Aussie Rules is played throughout Australia, but the final is always played in Melbourne. It was here that the game that the game was first played in the winter of 1858 on a paddock next to the MCG. The rules were made up by the players, and are recognisably the rules of todays game. As this was well before rules were standardised for rugby, soccer or gridiron, it confirms AFL as the one true football code, and the oldest formalised code in the world. All other codes derived from it, mainly for players unable to put together the myriad of skills required to play AFL.

Having lived for footy for over 140 years, Melbournians are passionate about the game, but it's not just Victoria. AFL is the dominant game in all states of Australia, bar NSW and Queensland.

After a tough 22-match regular season, the field is narrowed down to the top eight teams who contest the finals series. Four weeks of playoffs select the two teams to go into the Grand Final. Played over four quarters with a speed and intensity found in few other sports, the game demands immense physical fitness, strength and skill. Watching big men fly into the air in often bruising encounters to contest a "mark" (a clean catch of the ball from a kick), or holding your breath as a player lines up a kick for goal to take the lead for his team keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Grand Finals are extraordinary spectacles filled with the emotion and drama of a winner-take-all contest. Winners are revered as gods and will celebrate long and hard into the night, while losers are sent to the room of mirrors to take a good hard look at themselves, muttering the mantra "next year, next year".