Sports injury in Australia

An estimated 589,100 Australians aged 15 and over played Australian rules football in 2024–25 (ASC 2025). During this same period, there were about 5,400 injury hospitalisations attributed to Australian rules football: around 4,400 males and 970 females. The highest number of injury hospitalisations was among those aged 15–19 (1,500 cases) (Figure 8). The 0–4 age group had the lowest number of injury hospitalisations (2 cases), closely followed by those aged 60–64 (3 cases). This is to be expected due to the lower rates of sports participation in older age groups.

For more detail, see data table 5.

Trends over the past decade

From 2017–18 to 2024–25, the number of hospitalisations ranged from 2,300 to 4,400 for males and 495 to 970 for females (see Figure 9). 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.

For more detail, see data table 6.

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 2024–25, injury hospitalisation rates for males appeared to be steadily increasing (ranging from 33 to 35 hospitalisations per 100,000 population), while for females it appears to have stabilised at an average of 7.7 hospitalisations per 100,000 population.

Nature of injuries

For injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football in 2024–25, the top three most injured body parts across all ages were:

• hip and lower limb, excluding ankle and foot (1,300 cases)
• head and neck (just under 1,300 cases)
• wrist and hand (1,200 cases) (Figure 10).

For more detail, see data table 13.

Fractures accounted for more than half of all injury hospitalisations (or 2,800 cases), followed by soft tissue injuries (19% of injury hospitalisations or 1,000 cases) and intracranial injuries (8.4% of injury hospitalisations or 450 cases). About 96% of these intracranial injury hospitalisations were concussions: around 330 males and 105 females. 

The top three common causes of injury hospitalisations from Australian rules football in 2024–25 were:

• falls (1,600 cases or 6.0 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
• contact with living things (e.g. another human) (1,600 cases or 5.8 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
• contact with objects (e.g. goalpost) (560 cases or a crude rate of 2.1 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.