The most popular sports in Australia
Australia is one of the most sports-mad countries in the world, it’s a huge part of the culture and some of the most popular sports date way back to the early colonial times.
Over many hundreds of years, these sports have formed the culture of Australia, and many of the biggest sports events over time have played a role in forming the national identity of the country.
Many sports play a big role in the country, from the indigenous game, Australian football, to the physicality of rugby league, the summer sport of cricket and to the online game of Casino Frog Australia. In this article we investigate which sports are the most popular in Australia.
CRICKET
Cricket is among the top three most popular sports in Australia and is played at local, national, and international levels. The cricket season is generally from September to April and for many, this sport is regarded as the national summer sport.
The vast majority of Australian’s follow at least some cricket on TV from home, while big crowds attend the sport at stadiums around the country. The Melbourne Cricket Ground hosts the Boxing Day Test each year with day one regularly attracting over 70,000 spectators. The 100,000-capacity stadium is the second largest in the world, behind the newly-redeveloped Narendra Modi Stadium in India which holds around 110,000.
AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL
Australia has its own national code of football – Australian Football, also known as Aussie Rules, AFL, or Footy. The unique game is a mix of various sports and the purpose is to score goals by kicking the ball in between the middle two goal posts at each end of the field.
The AFL attracts the biggest crowds of any domestic league in Australia, with the AFL Grand Final attracting in excess of 100,000 spectators each year at the MCG which is the highest attended club championship game in Australia and indeed in the entire world.
RUGBY LEAGUE
The National Rugby League is Australia's top-level domestic men's club rugby league competition. It contains clubs from the original NSW club competition, which had been running continuously since 1908, and has since expanded to cover the eastern seaboard.
The NRL consists of sixteen clubs: eight clubs based within Greater Sydney, two in regional New South Wales, three in Queensland and one each in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and across the ditch in New Zealand. Rugby in Australia dates back to 1864, with its largest fan bases in New South Wales and Queensland. The NRL Grand Final is held each year at Sydney's Stadium Australia.
