Sport in Australia
Template:Current Australian COTF Sport is extremely popular in Australia, being an important part of Australian culture.
Many sports are played in Australia
Australian rules football
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Australian rules football, originating in Melbourne, has been traditionally popular in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania. More recently it has grown more popular in Queensland and New South Wales, due to the success of the local teams in Brisbane and Sydney. The Australian Football League is the national league competition, which has 16 teams. It was won by the Sydney Swans in the 2005 AFL Finals Series. For the complete list, see List of Australian Football League premiers The most prestigious award in the AFL is the Brownlow Medal, presented since 1924 for the "fairest and best" player. The Coleman Medal is awarded to the player who kicks the most goals each year, being first awarded in 1955. The AFL was renamed from the Victorian Football League in 1990. The VFL traces its origins back to the founding of the Victorian Football Association in 1877. Some of the greatest AFL players have been Gary Ablett, Ron Barassi and Tony Lockett. See List of footballers (Australian rules football)
Basketball
The National Basketball League (Australia) was formed in 1978 and is Australia's top professional basketball competition. It has eleven teams. Some players have gone on to play in the NBA such as Andrew Gaze and Luc Longley. The premier women's basketball league is the Women's National Basketball League, with player Lauren Jackson going on to win the WNBA's Most Valuable Player award in 2003.
Cricket
Cricket has a long history in Australia, and is played on local, national and international levels. The Australian cricket team is today regarded as one of the leading international teams in world cricket, having been the unquestionably dominant team for much of the 1990s. The first Australian cricket team which played overseas was the 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England. The Australian team which toured England in 1948 was nicknamed The Invincibles, captained by Donald Bradman. In recent years the Australia team has been captained by Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and currently Ricky Ponting. See Australian national cricket captains.
- Australia A cricket team
- List of Australian test batsmen who have scored over 5000 test runs
- List of Australian Test cricketers
- List of Australian ODI cricketers
- List of Australian Test wicket-keepers
State competitions include the Pura Cup test match competition and the ING Cup limited overs competition.
Cycling
- See also Category:Australian cyclists
Famous Australian cyclists:
Golf
The Australian Open (golf) was first played in 1904 and is one of the main annual golf tournaments in the PGA Tour of Australasia. The Royal Park Golf Club was one of the earliest golf clubs in Melbourne.
Motorsport
Motorsport is a popular spectator sport in Australia, although there are relatively few competitors compared to other sports due to relatively high perceived costs of competing. The most widely watched motorsport is V8 Supercars, especially at the Bathurst 1000. Other classes in Australia include Formula 3 and Formula Holden (open wheel racing), Superbikes, and touring cars.
Australia hosts a round of most international series, including:
- Formula One - Australian Grand Prix
- Champ Car - Lexmark Indy 300
- MotoGP
- World Rally Championship - Telstra Rally Australia
- A1 Grand Prix
Netball
Netball is one of the most widely played sports in Australia, mostly by women, but there are also male and mixed competitions. The Commonwealth Bank Trophy was established in 1997, with eight teams.
Rugby League
Rugby League is one of the most popular sports in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory dating back to 1908. More recently, efforts have been made to expand the game into non-traditional territories, such as Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, although the latter two teams are now defunct. The Australian Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of Rugby League in Australia. It is made up of state bodies, including the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and the Queensland Rugby League (QRL). The National Rugby League (NRL) is one of the most popular sporting competitions in Australia. It holds the main competition of Rugby League, with 15 teams. It has done so since 1998, when the ARL merged with Super League. The ARL had held the competition between 1995 and 1997, with the New South Wales Rugby League competition holding it before that, from 1908 to 1994. In the 2005 NRL Finals Series, the Wests Tigers won the premiership, beating North Queensland Cowboys in the grand final.
The Australian national rugby league team represents Australia at rugby league. Since July 7, 1994 the team's nickname has been the Kangaroos. See also List of results of the Australian national rugby league team
A number of competitions exist between national rugby league sides which Australia is involved in. The Rugby League Ashes is the name given to the trophy awarded to the winner of rugby league test series between Great Britain and Australia, held since 1908. The Tri-Nations is a rugby league tournament involving the top three nations in the sport: Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, which started in 1999. The Rugby League World Cup has been held since 1954.
The Rugby League State of Origin competition began in 1980 after Queensland had campaigned for a State of Origin series as Queensland was consistently losing the state competitions because many of its best players had been lost to New South Wales clubs. Full results: Rugby league State of Origin games
Rugby Union
The first recorded game of Rugby Union in Australia was on 25 July 1839. The recognised first club was the Sydney University club, which was formed in 1864. In 1874 there were enough clubs to be able to create a Sydney Metropolitan competition. English teams toured Australia in 1888 and 1899. Australia throughout most of the 20th century were a consistently reasonable side. It remained an amateur sport, unlike professional rugby league, although it has changed to professional in recent years. The Australia national rugby union team are the Wallabies. Competitions played include the Bledisloe Cup between Australia and New Zealand, beginning in 1931-2, which since 1996 was part of the Tri Nations Series which also involved South Africa. The Rugby Union World Cup was first held in 1987 and is now held every four years. The Mandela Challenge Plate began in 2000 which is a minor tournament involving Australia and South Africa. The main rugby competition is the Super 14 involving 4 teams from Australia, with others from New Zealand and South Africa. It which was previously the Super 12 that began in 1996. The Australian Rugby Shield was first played in 2000, to try and involve rugby union in states outside New South Wales and Queensland. To celebrate 10 years of professional Rugby Union, Australian Rugby celebrated the occasion with the announcement of the Wallaby Team of the Decade.
Soccer (football)
- Main article: Soccer in Australia
Australia has a new national league for soccer called the A-League. Australia's national soccer team, nicknamed the Socceroos, are active in international games including World Cup Qualification games. Australia is set to move to the Asian Football Confederation from the Oceania Football Confederation in 2006.
- Australia national football team
- Football Federation Australia
- Soccer in Tasmania
- Soccer in Western Australia
- Soccer in Victoria
- Soccer in South Australia
Tennis
One of the four tennis grand slams is played in Australia, the Australian Open held in Melbourne. The tournament has been held for 100 years since 1905 when the Australasian Tennis Championship was first held at a Cricket Ground in St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Like the other three Grand Slam events, it was contested by top-ranked amateur players. It was known as the Australian championships until the advent of open tennis in 1968. There are men's and women's singles competitions, men's, women's, and mixed doubles, as well as junior and master's competitions.
Some of Australia's best known tennis players include Pat Cash, Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis, Pat Rafter and The Woodies. The Woodies consisting of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde was the most successful men's tennis doubles team in history, and won eleven Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal.
Other sports
- Australian Ice Hockey League
- In athletics the Stawell Gift is run over the Easter weekend
- North Queensland Broomball Association
- Australian Professional Rodeo Association
- Category:Australian boxers
- Category:Australian athletes
- Australian horse racing
Olympic Games
Two Olympic Games have been held in Australia; the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. Australia is one of only three countries to have sent athletes to every Summer Olympic Games. Australia is currently the only southern hemisphere country to win a gold (or a bronze) Olympic medal in the Winter Olympics. The most successful Australian athlete at an Olympics in terms of medals won is Ian Thorpe with nine medals, with five of them gold. Athletes who have achieved four gold medals were: Betty Cuthbert, Murray Rose, Dawn Fraser and Shane Gould. [1]
The most medals Australia has won at an Olympics was at Sydney 2000, with 58 medals, with 16 of them gold. It was also the largest team Australia has had at an Olympics with 630 athletes, helped by the home country's automatic qualification into every sport. The most gold medals Australia has won at an olympics were at Athens 2004, with 17.
Commonwealth Games
- 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney
- 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth
- 1982 Commonwealth Games - Brisbane,
- 2006 Commonwealth Games - will be held in Melbourne