page_title: United States Australian Football League
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: United States Australian Football League / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Spectators at MAQ T20 International Cricket Tournament at Central Broward Regional Park Main Event Field
context_page_description: The United States Australian Football League is the governing body for Australian rules football in the United States. It was conceived in 1996 and organized in 1997. It is based in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
  As of 2011, there were over 1,000 registered USAFL players. There are 43 member clubs, of which 42 have men's teams and 22 have women's teams.
  Most of the football clubs in the United States have a traditional 18-a-side team for representative purposes and multiple 9-a-side teams running in a local league.
context_section_description: The first match between two local US clubs was played in 1996 between Cincinnati and Louisville.
  In the first year the Mid American Australian Football League was formed.
  Many of the local players had found out about the game in the 1980s on television via the then-nascent ESPN cable network.  Although the local game grew, ESPN no longer broadcast AFL matches, and in response the lobby group, Australian Football Association of North America was formed.
  In 1997, the first club national championships were held in Cincinnati. Nashville hosted the first Australian Grand Final Festival in the same year.  The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) was formed in 1997 to govern the code in the country.
  The involvement of many well-known Australians has helped boost the relations between the USAFL and AFL. In the early days, Paul Roos was a key figure.
  Robert DiPierdomenico, Leigh Matthews and Michael Voss are official USAFL ambassadors.
caption: CRBR Park Stadium is the largest purpose built cricket/Australian football ground in the United States. It has a capacity of 20,000.
exif: {}