Australian rules football in the Middle East

[2][3] By 1984 a small band of followers was noted to be playing informally in 1984 in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Yerucham parks.

[4] In 1986, groups of 24 players from the British Olim Society gathered to play matches following viewing of television footage of the VFL Grand Final.

By 2005 the community was still playing with around 70 players involved and discussion about creating a four-team league with sides from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and various youth programs.

A side representing Israel competed in both years of the Australian Football Multicultural Cup, winning the 2004 competition.

[8] This team was composed mainly of basketball and soccer players and volunteers, trained from scratch in the first half of 2008 to participate in 2008 Australian Football International Cup that took place in August 2018 in Australia.

In early 2008 there were initially around 75 players in training for the team, which was cut back to around 26 (13 Israelis, 13 Palestinians) for the squad to attend the International Cup.

[11][12][13] In May 2018 a few former JPL players moved to Tel Aviv, and led by Shir Shalev started training in the Yarkon Park.

In August 2018 they partnered with the sports platform OddBalls and formed the Tel Aviv Cheetahs football club.

[14] The Cheetahs and OddBalls are more focused on developing the sport itself rather than the activist work previously done by Peace Team and JPL, aiming to embed Australian rules football into Israeli cultural context and attract more local players.

[15] In May 2019 OddBalls and the Tel Aviv Cheetahs' management formed a national team, the Israeli Beasts, aiming to represent Israel in the AFL Euro Cup 2019 that will take place on 29 June in Sweden.

Later the same year, Israel hosted its first Australian Rules international tournament in the city of Be'er Sheva to commemorate ANZAC day.

[29] An Australian rules football club nicknamed the Kangaroos was founded in Doha, Qatar in early 2007, with their first appearance being at that year's Dubai 9s tournament.

In 2008 Dubai Heat entered another team in the Asian championships and successfully took the title beating the Singapore Wombats.

In February 2008, the first AFL match in the United Arab Emirates was held at the Ghantoot Polo and Racing Club in Abu Dhabi between the Adelaide Crows and the Collingwood Magpies.