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About Australia (Sports) |
| Rugby & Australian rules | |
| Rugby League is the football code in Sydney, and was for many years a bastion of working–class culture. Formerly run by the Australian Rugby League (ARL), the game was split down the middle in 1996, when Rupert Murdoch launched Super League in an attempt to gain ratings for his Foxtel TV station. It quickly became obvious, however, that the game could not support two separate competitions, and in 1997 they united to form the National Rugby League (NRL; tel 9339 8500). | |
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season starts in early March, and the Grand Final is played at the
end of September – when huge crowds pack out the Football Stadium or
Stadium Australia. There are seventeen clubs (scheduled to be cut to
fourteen) – Brisbane is the glamour club, while Sydney's best teams are
Sydney City, Cronulla and Parramatta. The State of Origin series,
where Queensland and NSW battle it out over three matches (at least one of
which is held in Sydney), is incredibly hard–fought, and coverage of
these matches consistently produces the highest ratings on Australian
television.
Rugby union |
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| Rugby
union, in spite of the huge success of
the national team (the Wallabies), still lags behind rugby league in
popularity. However, the introduction of the Super 12 competition, which
runs from the end of February to the end of May, and involves regional
teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, has generated broader
interest in what has traditionally been an elitist game. The state's
contribution to the Super 12 is the NSW Waratahs, who play at the
Sydney Football Stadium about six times per season. (For more details
contact the Australian Rugby Union tel 9955 3466; otherwise you can find
all the latest rugby info at www.rugby.com.au).
Australian Rules ("Aussie Rules") |
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| Victoria has traditionally been the home of Australian Rules ("Aussie Rules") football, and Victorian sides are still expected to win the AFL Flag – decided at the Grand Final in Melbourne in September – as a matter of course. However, the enormously popular Sydney Swans, NSW's contribution to the AFL, have ensured Aussie Rules a place in Sydney, helped along by legendary goalkicker Tony "Plugger" Lockett. (During the 1999 season, Plugger finally broke the game's all–time goal scoring record, which had stood for 62 years). The game itself is a no–holds–barred, eighteen–a–side brawl, closely related to Gaelic football. The objective is to kick the ball through the uprights for a goal, which is worth six points, or the short posts either side for a "behind" – one point. There are four 25–minute quarters, plus lots of time added on for injury. Despite the violence on the pitch, crowds tend to be very well–behaved; you'll be surrounded by boisterous fans, but perfectly safe, if you go to watch the Swans at their home base at the Sydney Cricket Ground (see www.afl.com.au). | |
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