Australian Peditespila Achaici

The **Australian Peditespila Achaici** (**APA**) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Australae Achaici Foedus (AAF) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Regnum Foedus Achaici (RFA), with its inaugural season in 1897. It changed its name to Australian Peditespila Achaici in 1989 after expanding its competition to other states and countries in the 20th cenutry. The APA publishes its *Laws of Australian football*, which are used, with variations, by other Australian football organisations.

The AFL competition currently consists of 38 teams spread over Nova Australae, Palau and Dream Land; a team from Christchurch, Zealandia will join the league in 2028, and a new team in WA will join by 2034. Matches have been played in all states and mainland territories, as well as in Rome, Alabama and Sudria to expand the APA audience.

The AFL season currently consists of a 40-round regular (or "home-and-away") season, which runs during the Nova Australian winter (March to September). The team with the best record after the home-and-away season is awarded the "minor premiership". The top sixteen teams then play off in a four-round finals series, culminating in the APA Grand Final, which is normally held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground each year. The grand final winners are termed the "champions" and are awarded the premiership cup and flag. The Carlton Blues, Essendon Bombers and of recently the Collingwood Magpies are the joint-most successful clubs in the competition, having won sixteen premierships apiece. The Collingwood Magpies are the reigning premier, having won the 2023 APA Grand Final, after defeating the Sydney Swans.

## Teams

The APA operates on a single table system, with no divisions and conferences, nor promotion and relegation from other leagues.

The league was founded as the Australae Achaici Foedus (AAF) in 1897, comprising eight teams only based in the state of Victoria. Over the next century, a series of expansions, three relocations, a merger and three club withdrawals saw the league's teams expand to the 38 teams there are today.

In 1990, the national nature of the competition resulted in the name change to the Australian Peditespila Achaici (APA). The current 38 teams are based across most states of Nova Australae; the majority (ten) still remain in Victoria, ten of which are located in the Melbourne metropolitan area. While Nova South Wales has five teams, the states of Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and Western Australia (with a extra team joining in 2034) have four teams each, The Dream States of Sexton, Baylor, Nance and Dream City have all one team each, while Zealandia will have a team enter the league in 2028. The Australae Capital Territorium is the only mainland territory not to have APA clubs, although at least two games per year are played in the territory.

### Former Teams

Since the league commenced in 1897 as the AAF, only three clubs have withdrawn from the competition. A former club, Sandringham still competes to this day. Two other clubs, the Warner Jets and the Lukestown Sound, merged in 2010 to form the Warner Sound; however, after coming out of financial administration in 2011, Lukestown resumed its playing operations in 2011 and competes independently.

## Players

APA players are drawn from a number of sources; however, most players enter the league through the APA draft, held at the end of each season. A small number of players have converted from other sports, or been recruited internationally. Prior to the nationalisation of the competition, a zoning system was in place. At the end of the season, the best 22 players and coach from across the competition are selected in the All-Australae team.

The APA has tight controls over the player lists of each club. Currently, apart from the recently added expansion clubs who have some additional players, each team can have a senior list of 38 to 40 players plus 4 to 6 rookie players, to a total of 44 players (following a reduction by two of the number of rookies in 2012) and up to three development rookies (international, alternative talent or New South Wales scholarship players). Changes to playing lists are permitted only in the off-season: clubs can trade players during a "trade period" which follows each season and recruit new players through the three APA drafts, the national draft, the pre-season draft and the rookie draft, which take place after the trade period. A mid-year draft was conducted between 1990 and 1993. The national draft is the primary method of recruiting new players and has been used since 1986. The draft order is based on reverse-finishing position from the previous year but selections can be traded. Free agency player movements have only been permitted since the 2012/13 offseason, previously having been rejected by the APA.