View PDF | Print View
by: Johnmclay
Total views: 65
Word Count: 905
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 Time: 1:36 AM
0 comments

Sport in Australia is admired and prevalent. Throughout the country a wide variety of games are played. Sport is ‘Australia’s national religion’, this anonymously mentioned, describing the devotion and dedication of the Australian population.
Australia is well known for its rich sports culture. The most popular sports in Australia are Australian Rules Football, Cricket, golf and rugby. Due to the increase in sports popularity in the country, there are various websites that provide regular sports updates on tours, travel, sporting clubs, jobs in sport, sports news, sports events and many more.
Australia, a land that measures 7,617,930 sq. km. with a population of 20.6 million, outshines in any sport in the international stage. This is well proven in the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games every time. Australia is ninth on the list of All-time Olympic medals and has the most gold medals in the history of the Commonwealth games with 643.
Aside from excelling in the Olympics and the Commonwealth games, Australia also performs well internationally in Australian Rules football, Cricket, golf and rugby.
Australian Rules football is the most popular sport in Australia and is the country’s national sport. Australian Rules football is what Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Football League (NFL) is to the United States of America. An estimated 90,000 football fanatics attend games and cheer for their favorite club. Australia’s national sport was invented by a fellow named Tom Wills in 1858. He took the basic rules of Gaelic football, soccer and rugby and meshed them into a single sport we know today as Australian Rules football. Wells meant for the sport to keep cricketers in tip-top shape during the winter.
The First set of laws of Australian Rules football was published by the Melbourne Football Club in 1959.
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the premier Australian league for Australian Rules football. The AFL came into existence in 1990 and was known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) in previous years. The AFL features 16 teams that compete against each other in 22 grueling but exciting rounds. The AFL season usually starts in the last week of March and concludes in September. The two best teams face each other in the AFL Grand Final.
Cricket is another popular sport in Australia. All cricket leagues are governed by a body called Cricket Australia. This governing body existed since 1905, and was known as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket. In 1973, it changed its name to the Australian Cricket Board and finally, in the year 2003, Cricket Australia.
Cricket Australia is responsible for the scheduling of matches and the development of cricket in the country and in the Pacific region.
The Australian national cricket team is one of the best international teams in the world. Australia has appeared in the Cricket World Cup final an amazing six times. It has won the World Cup championship a total of four times: 1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007.
The Australian national cricket team also won the ICC Champions trophy (the second most important international cricket competition) in 2006 and 2009. Australia is the first country to win the ICC Champions Trophy and the Cricket World Cup in consecutive years.
It is safe to say that the Australian national cricket team is the Los Angeles Lakers of the cricket world.
Due to their massive success and achievements, cricket fans around the world constantly check for Australian Cricket Sports tours, sports events, sports news and Live score updates. The Australian national cricket team has garnered a large following: online forums and clubs have popped-up everywhere that express their support for Australian cricket.
Australia has also made a name itself in the sport of golf. It currently has the most golf courses per capital. Aussie golfers have also left their mark. There are currently 10 Australians ranked in the Top 100 golfers in the world: Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby, Adam Scott, Michael Sim, John Senden, Brendan Jones, Matthew Goggin, Rod Pampling, Scott Strange and Marc Leishman. The great Greg Norman helped paved the way for many Aussie golfers in the PGA.
The Australian Open is organized by Golf Australia. It is one of the most prominent golf tournaments of the PGA Tour. The Australian Open was last played at the New South Wales Golf Club with Adam Scott winning the tournament.
Another popular sport in Australia is Rugby. It is even argued that its popularity is on par with Australian Rules football because it is the most watched sport on TV in the country. In 2009 alone, an estimated 126 million Aussies tuned in to watch rugby on their television sets.
Rugby originated from England but surprisingly Australia performs pretty well in international rugby tournaments. The Australia national rugby union team is currently ranked third in world rankings by the International Rugby Board (IRB). The IRB is responsible for men's national teams in the rugby union
In contrast, the Rugby League International League (RIFL) is responsible for men's national teams in the rugby league. The Australia national rugby league team is currently ranked first in world rankings by the RIFL.
Aussies are crazy about sports, be it Rugby, football, cricket or golf. Sporting events are a big-part of everyday life in Australia. It’s hard to argue against sport being the ‘Australian national religion’. You can just feel the excitement and anticipation once a sporting event is about to begin.

For Regular Sports updates on Tours, events and many more Australian sports updates Visit www.clicksport.com.au