page_title: Australian rules football in South Africa
section_title: Participation
hierarchical_section_title: Australian rules football in South Africa / Participation
caption_attribution_description: English: A map of South Africa indicating the provinces in which Aussie Rules was played in 2007
context_page_description: Australian rules football in South Africa is a fast-growing team sport, having grown in participation by 160% between 2005–07.
  Since 1996, the sport has been growing quickly amongst indigenous communities, beginning in the North West province and later spreading to Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape Province through the work of development officers. South Africa's national team made history in 2007 by competing against Australia's best Under 17 players as well as defeating a touring Australian amateur senior team for the first time. The governing body for the game in South Africa is AFL South Africa.
context_section_description: From no players in 1997 to 160 senior and 540 junior players in South Africa in 2004.
  By the end of 2005, it was reported by the AFL that there were over 3,000 players in the country. The AFL has set a target of 20,000 players in South Africa by 2009. In 2010 this target was reached and a new target of 40,000 was established.
  By the end of 2007, the figures recorded a total of 7,800 participants including 3,000 senior players, 800 juniors and 4,000 Footy Wild (Auskick) participants. This represents a growth in participation of 160% between 2005–07.
caption: A map of South Africa highlighting in green the provinces in which development officers co-ordinated organised Australian rules football competitions in 2007.
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