Australian rules football has been played in the Americas since the turn of the 20th Century, beginning with North American countries Canada and the United States in 1905 and 1906 respectively.
There have also been clubs formed for occasional play in other South American nations including Bermuda, Brazil and Argentina.
The Argentine Australian Football Association (AAFAU) was founded and competition started in 1997 with a group of 3 teams consisting of about 30 or 40 mainly rugby union players.
The first international match between Argentina and Chile was played in May 2008 in Buenos Aires, with the Santiago Saints winning.
[6] The island was to host the first Bermuda Australian Football Championships in 2007, featuring teams from Europe and North America in addition to local players.
Australian rules football is played at an organised level in the provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta and Nova Scotia.
Adrian Barraza who during that time was part from SPT Gestion Deportiva, contacted two players with previous experience in Australian rules football through the "Big Footy" Internet forum to have a "Kick in the park".
Both players met in the USA when they were studying a PhD at the University Wisconsin-Madison and played in the local Australian rules football team.
The same year Barraza was put in contact through the local Australian Embassy with Simon Shalders, an Australian expat owner of a backpackers Hostel called "La Casa Roja" located in downtown Santiago, to explore new ways to develop the sport in the country.
Some new "Kicks in the park" were organised between 2002 and 2004, mainly between a group of locals and La Casa Roja's guests but Chilean players' involvement kept low and the sport went into a hiatus.
[citation needed] The country's first organised club, the Santiago Saints, were founded in March 2008 by Rob Spurr and a group of Australian expats and locals, which included among others Adrian Barraza (former SPT Gestion Deportiva partner), Pablo Majias (former Port Adelaide reserves player and current player/coach of the Santiago Saints) and Mario Pavez (a Chilean interchange student who spent a couple of years living in Australia and learnt the sport there).
[19] A high profile match was played in 1915 by Australian servicemen (Army and Navy) at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica.