Sport in Australia

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Sport is an important part of Australian culture and dates back to the early colonial period. The first of the country's mainstream sports to become established in order of their organisation were cricket, Australian rules football, rugby union, tennis, soccer, basketball, netball and rugby league. According to Ausplay, in 2024 the most practiced physical activities for Australians were walking including bushwalking, fitness, running cycling, pilates and yoga each practised by more than a million adults.^[1] The most played team sports in order of participation are soccer, basketball, Australian rules football, cricket and netball each played by more as many as half a million adults.^[1] Soccer and basketball, in particular have more than a million adult players are also the most popular team activities for children.^[1] Tennis and golf are the most popular individual sports among Australians with more than a million players each.^[1] Sport has shaped the Australian national identity through events such as the Melbourne Cup and the America's Cup.^[how?]

Australia has a number of professional sport leagues, including the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (Australian rules football), National Rugby League (NRL) and NRL Women's (rugby league), Super Rugby Pacific (Australia/New Zealand) (Rugby Union), the National Basketball League and the Women's National Basketball League, A-League Men and A-League Women (soccer), the Australian Baseball League (baseball), the Big Bash League (cricket), Women's Big Bash League (cricket) and Sheffield Shield (cricket), Suncorp Super Netball and the Supercars Championship (touring car racing). Australia has a culture of attendance to sports with some of the highest per capita attendances in the world, however television has the faster growing audience. Australian rules football is the most attended sport with the 2024 AFL season attracting an attendance of more than 8.2 million.^[2] However rugby league is the most watched on television with a cumulative audience of over 174 million in 2023.^[3]

Australia's football culture features a distinct geographical split (known as the Barassi Line) between areas where rugby football and Australian rules are the dominant code (the north east and south west respectively) however this has become less evident over time with the expansion of national professional competitions. These two codes are generally played in winter whereas soccer, despite being the most popular in terms of participation, is played in summer to avoid a clash with the two major codes for spectators.

As a nation, Australia has competed in many international events, including the Olympics and Paralympics. The country has also twice hosted the Summer Olympics in Melbourne (1956) and Sydney (2000), as well as the Commonwealth Games on five occasions. A third Olympics will be held in Brisbane in 2032.

The city of Melbourne is famous for its major sports events and has been described as the 'sporting capital of the world',^[4] and one of its stadiums, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, is considered the home of Australian rules football and one of the world's premier Cricket grounds. After the United States, which is considered the greatest sporting nation in the world, Australia is considered one of the best sports nations in the world.^[5][6][7][8]