Sport in New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Sport in New South Wales describes participation in and attendance at organised sport
s events in the state of New South Wales
in Australia
.
Sport is an important part of the culture of the state, with Rugby League Football being the states most popular.
In terms of participation, the most popular sports in the state are tennis
and Soccer.
New South Wales has attracted many international multi-sport events including the 2000 Summer Olympics
, held in Sydney.
There are many professional sporting teams in New South Wales. Popular spectator sport
s include rugby football
, cricket
and also soccer. The first matches of these sports in Australia was in Sydney
, the capital of New South Wales and Australia's first settlement. The National Rugby League
is notable as the largest rugby league
competition in the world. New South Wales has also been the dominant state in these sports for much of its Australian history.
Rugby league football, usually called football, footy or just league has a place in the hearts and minds of many a Sydneysider, as both a sporting and a cultural tradition within the city. This stems back from the earlier colonial days of the city where the city and its cultural were largely dictated by wealthy Englishmen whom traditionally played and were supporters of the Rugby code of football, which was largely advertised and passed on to the people of Sydney, including the working class who in back in England largely played soccer. In the early 1900s Rugby footballers had the opportunity to become professional and earn a living from their sport, but there was wide spread disagreement as to whether or not this should happen, the working class strongly believed it was a good idea and they should become professional, whilst the middle class were more hesitant to do so, this resulted in a split similar to what had occurred in England, and the working class formed their own competition, the Rugby League, which followed the same rules as the equivalent breakaway competition in England. The game quickly grew a working class following, and has been a Sydney tradition ever since.
The headquarters of the Australian Rugby League
and National Rugby League
(NRL) are in Sydney, which is home to 9 of the 16 National Rugby League
(NRL) football clubs (Sydney Roosters
, South Sydney Rabbitohs
, Parramatta Eels
, Cronulla Sharks
, Wests Tigers
, Penrith Panthers
, Bulldogs and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
), as well as being the northern home of the St George Illawarra Dragons
, which is half-based in Wollongong. A tenth team, the Newcastle Knights
are located in Newcastle
.
The premier state-level league is the New South Wales Cup, involving reserve teams from NSW and Canberra based NRL clubs as well as the first teams from other clubs. Country football is overseen by the New South Wales Country Rugby League
. Annual matches between Country Origin and City Origin teams are held.
The annual State of Origin
series between the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons is the most popular sporting event in NSW. Sydney has hosted many State of Origin matches since the series began in 1980. The 3 game series are held in Sydney and Brisbane
with the first and third games in one city and the second in the other. These rotate every year, so if two games are played in Sydney one year, then those games are played in Brisbane the next.
Sydney has a local club rugby union competition (the Shute Shield
), and a Super Rugby team the NSW Waratahs, who play their games in the city and represent the entire state of New South Wales. They were represented in the defunct Australian Rugby Championship
by Sydney Fleet
, Western Sydney Rams
and Central Coast Rays
. The southern part of the state is represented by the ACT
-based Brumbies in Super Rugby; the Canberra Vikings
were the region's Australian Rugby Championship representative. Rugby union is regarded as an upper class game and is played in many of Sydney's top private schools. The Australian Rugby Union
headquarters are located in Sydney. The Waratahs play out of the Sydney Football Stadium, and when in Sydney the Wallabies play out of ANZ Stadium.
Cricket
is one of the most popular sports in New South Wales
. The NSW Blues are by far the most successful domestic cricket side in Australia having won the First-class competition 44 times. In addition, they've also won the One-Day Domestic cup 9 times. They occasionally play first-class matches against touring International sides. New South Wales have played teams representing every test playing nation bar Bangladesh
. They have provided the Australian Test and One Day International teams with some of the finest players ever to have graced the game of cricket, the most notable of them being Sir Don Bradman
, Steve Waugh
, Brett Lee
, Glenn McGrath
and many others. The current NSW Blues Captain is Dominic Thornely
. The team's home grounds are the Sydney Cricket Ground
and the ANZ Stadium.
Whilst having a strong sporting tradition in the field of Rugby League, Sydney also has a long and strong tradition in soccer. Early soccer clubs in Sydney were relatively small, and did not have very large followings, and like the general population of Sydney in the late 1800s the clubs were largely English in nature, but when the Australian government began it's immigration policy in years closely following the World War 2, many immigrants left Europe in search of new homes in Sydney, and Australia in general. These migrant groups who were subject to racism from the existing population took it upon themselves to found their own soccer clubs, celebrating their particular ethnic communities. The three largest such clubs were founded by the three largest post war immigration groups respectively, they are: Marconi Stallions Football Club (Italian), Sydney Olympic Football Club (Greek), and Sydney United Football Club (Croatian). Along with these larger clubs, there are also many smaller clubs formed by ethinc groups, who also bare suburban names, such as Bankstown City Lions Football Club (Macedonian), Bonnyrigg White Eagles
(Serbian), Parramatta Eagles
(Maltese), and St. George Saints Football Club (Hungarian). These "Ethnic" clubs soon began to dominate soccer in Sydney, drawing large crowd support from their given ethnic groups, and having their fair share of on field success too.
In the late 1980s there was a substantial rise in soccer hooliganism in Sydney as was the case all around the world, but in Sydney however it was tainted further by racism which was caused by ethnic affiliations which the majority of the larger Sydney clubs had. This was also coupled with a steady decline in crowd numbers over the years, partly due to violence, partly due to the falling standard of play, but also largely because the clubs were not broadening their supporter bases. For example, Sydney United's support ha not grown beyond Sydney's Croatian community, there for the sport was not capitalizing on the growing multiculturalism of the city, now becoming home to many new migrant communities from Arabic and Asian cultures, which to some may be seen as ironic because multiculturalism as well as the fact that the code played all over the world is often seen to be soccer's strongest asset. In an effort to fix these issues facing the game, the soccer association embarked upon "de-ethnicizing" soccer, clubs with very strong links to ethnic groups were made to sever links with their traditional supporter bases and broaden their horizons, new clubs were founded and brought into the league such as Parramatta Power
and Northern Spirit
who did not have ethnic associations in a bid to attract a multicultural fan base. This attempt failed miserably, new clubs failed to attract a following and old clubs were not at all "de-ethnicized".
In 2005 a review of the game was carried out and it was decided that for the game to move forward in Sydney, and around Australia, some drastic changes would have to be made. A new club was founded in Sydney called Sydney FC
, and they were to be based in central Sydney as opposed to being based at a small suburban stadium, and were founded specifically to attract a multicultural following. They were entered in a new league to be known as the A-league
, this would act as the show piece national soccer competition, contested by similarly formed clubs from other large cities around Australia. There would be no form of relegation or promotion between the a-league and the rest of the counties competitions, and the previous national league would revert back to its original form in state based competitions, which is where clubs such as the for mentioned ethninc clubs continue to play. In the first 6 years of their existence, Sydney FC have been relatively successful building up a solid support base of around 10,000 members, and sometimes attracting crowds of up to 40,000, which is admirable considering the youth of the club. The new system has not been without its flaws for Sydney soccer however, many of the great clubs, and the largest in the city are unable to win a national championship, nor are they able to qualify for the Asian Champions League, and a large section or the Greater Sydney Area is simply unable to access this new club due the geographic size of the city. Change is however afoot, as a national cup competition is to be reintroduced in 2012 with the winner qualifying for the champions league, and the imminent foundation of a second new multicultural club in Sydney's sprawling western suburbs due to begin playing matches within 2 years.
Outside of Sydney, soccer has a similar history in the states larger regional cities (albeit on a smaller scale), and similar multicultural clubs have been formed such as: Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners who both play in the A-league, and South Coast Wolves Football Club who currently play in the New South Wales premier league alongside many of Sydney's ethnic clubs, however there have been calls for them to be elevated into the A-league, and it expected that they eventually will be
and Wollongong Hawks
are the state's representatives in the National Basketball League
(NBL). These teams have all featured in the finals series since 2002–03, the Kings winning 3 consecutive premierships in 2002–03, 2003–04 & 2004–05. There are 12 teams in the New South Wales conference of the Australian Basketball Association
, the Waratah League
. The next level is the New South Wales State Basketball League
. The Sydney Uni Flames
play in the Women's National Basketball League
.
Australian rules is a developing game in most of NSW, with rapid popularity. In 2007 it was forecast that there were 95,100 people participated in playing Australian Rules.
In Sydney, local competitions established in 1880 and again in 1903 struggled to compete with rugby union football and then the new professional rugby league football. The code fared much better in the Riverina
region, closer to the game's place of origin, Melbourne
.
The Australian Football League
(AFL) has one team from Sydney, the Sydney Swans
. Formerly South Melbourne, the club moved up to Sydney in 1982, after hitting financial trouble. The Swans have won one premiership since moving to Sydney (in 2005). Attendance for Swans matches has slowly risen since their relocation, and AFL telecasts in Sydney have risen 37 per cent in since the Swans premiership in 2005. The Swans will be joined by a second Sydney team in 2012, the GWS Giants.
The sport is governed in the state and the enclosed Australian Capital Territory
(ACT) by AFL NSW/ACT
. In 2004, there were 7,229 senior players out of a total 25 834 club participants registered in New South Wales, and that number and indeed the popularity of Australian Rules continues to rise today.
New South Wales
is home to Australia's highest snow country, oldest skifields and largest resorts. Recreational Skiing in Australia
began around 1861 at Kiandra, New South Wales, when Norwegian gold miners introduced the idea to the frozen hills around the town. The first and longest surviving ski club in the world, The Kiandra Snow Shoe Club is believed to have been formed at Kiandra in that year.
The Kiandra snow shoe club
(now called the Kiandra Pioneer Ski Club (1861)) remains the world's first identifiable and ceaseless Ski Club. This Australian club has been continuously operating since 1861. It’s origins have been recognised internationally and substantiated by the Holmenkollen Ski Museum
, Norway in 2006. The discovery of gold in the mountains of America and Australia was the catalyst for the development of recreational alpine skiing. The Kiandra Goldrush was short-lived, but the township remained a service centre for recreational and survival skiing for over a century. Australia's first T-Bar, was installed at Kiandra in 1957, but the ski facilities were finally shifted up the hill to Selwyn Snowfields
in 1978. Steeper slopes and more reliable snows lie further to the south and in the 20th Century, the focus of recreational skiing in New South Wales shifted southward, to the Mount Kosciuszko
region.
The first Kosciuszko Chalet was built at Charlotte Pass in 1930, giving relatively comfortable access to Australia's highest terrain. At 1760m, Charlotte Pass has the highest village base elevation of any Australian ski resort and can only be accessed via over-snow transport in winter. The growing number of ski enthusiasts heading to Charlotte Pass led to the establishment of a cafe at Smiggin Holes around 1939, where horse drawn sleighs would deliver skiers to be begin the arduous ski to the Kosciusko Chalet. It was the construction of the vast Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme from 1949 that really opened up the Snowy Mountains
for large scale development of a ski industry and led to the establishment of Thredbo and Perisher as leading Australian resorts. The Construction of Guthega Dam brought skiers to the isolated Guthega district and a rope tow was installed there in 1957.
Skifields up by Kosciusko's side were also established during this period, though their existence is now little realised. A rope tow was installed on Mount Northcote at the site and opened in 1954. The site proved excellent for speed skiing, but the hut was destroyed in an avalanche
, which also killed one person, in 1956. Construction began at Thredbo in 1957. Today, Thredbo has 14 ski-lifts and possesses Australia's longest ski resort run, the 5.9 km from Karel's T-Bar to Friday Flat; Australia's greatest vertical drop of 672m; and the highest lifted point in Australia at 2037m
The last establishment of a major skifield in NSW came with the development of Mount Blue Cow
in the 1980s. In 1987 the Swiss designed Skitube Alpine Railway
opened to deliver skiers from Bullocks Flat, on the Alpine Way
, to Perisher Valley and to Blue Cow, which also opened in 1987. The operators of Blue Cow purchased Guthega in 1991, and the new combined resort later merged with Perisher-Smiggins to become the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere
. In 2009 Perisher had 48 lifts covering 1,245 hectares and four village base areas: Perisher Valley, Blue Cow, Smiggin Holes and Guthega.
The Kosciuszko Main Range
in the Snowy Mountains
of New South Wales offer some of the most challenging cross-country and back-country skiing in Australia, notably Watsons Crags and Mount Twynam
on the steep Western Face of the Range. The Mount Jagungal
wilderness area provides some of the most isolated back-country ski terrain. High country huts, often a legacy of the era of cattle grazing in the mountains, provide emergency shelter in these regions.
are the Sydney and New South Wales-based Netball team in the ANZ Championship
. The Swifts won the inaugural title in 2008 after defeating the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic. The Swifts were also one of the dominant teams in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy
.
- Australian Major League Baseball and and cricket
team the New South Wales Blues
. The states major motorsport teams are Walden Motorsport
in Western Sydney and based at the border town of Albury
, Brad Jones Racing
.
and polocrosse
were developed in New South Wales and competitions are now held across Australia. Polocrosse is now played in many overseas countries. Rodeos
are popular events for competitors and spectators alike. The most important equine events in the state and the country are held at the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre
in Tamworth
in the states New England
region.
Sydney was the host of the 2000 Summer Olympics
and the 1938 British Empire Games
. The Olympic Stadium, now known as ANZ Stadium, is the scene of the annual NRL Grand Final. It also regularly hosts rugby league State of Origin as well as and rugby union
and soccer internationals. It hosted the final of the 2003 Rugby World Cup
and the memorable soccer World Cup
qualifier between Australia and Uruguay
.
The Sydney Cricket Ground
traditionally hosts the 'New Year' cricket test match
from 2–6 January each year. The annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
begins in Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, whilst the climax of Australia's touring car racing
series is the Bathurst 1000
, held at the Mount Panorama Circuit
near the city of Bathurst
in the Western Plains.
The Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival features the richest two-year-old horse race in the world, the Golden Slipper
Stakes, which is run in April every year. The Medibank International tennis tournament is held in January prior to the Australian Open
. The City to Surf foot race is held every August and is one of the largest timed foot races in the world.
Sydney Olympic Park
is roughly in the geographical centre of Sydney. Created for the 2000 Olympics, it is now a major sporting centre in the city.
Stadium Australia, sponsored as ANZ Stadium, is Sydney's largest stadium. Built for the 2000 Olympics, it now hosts big events such as the NRL Grand Final, the rugby league State of Origin and rugby union and soccer internationals.
The venue is the home ground of NRL teams, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the South Sydney Rabbitohs
and serves as an occasional home ground for the Parramatta Eels
. ANZ Stadium also hosts a number of Swans home games and the occasional domestic cricket one-day match.
motor race to be held on a street circuit
within the former Olympic grounds.
and is now also used for rugby union
and soccer The Sydney Roosters
, the NSW Waratahs and Sydney FC
soccer team use it as their home ground. The Wests Tigers
use the stadium part time as a home ground. The ground hosted the 2005–06
A-League
grand final won by Sydney FC. The ground also hosted rugby league grand finals from its construction until ANZ Stadium was opened.
is mainly used for cricket games and Aussie rules matches. It is home to the Sydney Swans
and NSW Blues. The ground held over 1000 rugby league first-grade matches in its history but is rarely used anymore.
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s events in the state of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Sport is an important part of the culture of the state, with Rugby League Football being the states most popular.
In terms of participation, the most popular sports in the state are tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and Soccer.
New South Wales has attracted many international multi-sport events including the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, held in Sydney.
There are many professional sporting teams in New South Wales. Popular spectator sport
Spectator sport
A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches. For instance, Tennis, Rugby, F-1, baseball, basketball, cricket, football , and ice hockey are spectator sports, while hunting or underwater hockey typically are not...
s include rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and also soccer. The first matches of these sports in Australia was in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, the capital of New South Wales and Australia's first settlement. The National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
is notable as the largest rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
competition in the world. New South Wales has also been the dominant state in these sports for much of its Australian history.
Rugby league football
The headquarters of the Australian Rugby League
Australian Rugby League
The Australian Rugby League 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 and the Queensland Rugby League...
and National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
(NRL) are in Sydney, which is home to 9 of the 16 National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
(NRL) football clubs (Sydney Roosters
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...
, South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...
, Parramatta Eels
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...
, Cronulla Sharks
Cronulla Sharks
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are Australian professional Rugby league team based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales...
, Wests Tigers
Wests Tigers
The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...
, Penrith Panthers
Penrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, the top rugby league football competition in Australasia. For the 2012 NRL season they will be coached by Ivan...
, Bulldogs and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
), as well as being the northern home of the St George Illawarra Dragons
St George Illawarra Dragons
The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...
, which is half-based in Wollongong. A tenth team, the Newcastle Knights
Newcastle Knights
The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...
are located in Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
.
The premier state-level league is the New South Wales Cup, involving reserve teams from NSW and Canberra based NRL clubs as well as the first teams from other clubs. Country football is overseen by the New South Wales Country Rugby League
New South Wales Country Rugby League
-2011 Tier 2 Championships:-History:Newcastle was the first city outside Sydney to start a league competition, being involved in the Sydney Premiership in 1908-09 and then starting their own competition in 1910....
. Annual matches between Country Origin and City Origin teams are held.
The annual State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
series between the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons is the most popular sporting event in NSW. Sydney has hosted many State of Origin matches since the series began in 1980. The 3 game series are held in Sydney and Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
with the first and third games in one city and the second in the other. These rotate every year, so if two games are played in Sydney one year, then those games are played in Brisbane the next.
Rugby union football
Rugby union has a long history in New South Wales dating back to 1869. However it lags in popularity behind rugby league.Sydney has a local club rugby union competition (the Shute Shield
Shute Shield
The Shute Shield is a rugby union competition in Sydney, New South Wales. It is the premier grade rugby trophy in NSW rugby. The Shute Shield is awarded at the end of the Sydney Club Rugby season to the team that wins the Grand Final...
), and a Super Rugby team the NSW Waratahs, who play their games in the city and represent the entire state of New South Wales. They were represented in the defunct Australian Rugby Championship
Australian Rugby Championship
The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC , was a domestic Rugby union football club competition in Australia which ran for only one season in August–October 2007...
by Sydney Fleet
Sydney Fleet
The Sydney Fleet were an Australian rugby union football club that played in the now defunct Australian Rugby Championship. The Fleet were formed as one of New South Wales' three clubs that will participate in the inaugural season of the championship. The team was based out of the North Sydney...
, Western Sydney Rams
Western Sydney Rams
The Western Sydney Rams were an Australian rugby union football club that played in the now defunct Australian Rugby Championship. The Rams were formed as one of New South Wales' three clubs that participated in the inaugural and only season of the championship, in 2007. The team were based out of...
and Central Coast Rays
Central Coast Rays
The Central Coast Rays were an Australian rugby union football club that played in the now-defunct Australian Rugby Championship. The Rays were formed as one of New South Wales' three clubs that participated in the inaugural season of the championship, which started in August 2007. The team were...
. The southern part of the state is represented by the ACT
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
-based Brumbies in Super Rugby; the Canberra Vikings
Canberra Vikings
The Canberra Vikings were an Australian rugby union football club that played in the now-defunct Australian Rugby Championship. The Vikings were formed as the only club from the Australian Capital Territory that participated in the inaugural season of the championship, which started in August 2007...
were the region's Australian Rugby Championship representative. Rugby union is regarded as an upper class game and is played in many of Sydney's top private schools. The Australian Rugby Union
Australian Rugby Union
The Australian Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Australia. It was founded in 1949 and is a member of the International Rugby Board the sport's governing body. It consists of eight member unions, representing each state and territory...
headquarters are located in Sydney. The Waratahs play out of the Sydney Football Stadium, and when in Sydney the Wallabies play out of ANZ Stadium.
Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
is one of the most popular sports in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. The NSW Blues are by far the most successful domestic cricket side in Australia having won the First-class competition 44 times. In addition, they've also won the One-Day Domestic cup 9 times. They occasionally play first-class matches against touring International sides. New South Wales have played teams representing every test playing nation bar Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. They have provided the Australian Test and One Day International teams with some of the finest players ever to have graced the game of cricket, the most notable of them being Sir Don Bradman
Donald Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...
, Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...
, Brett Lee
Brett Lee
Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...
, Glenn McGrath
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath AM , nicknamed "Pigeon", is a former Australian cricket player. He is one of the most highly regarded fast-medium pace bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the early 21st century...
and many others. The current NSW Blues Captain is Dominic Thornely
Dominic Thornely
Dominic Thornely is an Australian cricketer who plays for the New South Wales Blues in Australian domestic cricket.Thornely made his debut for the Blues aged 25 and made his maiden First class century with 143 against Victoria at Newcastle...
. The team's home grounds are the Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
and the ANZ Stadium.
Soccer
Whilst having a strong sporting tradition in the field of Rugby League, Sydney also has a long and strong tradition in soccer. Early soccer clubs in Sydney were relatively small, and did not have very large followings, and like the general population of Sydney in the late 1800s the clubs were largely English in nature, but when the Australian government began it's immigration policy in years closely following the World War 2, many immigrants left Europe in search of new homes in Sydney, and Australia in general. These migrant groups who were subject to racism from the existing population took it upon themselves to found their own soccer clubs, celebrating their particular ethnic communities. The three largest such clubs were founded by the three largest post war immigration groups respectively, they are: Marconi Stallions Football Club (Italian), Sydney Olympic Football Club (Greek), and Sydney United Football Club (Croatian). Along with these larger clubs, there are also many smaller clubs formed by ethinc groups, who also bare suburban names, such as Bankstown City Lions Football Club (Macedonian), Bonnyrigg White Eagles
Bonnyrigg White Eagles
Bonnyrigg White Eagles F.C. is a football club in Sydney currently playing in the New South Wales Premier League.- History :Established by Serbian migrants from the Cabramatta area of south-west Sydney, their primary supporter base has been the local Serbian community...
(Serbian), Parramatta Eagles
Parramatta Eagles
Parramatta Eagles are an Australian football club that played in the National Soccer League and later the New South Wales Premier League. Due to various levels of mismanagement at the club it was demoted at the end of 2006...
(Maltese), and St. George Saints Football Club (Hungarian). These "Ethnic" clubs soon began to dominate soccer in Sydney, drawing large crowd support from their given ethnic groups, and having their fair share of on field success too.
In the late 1980s there was a substantial rise in soccer hooliganism in Sydney as was the case all around the world, but in Sydney however it was tainted further by racism which was caused by ethnic affiliations which the majority of the larger Sydney clubs had. This was also coupled with a steady decline in crowd numbers over the years, partly due to violence, partly due to the falling standard of play, but also largely because the clubs were not broadening their supporter bases. For example, Sydney United's support ha not grown beyond Sydney's Croatian community, there for the sport was not capitalizing on the growing multiculturalism of the city, now becoming home to many new migrant communities from Arabic and Asian cultures, which to some may be seen as ironic because multiculturalism as well as the fact that the code played all over the world is often seen to be soccer's strongest asset. In an effort to fix these issues facing the game, the soccer association embarked upon "de-ethnicizing" soccer, clubs with very strong links to ethnic groups were made to sever links with their traditional supporter bases and broaden their horizons, new clubs were founded and brought into the league such as Parramatta Power
Parramatta Power
Parramatta Power were a football team which was based in western Sydney. They played in the National Soccer League from season 1999/2000 until the league folded in 2004. The Power were runners up to Perth Glory in the 2003/04 season of the NSL after Perth made the Grand Final look easy in...
and Northern Spirit
Northern Spirit
This article is about the railway company Northern Spirit. For the Australian football club of the same name, see Northern Spirit FC.Northern Spirit was a UK train operating company which ran local and regional train services in the north east of England during the late 1990s.-Operations:Created...
who did not have ethnic associations in a bid to attract a multicultural fan base. This attempt failed miserably, new clubs failed to attract a following and old clubs were not at all "de-ethnicized".
In 2005 a review of the game was carried out and it was decided that for the game to move forward in Sydney, and around Australia, some drastic changes would have to be made. A new club was founded in Sydney called Sydney FC
Sydney FC
Sydney FC is a professional football club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and competes in the country's premier football competition, the A-League...
, and they were to be based in central Sydney as opposed to being based at a small suburban stadium, and were founded specifically to attract a multicultural following. They were entered in a new league to be known as the A-league
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
, this would act as the show piece national soccer competition, contested by similarly formed clubs from other large cities around Australia. There would be no form of relegation or promotion between the a-league and the rest of the counties competitions, and the previous national league would revert back to its original form in state based competitions, which is where clubs such as the for mentioned ethninc clubs continue to play. In the first 6 years of their existence, Sydney FC have been relatively successful building up a solid support base of around 10,000 members, and sometimes attracting crowds of up to 40,000, which is admirable considering the youth of the club. The new system has not been without its flaws for Sydney soccer however, many of the great clubs, and the largest in the city are unable to win a national championship, nor are they able to qualify for the Asian Champions League, and a large section or the Greater Sydney Area is simply unable to access this new club due the geographic size of the city. Change is however afoot, as a national cup competition is to be reintroduced in 2012 with the winner qualifying for the champions league, and the imminent foundation of a second new multicultural club in Sydney's sprawling western suburbs due to begin playing matches within 2 years.
Outside of Sydney, soccer has a similar history in the states larger regional cities (albeit on a smaller scale), and similar multicultural clubs have been formed such as: Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners who both play in the A-league, and South Coast Wolves Football Club who currently play in the New South Wales premier league alongside many of Sydney's ethnic clubs, however there have been calls for them to be elevated into the A-league, and it expected that they eventually will be
Basketball
The Sydney KingsSydney Kings
The Sydney Kings are a professional basketball team competing in the Australasian National Basketball League. They are the only team to date to win three consecutive championships in the NBL and currently sit third behind the Adelaide 36ers and Melbourne Tigers two away from the record five wins...
and Wollongong Hawks
Wollongong Hawks
The Wollongong Hawks are a team competing in Australia's National Basketball League , based in the New South Wales city of Wollongong. They won the NBL championship in 2001 and finished as runners-up in 2005 and 2010...
are the state's representatives in the National Basketball League
National Basketball League (Australia)
The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....
(NBL). These teams have all featured in the finals series since 2002–03, the Kings winning 3 consecutive premierships in 2002–03, 2003–04 & 2004–05. There are 12 teams in the New South Wales conference of the Australian Basketball Association
Australian Basketball Association
The Australian Basketball Association, often abbreviated to the ABA, is the second-tiered semi-professional men's and women's basketball minor leagues in Australia which sit under the professional National Basketball League and Women's National Basketball League .The ABA is representative of the...
, the Waratah League
Waratah League
The Waratah League is the New South Wales conference of the Australian Basketball Association which it joined in 2000.-Current Teams:-Past winners:Premier DivisionNSW Waratah League-External links:**...
. The next level is the New South Wales State Basketball League
New South Wales State Basketball League
The New South Wales State Basketball League is a semi-professional basketball league run by Basketball NSW. It is the third tier level of basketball in New South Wales behind the NBL, WNBL and ABA...
. The Sydney Uni Flames
Sydney Uni Flames
The Sydney Uni Flames are a Women's National Basketball League team aligned with the University of Sydney.-External links:*...
play in the Women's National Basketball League
Women's National Basketball League
The Women's National Basketball League is the pre-eminent women's professional basketball league in Australia. It currently is composed of ten teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Basketball League...
.
Australian rules
Australian rules is a developing game in most of NSW, with rapid popularity. In 2007 it was forecast that there were 95,100 people participated in playing Australian Rules.
In Sydney, local competitions established in 1880 and again in 1903 struggled to compete with rugby union football and then the new professional rugby league football. The code fared much better in the Riverina
Riverina
The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales , Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop...
region, closer to the game's place of origin, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
.
The Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
(AFL) has one team from Sydney, the Sydney Swans
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
. Formerly South Melbourne, the club moved up to Sydney in 1982, after hitting financial trouble. The Swans have won one premiership since moving to Sydney (in 2005). Attendance for Swans matches has slowly risen since their relocation, and AFL telecasts in Sydney have risen 37 per cent in since the Swans premiership in 2005. The Swans will be joined by a second Sydney team in 2012, the GWS Giants.
The sport is governed in the state and the enclosed Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
(ACT) by AFL NSW/ACT
AFL NSW/ACT
AFL NSW/ACT is the governing body of Australian rules football in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.The body is officially affiliated with the Australian Football League.-External links:*...
. In 2004, there were 7,229 senior players out of a total 25 834 club participants registered in New South Wales, and that number and indeed the popularity of Australian Rules continues to rise today.
Snow sports
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
is home to Australia's highest snow country, oldest skifields and largest resorts. Recreational Skiing in Australia
Skiing in Australia
Skiing in Australia takes place in the high country of the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, as well as in the Australian Capital Territory, during the Southern Hemisphere winter....
began around 1861 at Kiandra, New South Wales, when Norwegian gold miners introduced the idea to the frozen hills around the town. The first and longest surviving ski club in the world, The Kiandra Snow Shoe Club is believed to have been formed at Kiandra in that year.
The Kiandra snow shoe club
Kiandra snow shoe club
The club was formed in 1861 by three Norwegians, Elias Gottaas, Soren Torp and Carl Bjerknes on the Kiandra Gold Fields, NSW. This original Kiandra ski club is now recognised as the first snow ski club in the world, it also carries the distinction of being the longest continuously operating...
(now called the Kiandra Pioneer Ski Club (1861)) remains the world's first identifiable and ceaseless Ski Club. This Australian club has been continuously operating since 1861. It’s origins have been recognised internationally and substantiated by the Holmenkollen Ski Museum
Holmenkollen Ski Museum
Holmenkollen Ski Museum , located at the base of the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, Norway, is the world's oldest ski museum, being founded in 1923....
, Norway in 2006. The discovery of gold in the mountains of America and Australia was the catalyst for the development of recreational alpine skiing. The Kiandra Goldrush was short-lived, but the township remained a service centre for recreational and survival skiing for over a century. Australia's first T-Bar, was installed at Kiandra in 1957, but the ski facilities were finally shifted up the hill to Selwyn Snowfields
Selwyn snowfields
Selwyn Snowfields is a small ski resort in the northern part of the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy River Shire and Kosciuszko National Park...
in 1978. Steeper slopes and more reliable snows lie further to the south and in the 20th Century, the focus of recreational skiing in New South Wales shifted southward, to the Mount Kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko is a mountain located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park. With a height of 2,228 metres above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Australia...
region.
The first Kosciuszko Chalet was built at Charlotte Pass in 1930, giving relatively comfortable access to Australia's highest terrain. At 1760m, Charlotte Pass has the highest village base elevation of any Australian ski resort and can only be accessed via over-snow transport in winter. The growing number of ski enthusiasts heading to Charlotte Pass led to the establishment of a cafe at Smiggin Holes around 1939, where horse drawn sleighs would deliver skiers to be begin the arduous ski to the Kosciusko Chalet. It was the construction of the vast Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme from 1949 that really opened up the Snowy Mountains
Snowy Mountains
The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", are the highest Australian mountain range and contain the Australian mainland's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches 2,228 metres AHD, approximately 7310 feet....
for large scale development of a ski industry and led to the establishment of Thredbo and Perisher as leading Australian resorts. The Construction of Guthega Dam brought skiers to the isolated Guthega district and a rope tow was installed there in 1957.
Skifields up by Kosciusko's side were also established during this period, though their existence is now little realised. A rope tow was installed on Mount Northcote at the site and opened in 1954. The site proved excellent for speed skiing, but the hut was destroyed in an avalanche
Avalanche
An avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...
, which also killed one person, in 1956. Construction began at Thredbo in 1957. Today, Thredbo has 14 ski-lifts and possesses Australia's longest ski resort run, the 5.9 km from Karel's T-Bar to Friday Flat; Australia's greatest vertical drop of 672m; and the highest lifted point in Australia at 2037m
The last establishment of a major skifield in NSW came with the development of Mount Blue Cow
Blue cow
Blue Cow may refer to:* Blue Cow , a cartoon cow who appears in the UK television programme The Story Makers* Blue Cow, New South Wales, a village in NSW, Australia* The Blue Cow, one of the "blue" public houses and inns in Grantham...
in the 1980s. In 1987 the Swiss designed Skitube Alpine Railway
Skitube Alpine Railway
The Skitube Alpine Railway is an , standard gauge track electric rack railway in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, Australia. It provides access to the snowfields at Blue Cow Mountain and the Perisher Valley.- History :...
opened to deliver skiers from Bullocks Flat, on the Alpine Way
Alpine Way
The Alpine Way is a State highway in New South Wales, Australia.The Alpine Way starts near Jindabyne on the eastern side of the Snowy Mountains. It runs south-west past Thredbo and crosses the crest of the Great Dividing Range at Dead Horse Gap...
, to Perisher Valley and to Blue Cow, which also opened in 1987. The operators of Blue Cow purchased Guthega in 1991, and the new combined resort later merged with Perisher-Smiggins to become the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
. In 2009 Perisher had 48 lifts covering 1,245 hectares and four village base areas: Perisher Valley, Blue Cow, Smiggin Holes and Guthega.
The Kosciuszko Main Range
Main Range (Snowy Mountains)
The section of the Great Dividing Range between the Ramshead Range and Dicky Cooper Bogong in the Snowy Mountains is known as the Main Range. It can also be used more generally for the peaks on or on short spurs off the range. It contains many of the highest peaks in mainland Australia...
in the Snowy Mountains
Snowy Mountains
The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", are the highest Australian mountain range and contain the Australian mainland's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches 2,228 metres AHD, approximately 7310 feet....
of New South Wales offer some of the most challenging cross-country and back-country skiing in Australia, notably Watsons Crags and Mount Twynam
Mount Twynam
Mount Twynam is the third-highest mountain on mainland Australia. It is located in the Snowy Mountains on the Main Range, north-west of Mount Kosciuszko. It is large but unimposing, and has good and far-reaching views over Blue Lake Cirque and the Western Falls...
on the steep Western Face of the Range. The Mount Jagungal
Mount Jagungal
Mount Jagungal is a mountain within the Jagungal Wilderness Area of the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, Australia. At 2061 metres AHD, Mount Jagungal surpasses any elevation except for peaks in the Main Range and Gungartan . Because it stands alone in an extensive plain Mount Jagungal...
wilderness area provides some of the most isolated back-country ski terrain. High country huts, often a legacy of the era of cattle grazing in the mountains, provide emergency shelter in these regions.
Netball
The New South Wales SwiftsNew South Wales Swifts
The New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney that compete in the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The Swifts were formed in 2007 as an amalgamation of two teams from the Commonwealth Bank Trophy – the Sydney Swifts and the Hunter Jaegers...
are the Sydney and New South Wales-based Netball team in the ANZ Championship
ANZ Championship
The ANZ Championship is the pre-eminent netball league in the world. The competition is held annually between April and July, comprising 69 matches played over 17 weeks. It is contested by ten teams, five from Australia and five from New Zealand...
. The Swifts won the inaugural title in 2008 after defeating the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic. The Swifts were also one of the dominant teams in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy
Commonwealth Bank Trophy
The Commonwealth Bank Trophy was the pre-eminent national netball competition in Australia from 1997 to 2007.It was established in 1997 as a true national league to replace the ailing, state club-based Mobil League. Designed from the beginning to be more marketable to the general public, it saw...
.
Other teams
There are also many teams participating in other national sporting competitions based in New South Wales, mainly in Sydney and the surrounding areas. These include the Sydney Blue SoxSydney Blue Sox
The Sydney Blue Sox are a professional baseball team, and one of six foundation teams in the re-formed Australian Baseball League . The team plays their home games at Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney , one of the two venues for used for baseball at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when it was...
- Australian Major League Baseball and and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
team the New South Wales Blues
New South Wales Blues
The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
. The states major motorsport teams are Walden Motorsport
Walden Motorsport
Walden Motorsport, also known as Walden Racing, run by Brian Walden, is a specialist race car preparation outfit in the West of Sydney. Running in Production Car and Improved Production Car events, they entered the 1997 ARDC AMSCAR series with Brian driving...
in Western Sydney and based at the border town of Albury
Albury, New South Wales
Albury is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Albury Local Government Area...
, Brad Jones Racing
Brad Jones Racing
Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team centred around brothers Kim and Brad Jones and is based in Albury, New South Wales. Presently the team compete in the V8 Supercar Series, which they joined in 2000. Recently they have also returned to the Australian Formula Ford Championship...
.
Other events
The popular equine sports of campdraftingCampdrafting
Campdrafting is a unique and very popular Australian sport involving a horse and rider working cattle. The riding style is like that of Western riding and the event is somewhat related to the American events such as cutting, working cow horse, team penning, and ranch sorting.In the competition, a...
and polocrosse
Polocrosse
Polocrosse it is a team sport that is played all over the world. It is a combination of polo and lacrosse. It is played outside, on a field , on horseback. Each rider uses a cane stick to which is attached a racquet head with a loose, thread net, in which the ball is carried. The ball is made of...
were developed in New South Wales and competitions are now held across Australia. Polocrosse is now played in many overseas countries. Rodeos
Australian rodeo
Rodeos have long been a popular competitor and spectator sport in Australia, but were not run on an organized basis until the 1880s.-History:Newspaper reports recorded public roughriding events that took place in Victoria during the 1880s...
are popular events for competitors and spectators alike. The most important equine events in the state and the country are held at the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre
Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre
The Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre is a multi building and arena complex that was designed for equine usage. It has two indoor arenas, stabling, plus an education and training building, which is located on the New England Highway approximately five kilometres south of the Tamworth...
in Tamworth
Tamworth, New South Wales
Tamworth is a city in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Peel River, Tamworth, which contains an estimated population of 47,595 people, is the major regional centre for southern New England and in the local government area of Tamworth Regional Council. The city...
in the states New England
New England (Australia)
New England or New England North West is the name given to a generally undefined region about 60 kilometres inland, that includes the Northern Tablelands and the North West Slopes regions in the north of the state of New South Wales, Australia.-History:The region has been occupied by Indigenous...
region.
Sydney was the host of the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
and the 1938 British Empire Games
1938 British Empire Games
The 1938 British Empire Games was the third British Empire Games, the Commonwealth Games being the modern-day equivalent. Held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia from February 5–12, 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary...
. The Olympic Stadium, now known as ANZ Stadium, is the scene of the annual NRL Grand Final. It also regularly hosts rugby league State of Origin as well as and rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
and soccer internationals. It hosted the final of the 2003 Rugby World Cup
2003 Rugby World Cup
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...
and the memorable soccer World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
qualifier between Australia and Uruguay
Uruguay national football team
The Uruguayan national football team represents Uruguay in international association football and is controlled by the Uruguayan Football Association, the governing body for football in Uruguay. The current head coach is Óscar Tabárez...
.
The Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
traditionally hosts the 'New Year' cricket test match
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
from 2–6 January each year. The annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, Australia on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart. The race distance is approximately...
begins in Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, whilst the climax of Australia's touring car racing
Touring car racing
Touring car racing is a general term for a number of distinct auto racing competitions in heavily-modified street cars. It is notably popular in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Scandinavia and Britain.-Characteristics of a touring car:...
series is the Bathurst 1000
Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 is a touring car race held annually at Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia...
, held at the Mount Panorama Circuit
Mount Panorama Circuit
Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is the home of the Bathurst 12 Hour motor race, held each February, and the Bathurst 1000 motor race, held each October...
near the city of Bathurst
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
in the Western Plains.
The Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival features the richest two-year-old horse race in the world, the Golden Slipper
Golden Slipper
The Golden Slipper Stakes is an Australian Thoroughbred horse race for two year old horses held at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney run over 1,200 metres on turf at set weights. It is the premier two year old race in Australia and is the world's richest race for two-year-old Thoroughbreds....
Stakes, which is run in April every year. The Medibank International tennis tournament is held in January prior to the Australian Open
Australian Open
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
. The City to Surf foot race is held every August and is one of the largest timed foot races in the world.
Sydney Olympic Park
Sydney Olympic Park
Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sydney Olympic Park is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....
is roughly in the geographical centre of Sydney. Created for the 2000 Olympics, it is now a major sporting centre in the city.
Allphones Arena
Allphones Arena (formerly the Sydney Superdome and Acer Arena) hosts miscellaneous events as Sydney's premier indoors facility. It has a maximum capacity of 21,000.Stadium Australia
The venue is the home ground of NRL teams, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...
and serves as an occasional home ground for the Parramatta Eels
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...
. ANZ Stadium also hosts a number of Swans home games and the occasional domestic cricket one-day match.
Other facilities
There are various other sporting and recreational facilities in the centre including another indoor arena, tennis centre, aquatic centre, athletics centre, hockey centre, archery centre, as well as the Sydney Showground. In 2009 the area will host a motor race in the form of the Sydney 500Sydney 500
The Sydney Telstra 500 is a V8 Supercar motor racing event held annually at Homebush Street Circuit. The event is the last on the V8 Supercar calendar. The event is sponsored by Telstra and is officially known as the Sydney Telstra 500....
motor race to be held on a street circuit
Homebush Street Circuit
The Homebush Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit around the former Olympic precinct at Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales. The track was used for the first time at the final round of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series, the inaugural Sydney 500.-The circuit:The circuit was...
within the former Olympic grounds.
Sydney Football Stadium
Sydney Football Stadium was designed for the use of rugby leagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
and is now also used for rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
and soccer The Sydney Roosters
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...
, the NSW Waratahs and Sydney FC
Sydney FC
Sydney FC is a professional football club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and competes in the country's premier football competition, the A-League...
soccer team use it as their home ground. The Wests Tigers
Wests Tigers
The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...
use the stadium part time as a home ground. The ground hosted the 2005–06
A-League 2005-06
The 2005-06 season was the first season of the A-League, a domestic club competition for football in Australia. After over 12 months without a national professional club competition, the first match in the A-League was played on 26 August 2005...
A-League
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
grand final won by Sydney FC. The ground also hosted rugby league grand finals from its construction until ANZ Stadium was opened.
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket GroundSydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
is mainly used for cricket games and Aussie rules matches. It is home to the Sydney Swans
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
and NSW Blues. The ground held over 1000 rugby league first-grade matches in its history but is rarely used anymore.
Other venues
Other prominent venues in Sydney and New South Wales include:- Australian Equine and Livestock Events CentreAustralian Equine and Livestock Events CentreThe Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre is a multi building and arena complex that was designed for equine usage. It has two indoor arenas, stabling, plus an education and training building, which is located on the New England Highway approximately five kilometres south of the Tamworth...
- Belmore Oval (NRL training ground/soccer)
- Blacktown Olympic ParkBlacktown Olympic ParkBlacktown International Sportspark is a multi-sports venue in Doonside, a suburb in western Sydney, Australia. It includes three baseball diamonds, four softball diamonds, an athletics track and a Australian Rules Football/Cricket ground....
(Cricket/AFL) - Brookvale OvalBrookvale OvalBrookvale Oval is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Warringah Council and is primarily used by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rugby league team...
(NRL) - Campbelltown StadiumCampbelltown StadiumCampbelltown Stadium, formerly Orana Park and Campbelltown Sports Ground, is a rugby league stadium in Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia. It is the full time home ground for the Western Suburbs Magpies District Rugby League Football Club and is one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers...
(NRL) - Central Coast Stadium (NRL/A-League)
- Concord OvalConcord OvalConcord Oval is a rugby stadium in Concord, Australia. It is currently used mostly for rugby union matches and was used for eight matches during the 1987 Rugby World Cup. The stadium is able to hold 20,000 people and opened in 1985....
(RU/NRL training ground) - CUA Stadium (NRL)
- Eastern Creek RacewayEastern Creek RacewayEastern Creek International Raceway is a motorsports circuit located on Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek , New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to the Western Sydney International Dragway. It was built and is owned by the New South Wales Government and is operated by the...
(V8)
- Dunc Gray VelodromeDunc Gray VelodromeThe Dunc Gray Velodrome is located at Bass Hill approximately 5 kilometres north west of the Sydney suburb of Bankstown. The Dunc Gray Velodrome was opened on 28 November 1999 and is named after Edgar "Dunc" Gray, the first Australian to win a cycling Gold Medal at the Olympic Games...
(Cycling) - Energy Australia Stadium (NRL/A-League)
- Jubilee Oval (NRL)
- Leichhardt OvalLeichhardt OvalLeichhardt Oval is a football stadium in Leichhardt, New South Wales, Australia. It is a home ground for the Wests Tigers rugby league team. The stadium has a nominal capacity of 20,000, with recorded highest crowd figures of 23,000 in the 1981 KB Tooth final South Sydney Rabbitohs versus...
(NRL) - Mount Panorama (V8)
- North Sydney OvalNorth Sydney Oval-Development:* The first cricket pitch was laid on 6 December 1867, making it one of the oldest cricket grounds in Australia.* The first structure built, in 1879, was a simple pavilion overlooking the cricket ground...
(Cricket/Rugby League) - Oran Park RacewayOran Park RacewayOran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan in southwestern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from 1962 to 2010....
- Parramatta StadiumParramatta StadiumParramatta Stadium is a sports stadium situated in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.The stadium is used primarily as the home ground of Australian National Rugby League club the Parramatta Eels...
(NRL) - Randwick RacecourseRandwick RacecourseRoyal Randwick Racecourse is a racecourse for horseracing in the Eastern Suburbs in Sydney, New South Wales. Randwick Racecourse, is operated by the Australian Jockey Club and known to many Sydney racegoers as headquarters...
(Horse racing)
- Redfern OvalRedfern OvalRedfern Oval is a football ground located in Sydney suburb of Redfern, New South Wales. The South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League Football Club played at Redfern Oval between 1948 and 1987...
(NRL training ground) - Rosehill Racecourse (Horse racing)
- Toyota ParkToyota ParkToyota Park or Toyota Stadium can refer to several different stadiums.*Toyota Park , Illinois – Toyota Park, the home stadium of the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer....
(NRL) - Skoda StadiumSkoda StadiumSkoda Stadium is a sports stadium located at the Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park. The stadium was simply known as the Main Arena until Skoda Auto bought the naming rights. During the Sydney Royal Easter Show the stadium is used for the Grand Parade and other flagship events. It will become...
(AFL) - Sydney Entertainment CentreSydney Entertainment CentreThe Sydney Entertainment Centre is a multi-purpose venue, located in Haymarket, Sydney, Australia. It opened in May 1983, to replace Sydney Stadium, which had been demolished to make way for a new railway. The centre is currently owned by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, which administers...
- Wakefield ParkWakefield ParkWakefield Park is a motor racing circuit located near Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. It is named after Charles Cheers Wakefield, the founder of Castrol Oil...
- WIN StadiumWIN StadiumWollongong Showground is a rectangular multi-purpose stadium located in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium was officially opened in 1911. From 1982 until 1998 it played host to every home match for the Illawarra Steelers NRL team...
(NRL)