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- Australian rules football in New South Wales dates back to 1866 with organised competition being continuous since the 1880s. Today, in several regions, the sport is moderately popular, including Broken Hill near South Australia, and the Riverina and the South Coast near Victoria. In the rest of the state including the most populous areas and the capital Sydney, Australian football trails behind rugby league in popularity. The AFL NSW/ACT is the governing body of the sport across the state and the Australian Capital Territory. Two New South Wales teams currently compete in the sport's leading competition, the professional Australian Football League (AFL): the Sydney Swans and the Greater Western Sydney Giants. The Swans made history in 1982 when they became the first professional Australian sporting team to move interstate. On the back of the code's subsequent growth in popularity in Sydney, the Greater Western Sydney Giants formed in 2009 and made their AFL debut in 2012. They compete against the Swans in the Sydney Derby. New South Wales holds the record attendance for Australian football outside Victoria, with 72,393 attending a Swans vs Collingwood match at Sydney's Telstra Stadium in 2003. It was also the first state outside of Victoria to host Australian Football International Cup matches, during the 2011 tournament. Over the following decade, participation rates continued to increase across the state, with Australian football surpassing Rugby union in New South Wales in the late 2010s. However, the sport continues to trail rugby league in the state by a wide margin. Two leading pioneers of the sport, cousins Tom Wills and H. C. A. Harrison, were born in New South Wales, while hundreds of New South Welshmen have competed in the VFL/AFL, among the most notable being Haydn Bunton Sr. and Jock McHale, now 'Legends' in the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Current player Tom Hawkins holds the games record for a New South Walesman with 327, while Bill Mohr holds the goals record with 735, though Hawkins had 732 at the end of the 2022 season just a few goals short of the state record. (en)
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