To be Australian is to love sport, if you don’t there is something wrong with the wiring. Aussies as passionate about sport, generally considered more so in the southern states. Melbourne would have to be the hub here. Regardless of the sport, people will get behind any event especially when Australians are involved.
Football “footy”
Australians love their “footy”. In Australia there are 4 different types of football.
- Australian Football League (AFL) also known as “aussie rules”. WebSite
- National Rugby League (NRL) also known as “league”. WebSite
- Australian Rugby Union (ARU) also known as “union”. WebSite
- Football Federation Australia (FFA) also known as “soccer”. WebSite
Now it depends where you live to understand what “footy” refers to. In different states “footy” has different meetings. It’s considered uncooth to talk for example about your favourite “footy” team when your in the wrong state. In Brisbane, “footy” is historically considered as “league”.
But both the AFL and the NRL, the two major leagues have made solid inroads into the others territory. 10-15 years ago, “league” was only played in Queensland and New South Wales, while “aussie rules” was just in Victoria. Now it’s national with both having teams in many states. In fact over the last 10 years the Brisbane Lions (AFL) and Brisbane Broncos (NRL) have been the best teams respectively.
AFL highlights this change. Of 16 teams, only 6 are outside of Victoria, the home of AFL. Of late, when the final series starts with the top 8 teams, this can include 4,5 or 6 of the teams outside the traditional home. In the last 10 years, 9 premierships have gone to the “outsiders”.
It’s important you support a team, with no family history or reasons, the home team is generally a good choice.
Other Sports
Not to be let down, there are plenty of other achievements.
Australians are the best cricket team in the world, we are the best rugby league team in the world, the best netball team, previously rugby union world champions and hot to be the best in the world at the next world championships. We have some of the greatest present swimmers in the world, usually only pipped by the US in world championships.
Despite only having a relatively small population, Australia has produced an extraordinary number of champions in a wide variety of sports.
Don Bradman is the “Tiger Woods” or “Micheal Jordan” of cricket. He is by far the world’s greatest ever player, indeed his career average is near twice the amount of the best players of the day.
Rod Laver, the greatest ever tennis player. The only player ever to win 2 Grand Slams in Tennis (1962, 1969). That is the 4 championships of the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. And to be a true grand slam winner, it’s all 4 in one calendar year, not 4 in a row.
Roy Emerson is the most prolific Grand Slam titleholder in the history of tennis. No man even comes close to challenging the famed Australian’s astonishing record. With 28 Grand Slam championship crowns, he is king of the tennis record books.
The “woodies” Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge the most successful team in tennis’ history.
Not to be set aside in Tennis, other great names include Lew Hoad, Rod Laver, Margaret Court, Tony Roach, Evonne Goolagong Cawley , Ken Rosewall, Fred Stolle and Lleyton Hewitt - the youngest ever player to be crowned world number one.
Dawn Fraser the first woman to swim 100 metres in less than one minute; the only athlete in the world to win the same event at three Olympic games in a row.
Shane Gould the only athlete to hold every world freestyle record from 100m to 1500m simultaneously, and the only swimmer ever to win three Olympic Gold Medals in world record time.
Kieren Perkins - dual 1500m Olympic gold medal-winner; world champion; famous for winning the Atlanta Olympics 1500m in what became known as ‘the swim of the century’.
Murray Rose - star of 1956 Melbourne Olympics; the most successful Australian male Olympian to date.
Ian Thorpe was only 14 when he dived into the history books in 1997 as the youngest male swimmer ever to represent Australia. Two years later, at the Pan Pacific Championships in Sydney, Thorpe broke four world records in four days. His list of records is extensive.
Again, the swimmers list continues with names like Susie O’Neill and Grant Hackett.
Sir Jack Brabham, the first driver in history to be knighted for his services to motorsport, remains one of racing’s most popular personalities. The triple world champion is the only Formula One driver to have won a world title in a car of his own construction – the BT19 – which he drove to victory in 1966. The following year the Brabham team won its second successive world championship when New Zealander Denny Hulme drove the BT20 to victory.
In atletics names include John Landy, Ron Clarke, Betty Cuthbert, Cathy Freeman and Marjorie Jackson.
The list of sports continue with world champions, cycling, surfing, boxing.
The Underdog
Australia loves a sporting hero, and none more than an ‘underdog’ who achieves victory. Steven Bradbury, the unlikely gold medallist in speed skating at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, is such a winner. Bradbury won Australia’s first gold medal in the Winter Games. As a four time Olympian he is celebrated in Australia, as much for his luck in reaching the final in first place, as for his skill as a speed skater.
TV
It’s not sport when there are not 3 different sports on the TV over the weekend at the same time. The problem is sports are generally seasonal, either summer or winter, and there isn’t the population to have the number of teams and players like many sports in Europe and the US.
References
Football in Australia
Today is National Chocolates Day, and since it’s not chocolate but chocolates, I can only assume that it’s referring to individual confections. While it seems a bit clichéd, sometimes the best thing is a box of mixed chocolate treats. You get the gooey caramel centers, the flavor infused truffles, and everything in between. I like the places where you can pick out exactly what you want in the box, as well as how many. If you’re lucky enough, you can even find a chocolate factory that sells their chocolate individually. One of those places is Charles Chocolates.
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