This is a chronological list of Australian rules football clubs since their formation.
Note that some of these football clubs that formed before 1866 (see Laws of Australian football) may not have originally played the game known today as Australian rules football. It is more than likely that most of these clubs were influenced by the Melbourne Rules of 1859 in their early days, but some played by their own rules and often compromised rules when playing against other clubs.
| Year | Date | Club (original name) | City | State | Status/League | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1858 | Saint Kilda Football Club | St Kilda | Victoria | defunct | Not related to the current St Kilda Football Club (see South Yarra entry below). [1][2] | |
| 1858 | Richmond Cricketers Football Club | Richmond | Victoria | defunct | Not related to the current Richmond Football Club. | |
| 1859 | May 14 | Melbourne Football Club | Melbourne | Victoria | Australian Football League | In 1859, members of the club published the first code of rules for Australian football. |
| 1859 | June 15 | Castlemaine Football Club* | Castlemaine | Victoria | Bendigo Football League | possibly dormant for periods [3] |
| 1859 | July 18 | Geelong Football Club | Geelong | Victoria | Australian Football League | |
| 1859 | Melbourne University Football Club* | Melbourne | Victoria | VAFA | disbanded for some time after World War I, leaving the VFL, then reformed with multiple teams the VAFA | |
| 1860 | May 20 | Ballarat Football Club* | Ballarat | Victoria | Ballarat Football League | established as junior club. Senior club established in 1862[4] |
| 1862 | Modbury Football Club | Adelaide | South Australia | South Australian Amateur Football League | Played its first game against an Adelaide team at Modbury in 1862[5] | |
| 1862 | Williamstown Club | Williamstown | Victoria | defunct | The first of two Williamstown clubs | |
| 1863* | Sydney University Australian National Football Club | University of Sydney, Sydney | New South Wales | Sydney AFL | SUANFC claims to be a spin-off of Australia's oldest rugby union club, Sydney University Football Club, which experimented with Australian rules in its early years. If the claim is accepted, this would make SUANFC the oldest Australian rules football club in NSW, although it did not play an inter-club fixture until 1887. | |
| 1864* | South Yarra Football Club | South Yarra, Melbourne | Victoria | defunct | Merged with the St Kilda Cricketers' Club in 1873 to form the present-day St Kilda Football Club.[3] | |
| 1864 | Williamstown Football Club | Williamstown | Victoria | Victorian Football League | ||
| 1864 | Carlton Football Club | Carlton | Victoria | Australian Football League | [6] | |
| 1866 | Brisbane Australian Football Club* | Brisbane | Queensland | defunct | No connection to Brisbane Bears or Brisbane Lions [7] | |
| 1868 | Woodville Football Club* | Adelaide | South Australia | defunct | Club disbanded in 1877. Club with same name later formed in 1938. | |
| prior to 1868 |
Wharehousemen Football Club | Melbourne | Victoria | defunct | ||
| 1869 | North Melbourne Football Club | North Melbourne | Victoria | Australian Football League | Formed as the Hotham Football Club | |
| 1870 | May 13 | Port Adelaide Football Club | Port Adelaide | South Australia | Australian Football League | Formerly played in the SANFL as the Port Adelaide Magpies until 1997 before awarded a licence to enter the AFL in 1996. Entered AFL in 1997 as the "Power". A new club known as the Port Adelaide Magpies Football Club was formed in 1997 to fill it's void in the SANFL |
| 1870 | Volunteer Artillery* | Brisbane | Queensland | defunct | ||
| 1870 | Brisbane Grammar School Football Club'* | Brisbane | Queensland | defunct | New junior club established in 2005 to participate in Queensland Independent Schools Australian Football League | |
| 1870 | Civil Service Football Club* | Brisbane | Queensland | defunct | ||
| 1870 | Ipswich Football Club* | Ipswich | Queensland | defunct | ||
| 1871 | Ararat Football Club* | Ararat | Victoria | now Wimmera Football League | ||
| 1872 | Kensington Football Club* | Adelaide | South Australia | defunct | Possibly formed earlier. Folded in 1881 | |
| 1873 | Albert Park Football Club | Albert Park | Victoria | defunct | last season was in 1970. Another club which continues has its origins in the 1920s and now uses the same name. | |
| 1873 | Essendon Football Club | Essendon | Victoria | Australian Football League | ||
| 1873 | St Kilda Football Club | St Kilda | Victoria | Australian Football League | ||
| 1873 | Hawthorn Football Club* | Hawthorn | Victoria | Australian Football League | The continuity of clubs with this name is disputed. The existing Hawthorn Football Club is purported to have formed in 1901. | |
| 1874 | June 8 | Rochester Football Club | Rochester | Victoria | Goulburn Valley Football League | |
| 1874 | Willunga Football Club | Willunga | South Australia | Great Southern Football League | 1877 foundation member of SAFA - which became SANFL.[8] | |
| 1874 | South Melbourne Football Club | South Melbourne | Victoria | Australian Football League | now Sydney Swans | |
| 1874 | Port Melbourne Football Club | Port Melbourne | Victoria | Victorian Football League | ||
| 1875 | Launceston Football Club | Launceston | Tasmania | Northern Tasmanian Football League | ||
| 1876 | South Adelaide Football Club | Adelaide | South Australia | SANFL | Merged with a club of the same name to form the modern club in 1876 | |
| 1876 | Inglewood Football Club | Inglewood | Victoria | Loddon Valley Football League | [9] | |
| 1876 | Heidelberg Football Club | Heidelberg | Victoria | Northern Football League | ||
| 1877 | Beechworth Football Club | Beechworth | Victoria | Tallangatta & District Football League | ||
| 1877 | Footscray Football Club | Footscray | Victoria | Australian Football League | now known as "Western Bulldogs" | |
| 1878 | Norwood Football Club | Adelaide | South Australia | SANFL | ||
| 1879 | West Melbourne Football Club | West Melbourne | Victoria | defunct | merged with North Melbourne Football Club | |
| 1878 | New Norfolk District Football Club | New Norfolk | Tasmania | Southern Football League (Tasmania) | ||
| 1881 | Unions Football Club* | Fremantle | Western Australia | defunct | ||
| 1881 | Murchison Football Club | Murchison | Victoria | Kyabram District Football League | ||
| 1881 | North Hobart Football Club | North Hobart | Tasmania | Southern Football League (Tasmania) | ||
| 1882 | Fremantle Football Club | Fremantle | Western Australia | defunct | No relation to the present-day club by the same name. Formed as a rugby club but switched to Australian rules in 1883. | |
| 1883 | September | Fitzroy Football Club | Fitzroy | Victoria | dormant/non-playing | playing operations merged with the Brisbane Bears in 1996, but the club continues to trade as standalone entity |
| 1885 | Rovers Football Club | Perth | Western Australia | defunct | Inaugural premiers of the WA competition in 1885 and again in 1891. Disbanded in 1899. | |
| 1885 | Victorians Football Club | West Perth | Western Australia | West Australian Football League | In 1889, the club changed its name to Metropolitans and in 1891 to West Perth, the name by which it is still known. | |
| 1889 | Cranbourne Football Club | Cranbourne | Victoria | Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League | ||
| 1892 | Collingwood Football Club | Melbourne | Victoria | Australian Football League | VFA 1892-1896; VFL/AFL 1897-2008. 14 VFL/AFL Premierships | |
| 1910 | Yeronga Football Club | Yeronga | Queensland | AFLQ State Association | [4] | |
| 1924 | Mayne Australian Football Club | Everton Hills | Queensland | AFLQ State Association (division 2) | formed as a junior club and became senior club in 1925 | |
| 1947 | Morningside Australian Football Club | Morningside | Queensland | AFLQ State League | [5] | |
| 1956 | University of Queensland Australian Football Club | St Lucia | Queensland | AFLQ State Association | [6] | |
| 1961 | Southport Australian Football Club | Southport | Queensland | AFLQ State League | [7] | |
| 1970 | Broadbeach Australian Football Club | Broadbeach | Queensland | AFLQ State League | [8] | |
| 1970 | Mt Gravatt Australian Football Club | Mt Gravatt | Queensland | AFLQ State League | ||
| 1990 | Adelaide Football Club | Adelaide | South Australia | Australian Football League |
* = defunct, disputed, poorly documented or dormant for a period.
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