Sport in Australia

Australia has a sporting history dating back to the mid 1800s. By the 1920s, a number of sports were being played by both men and women, including cricket, badminton, judo, swimming, tennis, netball, lacrosse, golf, hockey and various codes of football.

Many Australians participate in sport, including association football (soccer), athletics, Australian rules football, baseball, basketball, cricket, cycling, golf, gymnastics, horse racing, motor racing, netball, rugby league, rugby union, shooting, swimming, tennis and tenpin bowling. Australia's climate lends itself to some sports, such as swimming, more than others, such as snowboarding.

There are a number of professional sport leagues in Australia, including the A-League, ANZ Championship, the Australian Football League (AFL), the National Basketball League, National Rugby League (NRL), Super Rugby, the W-League and the Women's National Basketball League. Attendance for some of these leagues over the course of a single season tops one million spectators in leagues like the AFL and NRL. The media plays an important part in Australia's sporting landscape. Many sporting events are televised or are covered by the radio. The government has anti-siphoning laws to protect free-to-air stations. Beyond televising live events, there are many sport television shows, sport talk shows on the radio, magazines dedicated to sport, and extensive newspaper coverage. Australian sport has also been the subject of Australian made films such as The Club and The Final Winter.

As a nation, Australia has competed in many international events including the Olympics and Paralympics, the Commonwealth Games and sport specific events like the FIFA World Cup and the Cricket World Cup. The country has a large number of national teams in sports such as association football (soccer), basketball, hockey, netball, rugby league, rugby union, softball, water polo and wheelchair rugby. Women's sport first really began in Australia in the 1880s. Netball is one of the most popular women's sports in the country. Competitive disabled sport exists in Australia, with the country having a national women's deaf association football (soccer) team, and competing in major events such as the Summer and Winter Paralympics.

Contents

History

See also: Cricket in Australia, Soccer in Australia, and Women's soccer in Australia

1800s

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 and was captained by Donald Bradman. In recent years the Australia team has been captained by Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, and currently Michael Clarke.[1]

As early as the 1820s, there are reports of Rugby games being played at Barrack Square in the city between the army and the crews of visiting ships. Rugby Union formally began in Australia with the formation of the first clubs, the oldest of which is the Sydney University Club, formed in 1864.By 1874 there were enough clubs to form a Sydney Metropolitan competition and in that year the Southern Rugby Union was established. In 1892 the Southern Rugby Union of New South Wales and the Northern Rugby Union of Queensland (formed in 1883) became New South Wales and Queensland Rugby Unions respectively.[2]

Representatives from these two unions combined in 1899 when an Australian team played its first Test series - against a visiting team from the British Isles. Four tests were played, Australia winning the first test at the Sydney Cricket Ground 13-3. The second test in Brisbane and the third and fourth Sydney were won by the British Isles who took out the series. Without a national jersey, the Test matches in New South Wales were played in blue jerseys and in Queensland in maroon - both with the Australian Coat of Arms on their chests. In 1903 Australia and New Zealand played a single test at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of a crowd of 30,000. This was the beginning of intense rugby rivalry between the two nations. The crowd had grown to almost 50,000 at the same venue when Australia played New Zealand in 1907.[2]

Rugby was the most popular sport in both New South Wales and Queensland. In 1907 there were movements within Rugby about creating a breakaway competition and playing under the Northern Union (laser renamed 'Rugby League') Rules. In 1908 the first Australian Rugby League competition started, which is now the NRL. Over the next few years the new sport Rugby League took over as the dominate sport in New South Wales and Queensland.[3]

The VFA is formed in Melbourne in 1877.[4]

Australia's first lawn tennis court was built on Garden Island on Sydney Harbour in 1880. It is still in use.[5][6][7]

The first recorded association football (soccer) game took place in Hobart on 10 May 1879 when the Cricketers Football Club played a scratch match. The first recorded inter-club match took place a month later when the Cricketers took on New Town FC on 7 June.[8] The oldest existing club is Balgownie Rangers, founded in 1883, which still competes in the Illawarra regional league.[9]

Athletics Australia (AA) was created in 1897, with men's and women's associations amalgamating in 1978.[10]

The family of "Swimming Professor" Richmond Theophillus "Dick" Cavill (1884–1938) contributed significantly to the development of the sport of swimming: his son Arthur is credited by some with originating the Australian crawl stroke, which now predominates in "freestyle" swimming races. Another son, Sydney, was the originator of the butterfly stroke. Youngest son Richmond Theophilus was the first to use the crawl in a competition, winning 100 yards State championship in 1899 and in England, in 1902, he was the first to swim 100 yards in under a minute.[11]

Eight clubs break away from the VFA to form the VFL in 1896.[12]

1900s

The first Badminton competition in Australia was played in 1900.[13]

Judo was first demonstrated in Australia in 1906.[14]

The Australian Rugby League (ARL) was founded in 1907 as the governing body for the sport of rugby league in Australia.[15]

The first Australia-wide association football (soccer) body was the Commonwealth Football Association, formed in 1912, although this folded two years later.

1920s

Following World War I, in 1921, the Australian Soccer Association was formed which superceeded the defunct Commonwealth Football Association which folded in 1914. The first international association football (soccer) match Australia competed in was a friendly match against New Zealand in Dunedin on 17 June 1922.

In 1922, a committee in Australia investigated the benefits of physical education for girls. They came up with several recommendations regarding what sports were and were not appropriate for girls to play based on the level of fitness required. It was determined that for some individual girls that for medical reasons, the girls should probably not be allowed to participate in tennis, netball, lacrosse, golf, hockey, and cricket. Football was completely medically inappropriate for girls to play. It was medically appropriate for all girls to be able to participate in, so long as they were not done in an overly competitive manner, swimming, rowing, cycling and horseback riding.[16]

Dick Eve won Australia's first Olympic diving gold medal in 1924.[17]

1940s

Australian women's sports had an advantage over many other women's sport organisations around the world in the period after World War II. Women's sport organisations had largely remained intact and were holding competitions during the war period. This structure survived in the post war period. Women's sport were not hurt because of food rationing, petrol rationing, population disbursement, and other issues facing post-war Europe.[18]

Canoeing and Kayaking Australia was founded in 1947[19] with Australians winning 15 Olympic medals.[20]

1950s to present

In 1960 the Australian Soccer Association was suspended from FIFA for the poaching of players from overseas. In 1961 the Australian Soccer Federation (ASF) was formed. The federation is now known as Football Federation Australia. Australia's first national association football (soccer) competition, the National Soccer League was founded in 1977, this was superceeded by the A-League in 2005.

Participation

See also: Basketball in Australia and Tennis Australia

There are 34,000 athletes, officials and coaches currently registered with the Athletics Australia.[21] A 2007 estimate claimed that Australian football had 615,549 participants,[22] Basketball has become one of the most popular participation sports in Australia. In Victoria, and Melbourne, particularly, it has more participants than any other sport.[23][24][25]

Association football (soccer) is the only code of football that appears in the Australian top ten sports and physical recreational Activities by participation.[26]

Australia's warm climate and long coastline of sandy beaches and rolling waves provide ideal conditions for water sports such as swimming. The majority of Australians live in cities or towns on or near the coast, and so beaches are a place that millions of Australians visit regularly.[27]

Australia receives year-round snow in the Australian Alps and parts of Tasmania, and has indoor ice rinks in many cities. As a result, Australians are able to participate in a wide variety of winter sports, including skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, biathlon, freestyle skiing (including aerial skiing and moguls), ice hockey, curling, short track speed skating and figure skating. Australia has Olympic programs for some of these sports. Australia has little or no facilities for ski jumping, and the ski runs are mostly too short for the faster competitive alpine skiing events like Super-G and Downhill. There are no bobsleigh tracks (used for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton) within Australia (the nearest one is in Japan), although Australia competes in slide events overseas, and there is a bobsleigh push track in the Docklands in Melbourne.[28]

Sport Total Participation Year Participation % [note 1] Year Ref
Association football (soccer) 7.7% 1998/1999 [29]
Athletics 34,000 2006 [21]
Australian rules 615,549 2007 20.1% 1998/1999 [22][29]
Baseball 57,000 2003 [30]
Basketball 1,000,000 2010 10.2% 1998/1999 [29][31]
Cricket 11.7% 1998/1999 [29]
Cycling 3.4% 1998/1999 [32]
Golf 9.9% 1998/1999 [32]
Gymnastics 120,000 2011 [33]
Horse racing 3.9% 1998/1999 [29]
Motor car racing 3.5% 1998/1999 [29]
Netball 3.8% 1998/1999 [29]
Rugby league 10.7% 1998/1999 [29]
Rugby union 5.4% 1998/1999 [29]
Shooting 120,000 2007 [34]
Swimming 18.0% 1998/1999 [32]
Tennis 3.9% 1998/1999 [29]
Tenpin bowling 3.8% 1998/1999 [32]

Professional sport

There are several professional and semi-professional sport leagues in Australia. They include the A-League, ANZ Championship, the Australian Football League, the National Basketball League, National Rugby League, the National Wheelchair Basketball League, Super Rugby, the Women's National Basketball League, and the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League. Beyond that, there is professional horse racing and motor sport.

The National Basketball League was formed in 1978 and is Australia's top professional basketball competition. In its most recently completed season in 2010–11, it had eight teams in the country, plus one team in New Zealand.[31]

Throughout its history, horse racing has become part of the Australian culture and has developed a rich and colourful language. The most famous racehorses of Australia's turf include the New Zealand bred Carbine, Phar Lap, and Tulloch, the Australian bred Bernborough, Gloaming and Kingston Town plus the British bred Makybe Diva.[35] Harness racing is another code of horse racing in Australia. Standardbred horses either trot, in a diagonal gait, or more usually pace (in a lateral gait), along with 8-12 other horses and drivers on a circular racing track over 600 to 1,400 metres. One of the most successful pacers in Australia was the New Zealand bred, Cardigan Bay who won 82 races in all and was the first Standardbred horse to earn (US) one million dollars or more.[36]

Spectatorship

In the 2006/2007 season, Melbourne Victory averaged 27,728 people to their home matches throughout the season. The 2009-10 regular season was considerably lower.[37] In 2008, the Australian Football League had a cumulative attendance of 7,083,015, a record for the competition and an average attendance of 38,295.[38] In 2010, the National Rugby League's premiership set a record for regular season attendance to NRL matches.[39]

Leagues/Tournaments Total spectatorship Year Average match attendance Year Ref
A-League 8,752 2010/2011 [40]
Australian Football League 7,139,272 2011 36,425 2011 [41]
Horse racing 2,000,000 2002/2003 [42]
National Basketball League 547,021 2010/2011 4,031 2010/2011 [31]
National Rugby League 3,465,851 2011 17,243 2011 [43]
Rugby League State of Origin 186,607 2011 62,202 2011 [44]
Women's National Basketball League 77,944 2010/2011 [31]

Amateur sport

See also: Athletics in Australia and Baseball in Australia

Amateur sport is often organised top down by national federations. These organisations include Athletics Australia and Swimming Australia.

Sport media

Media coverage of Australian sport and athletes predates 1876. The first all Australian sport publication, The Referee, was first published in 1886 in Sydney.[45] The major newspapers for sport coverage in the country include The Courier Mail and The West Australian.[45]

the 1967 NSWRFL season's grand final became the first football grand final of any code to be televised live in Australia. The Nine Network had paid $5,000 for the broadcasting rights.[46]

SBS and FoxSports are two of the most important television networks in Australia in terms of covering all Australian sports, not just the popular professional leagues.[45] Administrators for less popular spectator sports, such as basketball and netball, believe that getting additional television and newspaper coverage is fundamental for the growth and success of their sports going forward.[45]

Anti-siphoning laws in Australia regulate the media companies' access to significant sporting events. In 1992, when the country experienced growth in paid-subscription media, the Parliament of Australia enacted the Broadcasting Services Act that gave free-to-air broadcasters preferential access to acquire broadcasting rights to sporting events. The anti-siphoning list is a list of major sporting events that the Parliament of Australia has decided must be available for all Australians to see free of charge and cannot be "siphoned off" to pay TV where people are forced to pay to see them. The current anti-siphoning list came into effect in 2006 and expires 31 December 2010. The Minister for Communications can add or remove events from the list at his discretion. There are currently ten sports on the anti-siphoning list plus the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Events on the anti-siphoning list are delisted 12 weeks before they start to ensure pay TV broadcasters have reasonable access to listed events, if free-to-air broadcasters decide not to purchase the broadcast rights for a particular event. Any rights to listed sporting events that are not acquired by free-to-air broadcasters are available to pay TV. For multi-round events where it is simply not possible for free-to-air networks to broadcast all matches within the event (e.g. the Australian Open) complementary coverage is available on pay television. The Federal Government is obliged by legislation to conduct a review of the list before the end of 2009. The current anti-siphoning list requires showing listed sports on the broadcaster's main channel.[47]

Sport is widely televised in Australia. The table below contains ratings information for 2011 matches and television shows for the National Rugby League and the Australian Football League and other sporting events.

2011 OzTem Five Television Ratings
Match Network Air date OzTam Five city Live Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth Ref
2011 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Channel 7 9-Oct-11 1212000 384000 302000 287000 153000 86000 [48]
2011 NRL Grand Final Nine 2-Oct-2011 2027000 1021000 347000 524000 48000 87000 [49]
2011 NRL Grand Final Presentation Nine 2-Oct-11 1548000 893000 *** 511000 60000 84000 [49]
2011 AFL Grand Final Ten 1-Oct-11 2595000 258000 1367000 308000 297000 365000 [50]
2011 AFL Grand Final Post Match Presentation Ten 1-Oct-11 2106000 187000 1114000 257000 276000 271000 [50]
2011 AFL Grand Final Pre Game Ten 1-Oct-11 1932000 141000 1096000 229000 204000 262000 [50]
2011 AFL Grand Final Pre Match Entertainment Ten 1-Oct-11 1405000 800000 863000 151000 147000 164000 [50]
The Footy Show (rugby league) season final Nine 29-Sept-11 973000 152000 507000 116000 128000 71000 [51]
2011 Singapore Grand Prix OneHD 25-Sept-11 280000 55000 84000 50000 40000 52000 [52]
2011 Brownlow Medal Channel 7 26-Sept-11 1130000 16000 743000 6000 156000 210000 [53]
Rugby League Final Series Pf2 Nine 24-Sept-11 1174000 619000 274000 274000 4000 2000 [54]
Ten’s AFL Finals 2011: 2nd Prelim. Final Geelong V West Coast Ten 24-Sept-11 1095000 57000 556000 79000 118000 284000 [54]

The table below gives an idea as to the viewing audience.

League Aggregate audience Year Total television viewers Year Average per game Year Ref
National Basketball League 6,061,679 2010/2011 33,815 2010/2011 [31]
National Rugby League 128,500,000 2009 [55]
Women's National Basketball League 1,352,096 2010/2011 [31]

Rugby league had the highest aggregate television ratings of any sport in 2009[56] and 2010.[57] Also, in a world first, the Nine Network broadcasted free-to-air the first match of the 2010 State of Origin series live in 3D in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria (not in SA or WA).[58][59]

There are a number of Australian sport films. They include The Club. The film was based on a play produced in 1977, in Melbourne. It has been in the senior English syllabi for four Australian states for many years.[60] The film was written by David Williamson, directed by Bruce Beresford and starring John Howard, Jack Thompson, Graham Kennedy and Frank Wilson.[61] Another Australian sport film is The Final Winter, released in 2007. It was directed by Brian Andrews and Jane Forrest and produced by Anthony Coffee, and Michelle Russell, while independently produced it is being distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was written by Matthew Nable who also starred as the lead role 'Grub' Henderson. The film, which earned praise from critics,[62] focuses around Grub who is the captain of the Newtown Jets football team in the early 1980s and his determination to stand for what rugby league traditionally stood for while dealing with his own identity crisis.[63]

Sport is popular on the radio. This Sporting Life was a culturally iconic Triple J radio comedy programme, created by award-winning actor-writer-comedians John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver, who performed as their characters Roy and HG. Broadcast from 1986 to 2008, it was one of the longest-running, most popular and most successful radio comedy programmes of the post-television era in Australia. IT was the longest-running show in Triple J's programming history, and commanded a large and dedicated nationwide audience throughout its 22-year run.[64] 2KY is a commercial radio station based in Sydney, broadcasting throughout New South Wales and Canberra on a network of over 140 narrowcast transmitters as well as the main 1017 AM frequency in Sydney. 2KY broadcasts live commentary of thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing. Over 1500 races are covered each week, including the pre and post race form and TAB betting information.[65]

There are a number of Australian sport magazines. One is the AFL Record. The magazine is published in a sports magazine style format. Eight different versions, one for each game, are published for each weekly round, 60,000 copies in total, and Roy Morgan Research estimates that the Record has a weekly readership of over 200,000.[66] As of 2009, the week's records are published and are able to be viewed in an online magazine format.[67] Another Australian sporting magazine is Australia's Surfing Life, a monthly magazine about surfing published in Australia. It features articles about surf trips in Australia and overseas, surfing technique, board design and wetsuits. The magazine was founded in 1985.[68]

International competitions

See also: Australia at the Commonwealth Games and Australia at the Olympics

Each year, Athletics Australia conducts the Australian Championships and the Athletics Grand Prix Series, which are the main avenues for Australian athletes to qualify for the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships.[69]

Each year Australia competes in various Rugby League and Rugby Union international competitions. Rugby League events include the Four Nations and the Rugby League World Cup. Rugby Union events include The Rugby Championship and the Rugby Union World Cup.

Till 2011, Australia has won the Cricket World Cup four out of the ten times it has been held. Australia dominated world cricket from the mid-90's to the end of the 2000s, but with retirement of many leading players they have dropped to 5th in the test rankings below India, South Africa, England and Sri Lanka. They have appeared in every world cup final from 1996 to 2007, and has been undefeated in world cup matches where they have gone on to win every single world cup match they have since played except for tying South Africa in the 1999 semi-final. This winning streak which spanned 4 World Cups and 34 games came to an end in March 2011 when they were defeated by Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo by 4 wickets.[1]

Australia has generally been a world power in Olympic swimming since the 1956 Melbourne Olympics: swimmers like Dawn Fraser, Kieren Perkins and Ian Thorpe have taken multiple gold medals.[70]

The Australian accociation football (soccer) team appeared at the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2006 and again in 2010. In their debut world cup appearance at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Socceroos surprised many by reaching the Round of 16, losing 1-0 in injury time to the eventual champions Italy.[71] Australia are four time winners and two otime runner-up of the OFC Nations Cup before moving to the Asian Football Confederation in 2006. Australia first appeared in the AFC Asian Cup in 2007 and were runners up in 2011. Australia will host the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Seven has exclusive Australian free-to-air, pay television, online and mobile telephony broadcast rights to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The live telecast of the XXIX Olympiad was shared by both the Seven Network and SBS Television. Seven broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies and mainstream sport's including swimming, athletics, rowing, cycling and gymnastics. In stark contrast, SBS TV provided complementary coverage focused on long-form events such as football, road cycling, volleyball, and table tennis.[72]

National teams

See also: Australian national sports team nicknames
Sport Team (link to team / event) Nickname (link for origin) Name sponsor
Rugby union Men's test Wallabies.[73] Qantas[73]
Women's Wallaroos[74] Paper to Paper[75]
Rugby league Men's test Kangaroos[76][77] VB [78]
Women's Jillaroos[79][80]
Wheelchair rugby Paralympic Steelers (official[81]) Wheelabies (unofficial[82][83])
Association football (soccer)[84] Men's Socceroos Qantas
Women's (incl. Olympic) Matildas (from Waltzing Matilda) Westfield
Futsal[85] National team Futsalroos Qantas
Gridiron (American football) National team Australian Outback — formerly Australian Cyclones (1999),[86] Australian Bushrangers (1997)[87]
Netball[88] National team Diamonds
Swimming[89] Olympic, Paralympic, and World Championships Dolphins Telstra
Softball Men's Aussie Steelers[90]
Women's (Olympic / World's) Aussie Spirit[91]
Water polo Men's Sharks[92]
Women's Stingers
Basketball[93] Men's Boomers Golden Star
Women's Opals Jayco
Intellectual disability (men) Boomerangs
Intellectual disability (women) Pearls
Wheelchair basketball[93] Men's Rollers
Women's Gliders
Cycling World Championships/World Cup Cyclones[94] Toshiba
Field hockey Men's[95][96] Kookaburras
Women's[95][96] Hockeyroos None for 2007 (ANZ for 2004 Olympics)[97]
Ice hockey Men's Mighty Roos[98] (after The Mighty Ducks)
Lacrosse Men's Sharks
Box lacrosse Men's Boxaroos[99]
Bowls Men's Jackaroos — a pun on jack, the target ball[100]
Women's Sapphires[101]
Orienteering National team Boomerangs[102]
Handball Men's Crocodiles[103]
Women's Redbacks[103][104]
Ultimate Frisbee[105] Open Dingos
Women's Firetails
Mixed Barramundis

Women's sport

While not being urged to avoid competition, women had few opportunities to compete in sport in Australia until the 1880s. After that date, new sporting facilities were being built around the country and many new sport clubs were created.[106]

Netball is the most popular women's team participation sport in Australia.[107] In 1985, there were 347,000 players.[108] In 1995, there were over 360,000 Australian netball players.[109] Throughout most of Australia's netball history, the game has largely been a participation sport; it has not managed to become a large spectator sport.[110] In 2005 and 2006, 56,100 Australians attended one to two netball matches. Of these, 41,600 were women.[111] 46,200 attended three to five netball matches, with 34,400 of those spectators being women.[111] 86,400 attended six or more netball matches, with 54,800 spectators being female.[111] Overall, 188,800 people attended netball matches, with 130,800 being female.[111] In 2005 and 2006, netball was the 10th most popular spectator sport for women with Australian rules football (1,011,300), horse racing (912,200), rugby league (542,600), motor sports (462,100), rugby union (232,400), association football (soccer) (212,200), harness racing (190,500), cricket (183,200) and tennis (163,500) all being more popular.[111] The country set an attendance record for a netball match with a record crowd of 14,339 at the Australia–New Zealand Netball Test held at the Sydney SuperDome game in 2004.[112]

In 1940, a study of 314 women in New Zealand and Australia was done. Most of the women in the study were middle class, conservative, Protestant and white. The study found that 183 participated in sport. The ninth most popular sport that these women participated in was billiards, with 3 having played the sport. The sport was tied with croquet, billiards, chess, fishing, field hockey, horse racing, squash, table tennis and shooting.[113]

Disabled sport

The Deaf Matildas are the Australian women's national deaf association football (soccer) team.[114] Their first major tournament was the Deaflympic Games held in Australia in 2005.[114]

Australia sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. The country sent 121 officials[115] and 170 athletes in 13 sports to Beijing. It was the country's largest ever Paralympic delegation.[116] The delegation's chef de mission was Darren Peters.[115] Australia sent 11 competitors to compete in two disciplines at the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, Canada.[117] The delegation also consisted of 3 sighted guides and 17 support staff. This was the largest delegation Australia had sent to a Winter Paralympics.[118]

Notes

  1. ^ For 1998/1999 data, the number used is the ABS corrected participation rate.

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