Australian native sports

Sports is one of the easiest way to get people united and on one side, its fun, its competitive and it brings out both the worst and the best in people.. Australians are a sporting nation and are involved in a number of sports. With cricket being their de facto national sport they are lovers of Australian Rules football, rugby, motor sports, soccer, swimming, tennis and many other competitive sports.

The sporting industry in Australia is one of the fastest growing industries and in television viewing it was surveyed that 9 out of 10 most watched programmes were sports related. Australia is a formidable opponent in the Olympic and the Commonwealth games and this is a testament to the fact that sports is a widespread phenomenon across the country. Australians love to be involved in sports may it be from the sidelines or it be front centre with the rest of the team. Some of the sports that are avidly followed within the country are: Baseball, Basketball, Cricket, Football, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Swimming, Tennis, Horse Riding, Motor Sports, Soccer, Touch Football, Volleyball, Cycling, Golf, Net Ball, Winter Sports and Olympic Sports.

There are a lot of leisure sports as well in Australia. Australians are extremely fond of creative pastime and so it’s no surprise that they partake in many different sports through out the year. As Australia is blessed with some of the most beautiful strip of beaches you will ever come across it is but natural that they are home to some fun beach sports. Beach Cricket, Surf Lifesaving, Surfing, Ironman and Beach Touch are some popular beach leisure sports. For those who don’t know what the Ironman is let us explain. The Ironman was a game developed by Mr. Valentine Trainor who combined four main disciplines of surf lifesaving into one singular race; Ski paddling, running, board paddling and swimming.

Other more relaxed games and sports that are a part of Australian culture are Darts, English Billiards, Skateboarding, Fishing and even Snooker. Other very unique leisure sports in Australia are:

• Bandy

• Amateur Radio Direction Finding

• Broomball

• Bocce

• Calisthenics which involved singing, dancing, gymnastics and apparatus work.

• Downball

• Campdrafting which is an equestrian sport developed in Australia

• Gaelic Football

• Gliding and Gridiron which is also otherwise known as American football or Canadian Football

• Hurling which is similar to lacrosse or hockey

• Handball

• Ice Hockey

• Korfball which is a Dutch sport similar to netball or basketball

• Orienteering

• Polo

• Rodeo and Rounders

• Tenpin Bowling

• Trugo is an unique Australian sport played by a few

• Vigoro is a game similar to cricket and baseball and is mainly played by women.