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Australian Rules football has joined the ranks of other major sports in launching an experimental shorter format as it eyes a foreign expansion, with Hong Kong first up. The Australian Football League will play its first AFLX matches locally next week with the number of players on the field reduced from 18 to seven, and new rules that eliminate stoppages. AFL chiefs said the plan was to speed up the game in a similar vein to rugby sevens, while accompanying the occasion with all the colour that spectators have come to expect from T20 cricket matches.