Three-quarters of a century later, the then VFL (now Australian Football League), having briefly gained then lost lucrative North American television broadcasts in the 1980s, attempted to rebuild its audience with a series of exhibition matches between 1987 and 1989.

As a result of the interest generated the sport was established at the grassroots in 1989 with a competition in Toronto that has continued and expanded to the present.

Competition spread from Ontario to other provinces culminating in the establishment of a national governing body, AFL Canada, in 2004.

It is home to the only dedicated Australian rules football ground in North America, the Humber College Oval at Colonel Samuel Smith Park in Toronto.

A request for copies of the Laws of Australian Football by parties from Canada was noted in the Sydney Referee newspaper in 1904.

[2] A 1906 report of Australian Football's growth internationally made mention of a Canadian Railway Commissioner early in the century who, while working in Victoria, fell in love with the sport and upon returning to Canada began agitating for it to be played there.

[3] The game is believed to have been first introduced to British Columbia in 1905,[4] when Canadian-born Captain Robert Nelson Davy of the 6th Regiment began training students of the 101st Canadian Cadet corps in preparation for a planned visit to Australia.

[10] Though the majority of the trip was funded from Western Australia, the Australasian Football Council pledged £240,[11] with president of the time the VFL's Con Hickey making funding conditional on tour organisers promoting Universal football believing it would have a better chance of catching on in North America.

Much to the chagrin of the touring Canadians and the NSWAFA, the AFC and VFL scheduled a clashing fixture, featuring the Geelong Football Club against the New South Wales state team.

[23] Officials from Newcastle and Goulburn made a concerted effort to atone for Sydney's hostile reception for the scheduled visits[24] however the matches were abandoned due to state of the football grounds.

[25] The Sydney matches themselves were low key events, and were rescheduled several times during and there was much difficulty securing grounds to play from rugby authorities.

In contrast to the New South Wales tour, the cadets received a parade in Melbourne and a full page welcoming in The Argus.

A rare exception was during the visit to Newport a local amateur team agreed to play an unsanctioned match and were completely shocked to have been soundly beaten by the visitors.

[32] Upon returning to Vancouver, the game continued be played with the Vancouver School Board thanking the hospitality of the local leagues in Western Australia,[33] but critical of the Australasian Football Council who had refused support it,[32] and just prior to World War I extending an invitation for another tour from the Young Australia League.

However the league's once lucrative North American broadcast rights dried up and in response it initiated a series of exhibition matches between 1987 and 1989 in an attempt to rebuild its audience.

In 1990, the Scarborough Rebels, the North York Hawks and the Hamilton Wildcats joined, with the Balmy Beach Saints coming on board in 1992.

AFL Canada was formed as governing body on 30 July 2004, when the Canadian Australian Football League changed its official name.

The remaining Alberta-based clubs participate in AFL Canada organised regional conferences such as the British Columbia Cup.

London and Windsor folded due to distance but the new OAFL club, the Central Blues, formed and began competing.

In early 2007, the Ottawa Swans formed, and affiliated with the OAFL, and the Demons relocated from Mississauga to High Park in Toronto.

In early 2008, junior Northwind representative Scott Fleming moved to Australia to play with the Broadbeach Cats semi-professional club in the AFL Queensland State League at 17 years of age.

[1] Participation has more than doubled since 2006, when there were over 420 senior (approximately 250 Canadian national) Australian rules football players in Canada out of a total of 484, an increase of 25% from 2005.

2014 Halifax Dockers founded TV coverage of the AFL in Canada has historically included the weekly highlights program going back to the 1980s.

Coverage remained limited to highlights programs save for one time each year, where the Grand Final (championship game) was usually live.

In 2006, due to growing demand and lobbying by AFANA for regular live coverage, the new Setanta Sports acquired rights in both Canada and the USA.

In mid-season that year, live matches began appearing regularly on television in Canada for the first time on Setanta Sports (STS).

[57] In 2011, the first televised all-Canadian Aussie Rules match was shown on Rogers TV, and featured the Ottawa Swans hosting the Toronto Rebels.