Sports fans in Australia are treated to spectacular sporting events every year. In fact, sport is ingrained in Australian culture. The open grounds, pleasant weather, and sunshine make the ideal setting for all kinds of outdoor activities.
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There are so many events taking place across different grounds in many Australian cities. You can catch the big men fly in the AFL Grand Final, see them throw in the punches in the Boxing Day test, or watch the yachts set off at the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, if that’s your thing.
We’ve compiled a list of the must-attend sports events so you can start making plans for your annual sporting schedule right away.
1. The Australian Football League Grand Final
Grand Final Day is one of the most important days of the year for many Australians, particularly those who live in Melbourne — evidence of this can be seen in the fact that the Friday before it was recently declared a public holiday. Grand Final Day, the finale of one of the well-attended sports in the world and the most popular sport in Australia, draws roughly 100,000 ardent supporters to the MCG, with millions more watching on television. Far from being merely a sports event, the day begins with plenty of pre-game entertainment, and once the game is over, Melbourne’s streets fill up like no other day of the year.
2. Australian Open
If you’re a tennis enthusiast, you’ve probably heard of the Australian Open, where the finest players in the world compete for the Norman Brookes Trophy and the Daphne Akhurst Trophy. The Australian Open is the year’s first Grand Slam, followed by the French Open, Wimbledon, and the United States Open.
If tennis isn’t your thing, there are lots of ways to have fun outside of the courts, including live concerts, pubs and restaurants, and a variety of other activities.
3. The Boxing Day Test
There are only a few athletic events on the calendar that can match the Grand Final in terms of excitement, and the Boxing Day Test is one of them — particularly the first day. This is yet another historic occurrence that draws up to 100,000 people to Australia’s largest stadium, but unlike on AFL Grand Final Day, they are treated to a complete day of premier sporting action. Cricket is the summer sport of choice for most Australians, and you can expect there’s a throng out the back, with the barbeque sizzling and the TV tuned to Channel Seven, in what seems like every second backyard across the country.
4. Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
The Sydney to Hobart is presumably the cause for the few sports lovers who aren’t watching the Boxing Day Test the day after Christmas. The about 630 nautical mile trek is fought by some of the world’s most accomplished sailing teams, making it one of the world’s largest boat races. At this race, some of the world’s fastest boats have created a name for themselves, with Wild Oats XI winning it nine times in a row. A glance at the event’s 76-year history reveals incredible advancements in boat design — the winner in 1945, Rani, completed the route in over six and a half days. The current record stands at slightly over 33 hours.
5. Grand Final of the NRL
While the AFL is the most popular football code in Australia, it is a distant second behind rugby league in New South Wales and Queensland. The NRL is the most popular winter sport from our nation’s capital to the east coast, and the Grand Final is a fittingly historic event at the end of each season. Every year since 1999, it has been staged in Stadium Australia in Sydney’s west, with just under 108,000 screaming fans pouring through the turnstiles for the first time. The stadium’s capacity began to decline shortly after, but at least 79,000 fans have attended every year since, with the exception of 2020, when the Storm defeated the Panthers in a Grand Final match-up.
6. The Big Bash League Final
It’s hard to believe that T20 cricket wasn’t a part of our lives only a few decades ago. And the Big Bash League didn’t start until 2011, much to the displeasure of many traditionalists who despised the game’s more ‘quickfire entertainment’ style. While many dedicated cricket fans prefer Test cricket, most naysayers of the Big Bash concept are now eating their words, with the world’s second-largest domestic T20 tournament after the IPL attracting huge viewership throughout the summer. It all culminates in the BBL Final, which drew an average of 1.4 million spectators to watch the Sixers beat the Scorchers last season.
The number of high-quality athletic events held in Australia throughout the year belies the country’s small size. These events, which include football, cricket, rugby, and other sports, captivate the attention of millions of Australians and visitors from across the world, demonstrating why Australia is one of the world’s most sports-crazy nations.
