The Australian Football League is the highest-level professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body, and is responsible for controlling the Laws of the Game. The league was founded as the Victorian Football League in 1897, consisting of eight breakaway teams from the Victorian Football Association . Originally comprising only teams based in the Australian state of Victoria, the competition's name was changed to the Australian Football League for the 1990 season, after the relocation of the South Melbourne Football Club to New South Wales, the planned 1991 addition of the Adelaide Crows and the admission of teams from Western Australia and Queensland . read more