The Most Popular Sports in Australia

Australians are completely mad about sports! In fact, more than 90% of Australians have an interest in sports.

13 million adults and 3 million children in Australia play recreational sports regularly. But which sports are the most popular amongst Australians?

Australia is internationally renowned for cricket, and the Australian Men’s Cricket Team has a higher percentage of successful matches than any other international team.

However, although Australia is particularly good at cricket, Australians also love rugby, netball, swimming and surfing and more.

In this article, we discuss everything you need to know about the most popular sports in Australia.

1. Rugby League (NRL)

National Rugby League is extremely popular in Australia.

There are approximately 170,000 registered NRL players in Australia. NRL is very similar to Rugby Union, however, there are slightly different rules.

For example, there are only 13 players on an NRL team, whereas there are 15 players in Rugby Union.

Similarly, the rules for restarting the game are also different.

The NRL includes teams from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand.

2. Australian Rules Football (AFL)

Australian Rules Football, colloquially known as “footy” or “Aussie Rules”, is another incredibly popular sport in Australia.

AFL is a contact sport played between 2 teams of 18 on an oval field, which is often a modified cricket ground.

This is the only sport on the list that is only played within Australia itself.

The AFL consists of 18 teams from 5 different Australian states. Australians go mad for this intense, competitive and physically demanding sport.

During the AFL season (March-September) there is a huge amount of inter-team and inter-state rivalry!

3. Netball

Netball is well loved in Australia, especially among women.

Over 340,000 Australians are registered with the national governing body, Netball Australia. The Queensland Firebirds are the most successful Australian netball team in history.

They boast 5 grand final appearances and 3 championship wins over the past 8 years. Australia has 3 national competitions; the Australian Netball Championships, the ANZ Championship and Suncorp Super Netball.

Australian players also represent their country in international tournaments as part of the Australian Diamonds team.

4. Swimming

3.1 million Australians regularly swim, showing just how popular this healthy sport is in Australia.

This is probably because over 85% of Australians live within 50 kilometres of a beach!

Australians are always in the water. In fact, Australian competitive swimmers hold the most medals for any sport on an international level.

Australian athletes have won 135 gold medals across all Olympic sports, 58 of which are from swimming.

5. Cricket

Cricket is very popular in Australia and they’re actually good at it too!

The Australian Men’s Cricket Team is the most successful team in One Day International Cricket history.

They have won more than 60% of their matches, appearing in 7 World Cup finals, and winning the Cricket World Cup 5 times.

During the Summer months, Australians all over the country can be found playing cricket on the beach, on the cricket pitch and in their back garden.

Australia has produced some of the world’s finest-ever cricketers, including the late, great, pioneering leg-spinner, Shane Warne.

6. Cycling

Australians love to cycle! 2.4 million Australians regularly cycle.

Australians cycle recreationally and competitively all the time. Most children in Australia start to cycle as soon as they start to walk.

It’s very popular to purchase a baby balance bike when a child is still a toddler. No wonder cycling is so popular in Australia!

7. Football (Soccer)

Traditional football (known as “soccer” in Australia) is also popular with Australians, as you might expect from the world’s most popular sport.

Their international team may not historically be very good, but people still love to play football and Australia has produced some great footballers over the years, including the likes of Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell.

Football is particularly popular with children. 48.7% of Australian children aged between 6-13 play football.

It is tied with swimming for the most popular sport among school-aged children.

8. Surfing

Some of the world’s best surf is found in Australia. In fact, people from all over the world travel to Australia just to surf. Australian surfers are truly spoilt for choice when it comes to surfing spots.

Australia has around 3.5 million active surfers and 1 in 3 Australian surfers are women. I remember my own experience of surfing when visiting in Australia was mainly tied around various beach date ideas! Some were more successful than other of course, and I wasn’t very good at the surfing part…

Surfing has become a hallmark of Australian culture, due to the importance of the beach in many people’s lives.

Some of the world’s greatest surfers have hailed from Australia!

One aspect of surfing popularity in Australia that is overlooked, is its huge influence on public health. If you go to any Australian beach you will see myriad signs reminding you to put on suncream and protect your skin from the Suns UV rays. Australia.

Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, and now the authorities are trying to do something about it.

The reminders are that high-factor sunscreen should be worn at ALL TIMES.

Can you tan when it’s cloudy? Yes. Can you get burnt when it’s cloudy? Yes.

A reminder to all of you - when you are out in the hot sun, surfing or otherwise, wear your sunscreen!