Sports injury in Australia

An estimated 562,100 Australians aged 15 and over played Australian rules football in 2023–24 (ASC 2024). During this same period, there were about 5,400 injury hospitalisations attributed to Australian rules football: around 4,400 males and 960 females. The highest number of injury hospitalisations was among those aged 15–19 (1,400 cases) (Figure 8). The 65+ age group had the lowest number of injury hospitalisations (9 cases), closely followed by those aged 60–64 (10 cases). This is to be expected due to the lower rates of sports participation in older age groups.

For more detail, see data table 4.

Trends over the past decade

Between 2014–15 and 2016–17, the age-standardised rate of injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football was relatively stable for males at an average of 37 hospitalisations per 100,000 population (Figure 9). The rate of hospitalisation for females steadily increased during that time from 2.4 to 5 hospitalisations per 100,000 population. During the same period, the number of hospitalisations ranged from 4,200 to 4,300 for males and 255 to 560 for females.

Figure 9: Number and age-standardised rate (per 100,000 population) of injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football by sex, Australia, 2014–15 to 2023–24

For more detail, see data table 5.

From 2017–18 to 2023–24, the number of hospitalisations ranged from 2,300 to 4,400 for males and 495 to 960 for females. Between 2017–18 to 2018–19, injury hospitalisation rates were relatively stable for both sexes. Hospitalisations were highest for males (36 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) during that period.

From 2019–20 to 2021–22, injury hospitalisations fluctuated noticeably – a likely effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitalisation rates were lowest in 2019–20 for males (19 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and females (4 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Across 2022–23 and 2023–24, injury hospitalisation rates for males appeared to be steadily increasing (from 33 to 35 hospitalisations per 100,000 population), while for females it appears to have stabilised at an average of 7.6 hospitalisations per 100,000 population.

Nature of injuries

For injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football in 2023–24, the top 3 most injured body parts across all ages were:

• hip and lower limb, excluding ankle and foot (25% of injury hospitalisations or 1,300 cases)
• head and neck (23% of injury hospitalisations or just over 1,200 cases)
• wrist and hand (22% of injury hospitalisations or 1,200 cases) (Figure 10).

Figure 10: Common injuries and causes of sports injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football, Australia, 2023–24

For more detail, see data table 12. 

Fractures accounted for more than half of all injury hospitalisations (or 2,900 cases), followed by soft tissue injuries (19% of injury hospitalisations or 1,000 cases) and intracranial injuries (7.5% of injury hospitalisations or 405 cases). About 96% of these intracranial injury hospitalisations were concussions: around 295 males and 100 females.

The top 3 common causes of injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football in 2023–24 were:

• falls (1,700 cases or 6.2 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
• contact with living things (1,600 cases or 5.8 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
• contact with objects (520 cases or a crude rate of 1.9 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Other causes not listed (including those unspecified causes of injury hospitalisations) contributed to nearly a quarter of all injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football.