Here you will learn about the most popular sports in Sydney. Read to discover the national sports, stadiums and annual festivals to visit in different seasons.
A Sports Fan’s Guide to Sydney
Sports are popular in Australia, especially in Sydney. The city offers a wide range of sports types for its residents and fans. If you’re a sports fan, you can go on a whole sports tour to Sydney as the city will definitely surprise you. Another interesting fact is that the internet betting Australia segment is one of the largest in the world: the country surely loves sports. The list of sports types available in Sydney includes both the classics like soccer or rugby, but also the national specials like motorsports and boxing. Today we will discuss the most popular ones, including:
- rugby;
- football;
- cricket;
- motorsports;
- golf;
- tennis;
- others.
Rugby Overview
Rugby is the most popular sport for fans in Sydney, so let us start with it. It has a history of more than 100 years in the city. The NRL has a total of 16 clubs, eight of which originate in Sydney. There are two major stadiums you can visit in Sydney to watch rugby: ANZ Stadium and the Sydney Football Stadium.
In case you’re not up to major events, there are some interesting matches in the second division as well. They are typically held in calm suburban stadiums, which makes the experience completely different from the NRL finals.
Football Overview
Football is the second most popular sport among Aussies. There are two local teams in the A-League: the famous Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers. Sydney Football Stadium and Western Sydney Stadium are the locations to visit if you’re timing your trip to the major matches in the city.
For smaller soccer events, you should pay attention to the second division of the National Football League, where smaller teams have interesting matches too. You won’t be a part of a large fan crowd, but the atmosphere is still very captivating.
Cricket Overview
Cricket is a very special sports type in Australia, so we could not ignore it for this article. The grounds at Sydney are marvellous and even if you’re not a cricket fan, we strongly recommend you to visit a game at least once. Sydney Cricket Ground and Spotless Stadium are the two best grounds you can attend in the city.
The current most popular cricket league is the Big Bash League, a franchise of Twenty20. Australia also has a national cricket team that takes part in major events, so the country is represented on an international level as well. The sport has a large history in the country, the first test match recorded was played in 1877.
Other Sports
Other sports are not represented as good in Sydney, but you will still find something interesting to visit if you take a good look. The local team successfully performs in the National Basketball League, there’s also a nationally popular baseball team and two big hockey teams in the city. Netball is also relatively popular here, so you might take a tour on a match to better learn this sport.
There are several large motorsports tracks in Sydney you can visit in different seasons. Supercars, classic racing and off-road tracks are available for visitors. The city is a major port, so it would be a big miss not to have water sports. There’s an annual yacht race that takes place at the end of December. As for the other seasonal events, there are annual golf and tennis tournaments in winter, a surfing event in summer and a running festival in fall.
Conclusion
Summing up, Sydney is a very active sports city. There are lots of attractions for tourists, dozens of events to visit each season and the internationally popular annual festivals. You will find both the crowded major matches and the calm local competitions of the second divisions. The diversity of sports types here is truly impressive, making it one of the best cities in Australia for sports tourism.