months later, was the first season after the shift to the current summer season format (October-April). This shift was an attempt to avoid competing directly against Australia's various football codes. There are currently twelve teams in the league, with teams in most capital cities (all except Canberra, Hobart and Darwin), regional centres Cairns, Townsville and Wollongong, as well as New Zealand and Singapore. A second Melbourne club, the South Dragons, entered the league in season 2006/07. The NBL has also become the first Australian sporting league to field a team from Asia with the Singapore Slingers playing in the 2006/07 season. On November 21, 2006, the NBL announced that a 13th team, based on the Gold Coast, (Blaze) will join the league in 2007/08.
	Cricket Australia, formerly (and still often referred to as) the Australian Cricket Board, is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket Matches. Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport contested by two teams, usually of eleven players each. A cricket match is played on a grass field, roughly oval in shape, in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called a cricket pitch. A wicket, usually made of wood, is placed at each end of the pitch. The bowler, a player from the fielding team, hurls a hard, fist-sized cricket ball from the vicinity of one wicket towards the other. The ball usually bounces once before reaching the batsman, a player from the opposing team. In defence of the wicket, the batsman plays the ball with a wooden cricket bat. Meanwhile, the other members of the bowler's team stand in various positions around the field as fielders, players who retrieve the ball in an effort to stop the batsman scoring, and if possible to get him or her out. The batsman - if he or she does not get out - may run between the wickets, exchanging ends with a second batsman (the "non-striker"), who has been waiting near the bowler's wicket. Each completed exchange of ends scores one run. Runs are also scored if the batsman hits the ball to the boundary of the playing area. The match is won by the team that scores more runs.
	Football Federation Australia (FFA) is the governing body for the sport of football (soccer) in Australia. Before 1 January 2005, it was known as the Australian Soccer Association (ASA), which succeeded Soccer Australia in this role in 2003. Among other duties, the FFA oversees Australia's national football teams (including the Socceroos (men), the Matildas (women), and various youth teams); national coaching programmes; coordination with the various state and territory governing bodies; and the national club competition. Until 2004 the national competition was the National Soccer League; the FFA launched a new national league in 2005, the A-League. Ben Buckley is currently the CEO of the FFA and Frank Lowy is the chairman. Australia qualified for the 2006 World Cup last sixteen only to lose to eventual champions Italy in the last minute on a highly questionable penalty. Australia are now part of the Asia Qualifying Group for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and have secured a place in the last 32 for World Cup South Africa 2010.
	The Australian Hockey League (AHL) is Australia’s premier national domestic field hockey competition. Despite its non-professional nature, AHL is considered one of the strongest and most competitive national field hockey leagues in the world. The AHL consists of both men's and women's competition. It includes many players from the Kookaburras and the Hockeyroos, and participating in the AHL is a selection requirement for all Australian national squad members.