AFL: National Ritual, Belonging and Australian Football Culture

Australian Rules football is as much a shared ritual as it is a sport. Its culture is built from familiar shorthand. Mullets, meat pies, speccys, suburban grounds, and loyalties passed down through families and communities.

As the AFL approached its 160th year, the challenge wasn’t reinvention. It was relevance. How to acknowledge the weight of history without tipping into nostalgia, and how to invite new audiences in without disrupting the sense of ownership long-time fans feel.

The work recognised that belonging in Australian football isn’t explained. It’s felt. Rather than telling people what the AFL is, the campaign reflected what it already feels like to be part of it.

By blending archive, live action and animation, the past and present were treated as part of the same ongoing culture. Long-time fans saw themselves reflected, while new audiences were invited into something living rather than fixed.

The campaign positioned the AFL not as an institution to be admired from a distance, but as something to step into. A game shaped as much by everyday ritual and collective memory as by what happens on the field.