AFL
Abbreviation with 4 meanings
| Stands for | Australian Football League |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 4 |
| Categories | Sports, Medical |
AFL has four meanings. The most common are Australian Football League (sports league and organization) and Atrial flutter (cardiology); it can also stand for American Football League and Arena Football League.
Meanings of AFL at a glance
| # | AFL stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australian Football League | Sports › Sports League and Organization |
| 2 | Atrial flutter | Medical › Cardiology |
| 3 | American Football League | Sports › Sports League and Organization |
| 4 | Arena Football League | Sports › Sports League and Organization |
1. Australian Football League
Sports · Sports League and Organization Abbreviations
Top professional league in Australian rules football, with 18 clubs from every mainland state. The season runs from March to the AFL Grand Final, traditionally played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in late September before crowds of about 100,000.
Example: Collingwood fans packed the MCG for the AFL Grand Final against Brisbane.
Founded as the Victorian Football League, whose first season was 1897; it was renamed the AFL in 1990 to reflect its national expansion. Australian rules is played on an oval field with 18 players a side and scoring by goals (six points) and behinds (one point). A women's competition, AFLW, began in 2017.
2. Atrial flutter
Medical · Cardiology Abbreviations
Rapid, organized reentrant rhythm in the right atrium, typically circling the tricuspid valve at about 300 beats per minute while the AV node lets through every second beat, giving a regular pulse near 150. The ECG shows "sawtooth" flutter waves, best seen in leads II, III and aVF.
Example: Narrow-complex tachycardia at exactly 150 bpm; suspect AFL with 2:1 block and look for flutter waves.
Typical cavotricuspid isthmus-dependent flutter is cured in most patients by catheter ablation of the isthmus, a success rate higher than for AF ablation. Stroke risk and anticoagulation rules follow those for atrial fibrillation, and the two rhythms often coexist in the same patient. Write AFL or "A-flutter" rather than AF, which means fibrillation.
3. American Football League
Sports · Sports League and Organization Abbreviations
Professional football league that challenged the NFL from 1960 to 1969, introducing teams such as the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. It merged with the NFL in 1970, and its teams formed most of the American Football Conference.
Example: Joe Namath guaranteed a win for the AFL champion Jets before Super Bowl III.
Founded by Lamar Hunt and other owners who had been refused NFL expansion teams. Its 1964 network TV deal with NBC gave it financial stability. The Jets' upset of the Baltimore Colts in January 1969 proved AFL teams could compete. Several earlier, unrelated leagues also called themselves the American Football League in the 1920s to 1940s.
4. Arena Football League
Sports · Sports League and Organization Abbreviations
Indoor American football league played on a 50-yard field with rebound nets beside the goalposts, first operating from 1987 to 2008 and again from 2010 to 2019. Teams fielded eight players a side, and games were known for high scores.
Example: Kurt Warner stocked grocery shelves before starring in the AFL and later winning a Super Bowl MVP.
Invented by Jim Foster, who sketched the game on a manila envelope at Madison Square Garden in 1981, and patented the rules. Kurt Warner of the Iowa Barnstormers is the best-known AFL graduate. A relaunched league using the name played a season in 2024.
Related abbreviations
More sports league and organization abbreviations
- ACC – Atlantic Coast Conference
- AEW – All Elite Wrestling
- AHL – American Hockey League
- ATP – Association of Tennis Professionals
- B1G – Big Ten Conference
- CFL – Canadian Football League
- CHL – Canadian Hockey League
- D1 – Division I (NCAA)
See all 63 sports league and organization abbreviations →
More cardiology abbreviations
- ADHF – Acute decompensated heart failure
- AED – Automated external defibrillator
- AF – Atrial fibrillation
- AFib – Atrial fibrillation
- AHA – American Heart Association
- AI – Aortic insufficiency
- AICD – Automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator
- AMI – Acute myocardial infarction
See all 229 cardiology abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.