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'''AFLX''' is a [[Variations of Australian rules football|variation]] of [[Australian rules football]] designed in 2017 to be played on a [[football pitch|soccer field]] (significantly smaller than the [[Australian rules football playing field|Australian rules oval]]). Unlike the full 18-a-side game (or the already-established variant for rectangular fields, [[nine-a-side footy]] including the AFL's own variant [[AFL 9s]])—AFLX required less players (initially 7, but increased to 8) with some modified rules aimed at generating higher scores, including increased scoring points. It is most notable for its use in official [[Australian Football League]] (AFL) pre-season competitions in [[2018 AFLX competition|2018]] and [[2019 AFLX tournament|2019]]. Post [[COVID-19 Pandemic]] the AFL merged it with AFL 9s and retained only the X brand, co-branding AFL 9s as Junior X, Youth X and Senior X and aligning it with the more widely established 9-a-side format.
It was founded in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience outside of its origin country of [[Australia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.afr.com/business/sport/aflx-the-business-strategy-behind-the-spectacle-20180209-h0vud5|title=AFLX: the business strategy behind the spectacle|work=[[Australian Financial Review]]|date=11 February 2018}}</ref> The AFL billed AFLX as its answer to [[Twenty20]] or [[Rugby Sevens]].<ref>[https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/radical-new-concept-aflx-set-to-be-launched-on-prefinals-bye-weekend/news-story/f5410d336ab237b455db5b771d28b765 Radical new concept AFLX set to be launched on pre-finals bye weekend] by Chris Cavanagh for the Herald Sun 22 June 2017</ref>
The format of the AFL's AFLX events varied – the [[2019 AFLX tournament|2019 tournament]] consisted of four teams each captained by a high-profile AFL footballer. In August 2019, the AFL confirmed AFLX would not return in 2020.<ref name="aflx-removal">{{Cite web|url=https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-08-06/x-off-the-map-afl-to-remove-aflx-from-preseason-fixture|title=X off the map: AFL to remove AFLX from pre-season fixture|website=afl.com.au|access-date=2019-08-07}}</ref> Despite being designed for play on a rectangular field, the AFL used two dedicated rectangular stadiums, [[Hindmarsh Stadium]] and [[Sydney Football Stadium]], as a venue for its AFLX competitions (the other rectangular venue used for a spectated AFLX match was [[AAMI Park]] for the 2019 [[E. J. Whitten Legends Game]]). The record attendance for an AFLX match is 23,828, set in 2019 at [[Docklands Stadium]] in [[Melbourne]].
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AFLX was first trialled at [[Arden Street Oval]] in January 2017.<ref name="2017 AFL Annual Report">[https://resources.afl.com.au/afl/document/2019/12/05/b06c0343-543e-408d-945e-89ce08d8d294/AFL_Annual_Report_2017-min.pdf 2017 AFL Annual Report]</ref> In March 2017, it was trialed at was first trialled on a soccer pitch at [[Lakeside Stadium]] in a match between the [[Port Melbourne Football Club]] and [[Coburg Football Club]].<ref name="2017 AFL Annual Report" /> It was launched by AFL manager of football operations [[Simon Lethlean]] in July 2017 and later hailed by the AFL as key means of kickstarting [[Australian rules football in China]] as part of the AFL and Port Adelaide's push in to the country which was acknowledged to lacked the infrastructure to support the growth of the full 18-player game.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/26/implementation-of-aflx-idea-could-in-the-end-do-more-harm-than-good Implementation of AFLX idea could in the end do more harm than good] by Craig Little for The Guardian 26 July 2017</ref>
On 6 February 2018, the AFLX pre-season competition was launched by AFL [[Chief Executive Officer]] [[Gillon McLachlan]] at [[Docklands Stadium]]. McLachlan said that AFLX would help promote football internationally.<ref name="abc launch">{{cite news |last1=Lusted |first1=Peter |title=AFL launches AFLX, using rectangular fields to attract new supporters overseas |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-06/aflx-launched-by-afl-to-attract-new-supporters/9400956 |access-date=12 September 2018 |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |date=6 February 2018}}</ref>
The [[2018 AFLX competition|2018 competition]] attracted more than 40,000 fans to tournaments in [[Adelaide]], [[Melbourne]] and [[Sydney]]. In Melbourne, TV ratings were reported as "modest" by AFL standards, with the three events drawing an average five-city metro audience of over 120,000 on [[Seven Network|Channel Seven]]'s secondary channels.<ref name=int>{{cite web|url=https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Global/Issues/2018/02/19/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/AFLX.aspx|work=[[Sports Business Daily]]|title=AFLX Opening Weekend Attracts Int'l Interest|date=19 February 2018|access-date=18 February 2019}}</ref>
The AFL made several rule tweaks
The 2019 [[E. J. Whitten Legends Game]] was also played under "EJX" (modified version of AFLX named after [[Ted Whitten|E J Whitten]]) at [[AAMI Park]] in Melbourne.<ref name="EJX">{{cite web|url=https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-07-25/get-ready-for-ejx-legends-game-gets-new-format-and-new-home|title=Get ready for 'EJX': Legends game gets new format and new home|publisher=[[Australian Football League]]|date=25 July 2019|access-date=25 July 2019}}</ref> It attracted just 6,000 spectators, the lowest in the series history, which, combined with the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], led to an indefinite hiatus of the Legends series.
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==Reception==
The reception to the game among fans and the media was mostly poor,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tendaily.com.au/views/a181218obp/the-aflx-is-the-greatest-farce-in-professional-sport-20181218|title=The AFLX Is The Greatest Farce In Professional Sport|work=Ten Daily|date=16 December 2018|author=Jackson Ryan}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/dec/17/not-even-superpowers-can-give-soulless-aflx-what-it-most-needs|date=17 December 2018|work=The Guardian|title=Not even superpowers can give soulless AFLX what it most needs|author=Alana Schetzer}}</ref> with [[ABC Grandstand]] journalist Richard Hinds being particularly savage in labelling it a "hollow, unappealing, pressure-free, atmosphere-deficient, oval-in-a-rectangle hole yawn-fest".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-16/aflx-not-an-exciting-new-format-of-a-beloved-sport-richard-hinds/9452570|title=AFLX: If you wanted to kill AFL stone-dead, you'd turn it into this hollow yawn-fest|work=ABC News|date=16 February 2018|author=Richard Hinds}}</ref>
Con Stavros of [[RMIT]]'s school of Economics, Finance and Marketing, expressed doubts about the potential of AFLX to export Australian rules football but acknowledged that using rectangular playing fields instead of the standard cricket ones would make such expansion easier.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/22426386/aflx-stroke-sport-marketing-genius|work=[[ESPN]]|title=AFLX - a stroke of sport marketing genius?|date=14 February 2018|access-date=18 February 2019}}</ref>
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