Australian rules football

An estimated 621,000 Australians aged 15 and over played Australian rules football in 2020–21 (ASC, 2021).  There were 4,700 injury hospitalisations attributed to Australian rules football—3,800 male and 870 female. For those aged 15 and over, the rate of hospitalisation was about 610 per 100,000 participants.

The disruption to organised sports beginning in March of 2020 caused by COVID-19 was reflected by a dip in injury hospitalisations in 2019–20, followed by a rebound in 2020–21 (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Trend in injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football, by sex, 2011–12 to 2020–21

Visualisation not available for printing

For more detail, see data tables B3–4.

The highest number of hospitalisations in 2020–21 was in the 15–19 age group (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Age distribution of injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football, 2020–21

Column graph showing the age distribution of injury hospitalisations.

Source: AIHW NHMD.

For more detail, see data table A14.

Just over half of the injuries were fractures (52%), and another 18% were soft-tissue injuries (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football, by type of injury as a proportion, 2020–21

Bar graph showing the proportion of injury hospitalisations by main type of injury.

Note: Type of injury is derived from the principal diagnosis.
Source: AIHW NHMD.

For more detail, see data table A25.

There were 480 hospitalisations for concussion, 365 male and 115 female.

The head or neck was the main body part injured in just over a quarter of cases (26%), followed by the leg or hip (23%) (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football, by body part injured, as a proportion, 2020–21

Outline of a person with body regions labelled, marked with the percentage of hospitalised injuries for each region.

'Notes
1. Body part injured is derived from the principal diagnosis.
2. ‘Trunk’ includes thorax, abdomen, lower back, lumbar spine & pelvis.

Source: AIHW NHMD.

For more detail, see data table A26.

Where the cause of injury was specified, contact with another person was the most common cause (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Cause of injury as a proportion when specified, hospitalisations from Australian rules football, 2020–21

Bar graph showing the proportion of hospitalisations by cause of injury when specified. Contact with another person 35%25 of those specified, falls involving another person 29%25.

Source: AIHW NHMD.

For more detail, see data table A27.

Seasonal differences

As a winter sport, Australian rules football usually sees a peak in injury hospitalisations in the winter months. The interruption caused by COVID-19 is evident in the drop from March 2020 (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football by month of admission, 2017–18 to 2020–21

Line graph with 4 lines for 4 financial years of hospitalisations by month of admission, illustrating the seasonal u shape and the drop in hospitalisations after March 2020.

For more detail, see data table B3.