Australian Rules football was first played in the 1850s and received its first coded rules in 1859 when the Melbourne Football Club was founded. The Victorian Football League was formed in 1897 with eight teams and was later renamed the Australian Football League in 1990 as the game expanded across Australia, now with 18 teams nationwide. The game is played between 18 players per team on an oval field and involves kicking an oval-shaped ball through the opposing team's goal posts using any part of the body while maintaining intermittent bouncing of the ball.