Australian Football was one of two demonstration sports at the 1956 Olympic Games held in Melbourne, Australia.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stipulated that each Summer Olympics host must organise both a “national” game and a sport “foreign” to the organising country as “demonstration sports”. Australian Football was chosen as the national sport, while baseball was chosen as the foreign sport.
In front of a crowd of as large as 30,000 spectators, the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) caused an upset victory by 26 points over a combined team featuring players from both the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Victorian Football Association (VFA).
The match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, known throughout the Olympics as the “Main Stadium”. It started at 4:10 pm on Friday, 7 December 1956, immediately after the bronze medal soccer match between Bulgaria and India had concluded.