Is Australia the sporting capital of the world?
Columnist By Adrian Musolino, 25 Jan 2009 Adrian Musolino is a Roar Expert
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- Adelaide, Australia, Basketball, Federer, Lance Armstrong, Major League Soccer, Melbourne, Olympics, Queensland, Rugby League, State Of Origin, Storm, Wimbledon
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Lance Armstrong and his lycra clad buddies are in Adelaide, Federer and co. are in Melbourne, the Aussie cricketers are touring the nation, as the A-League is coming down to a thrilling conclusion, and the AFL and rugby folk gear up for another season.
Plenty to keep us entertained. So is Australia the sporting capital of the world?
We’ve all heard the expression “Melbourne. The Sporting Capital of the World.”
Forget it!
In many ways London has more of a right to the title with thirteen professional football clubs, Wembley stadium which has staged a World Cup final, Wimbledon, Twickenham, Lord’s and its third Summer Olympics around the corner, and yes I know London’s population is larger than Melbourne’s but London has a larger percentage of the major sporting events in the UK than Melbourne has in Australia.
While it may be the hub of the AFL, if we focused only on the Victorian capital we would ignore the Tour Down Under, the SCG, the NSW versus Queensland State of Origin rivalry and the city which actually first attracted a Grand Prix down under, Adelaide.
So, with Australia Day around the corner, let’s forget the city concept and expand slightly to a national platform and how we compare against other nations.
The USA is an obvious competitor.
Its own sporting creations are huge with a variety of codes sharing the limelight, the likes of the NBA, MLB, NFL etc plus the various college competitions.
Like Australia, it has sports on the fringes, a useful example being Major League Soccer that, like the A-League, has a difficult task in competing against the indigenous football codes.
However, Australia has a better record of turning major international sporting events into a success than the USA, which tends to be very introverted when it comes to sport and how it views the rest of the world. In other words, considering our relative population, we have a better appreciation and following of events and sports played outside our homeland, surely a sign of a nations obsession with sport.
For example, we have a better record of enticing and maintaining global sports to our shores such as motorsport and cycling – the Tour Down Under is the only event outside Europe on the UCI Pro Tour.
What about the UK with the most popular domestic league around the world, the EPL, and the various events in its capital London?
Unlike in the USA and Australia, there is not the variety of codes that share the limelight with the EPL and football in general dominating. For example, the basketball league in the UK, the BBL struggles a lot more than our version of the game does.
As the UK prepares for its Olympics and with so much government funding being invested into various stadiums and programs, the UK will only grow as a sporting nation as their performance at Beijing indicated, and that investment filters down to strengthen local competitions, development and eventually fanfare.
So are we the sporting capital of the world?
Perhaps.
It may be a futile exercise but it does provide an interesting comparison.
This Australia Day we should be thankful for the variety of our sporting palette. It might just be the best in the world.
Adrian Musolino is editor of V8X Magazine, and has written as an expert on The Roar since 2008, cementing himself as a key writer who can see the big picture in sport. He freelances on other forms of motorsport, football, cycling and more.
January 25th 2009 @ 7:50am
Sam said | January 25th 2009 @ 7:50am | Report comment
Adrian
I think you will be upsetting a few Victorians here, but who cares
In terms of sporting capital it depends how you look at it. We are maybe a sporting events capital. In terms of week to week competition the Americans and Europeans kick our butts. Apart from AFL the crowds are poor in Australia. Would like to see both a-league, Super 14 and NRL improve before this happens.
One thing for sure is we have a lot of diversity. I believe there are a good 15-20 sports which are well supported.
January 25th 2009 @ 7:53am
Dave said | January 25th 2009 @ 7:53am | Report comment
Adrian
“However, Australia has a better record of turning major international sporting events into a success than the USA, which tends to be very introverted when it comes to sport and how it views the rest of the world”
They did a great job of the 1994 World Cup where games were spread to all corners of the country and in over 60 matches the games averaged 68,000 spectators. A record for the World Cup. Also they did a terrific job with the Womens WC a few years later when over 100,000 saw the USA beat China in the final.
January 25th 2009 @ 9:34am
Maria said | January 25th 2009 @ 9:34am | Report comment
futile indeed…
January 25th 2009 @ 10:16am
Forgetmenot said | January 25th 2009 @ 10:16am | Report comment
Im going to say yes we are the sporting capital country of the world. And with that Melbourne is the capital city of the sporting capital of the world.
You must also take into account the cities record of hosting successful and memorable events. In this melbourne officially comes out on top: http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/166531/melbourne-retains-title-as-ultimate-sports-city
Also to consider why Australia is the sporting capital is how well it does at the Olympics. Yes we dont win, but this isnt about the placementat the Olympics as such. When someone visits Australia itself they notice the lifestyle which allows us to win so many medals per capita.
February 11th 2010 @ 3:24pm
Michael C said | February 11th 2010 @ 3:24pm | Report comment
on a global scale of soccer leagues – the A-League ranks in the top 20!!!! Not bad for a 3rd/4th in line domestic league in this country.
ON a relative scale –
allowing for the youth of Australia, and the domestic population base – - we stand very, very well and have 2 Olympic City’s, along with 1 of 4 Tennis Grand Slams and 1 of a dozen of so F1 GPs and likewise MotoGP’s etc,
and to boot – we also have our own indigenous footy code that goes alright.
On the relative scale as well – you gotta factor in the relative isolation – - it’s far, far easier in the UK for example to turn it into a big business with Europe on their doorstep.
The kinda fair comparison for Australia to benchmark with is Canada but even Canada has the 330 million (or however many) Americans just south of the border.
January 25th 2009 @ 10:28am
Dan said | January 25th 2009 @ 10:28am | Report comment
Adrian: “In many ways London has more of a right to the title with thirteen professional football clubs…”
13 football clubs isn’t that big a deal given London’s size. Just look at Sydney – a quarter of the population, but supports 12 professional football clubs (9 NRL teams, an AFL team, a Rugby Union team, and a soccer team).
January 25th 2009 @ 10:52am
Adrian Musolino said | January 25th 2009 @ 10:52am | Report comment
Dan, the 13 football clubs in London are soccer clubs only, I didn’t include Rugby teams etc.
January 25th 2009 @ 11:10am
Dan said | January 25th 2009 @ 11:10am | Report comment
Nevertheless. It’s a city with more people than the whole of Australia and it still doesn’t support as many codes as Australia’s 2 major cities. But as you say things are more split through Aus than in England; Melbourne has a tonne of international sporting events, but a fair bit goes to Sydney as well (2000 Olympics, 2003 RWC Final etc), so when compared overall combining Sydney and Melbourne alone makes as more a sporting capital I think.
February 11th 2010 @ 2:49pm
Daniel King said | February 11th 2010 @ 2:49pm | Report comment
Last time i looked the population of London was around 8,500,000. London supports 13 pro football teams, four pro rugby teams and a rugby league team. Per capita i would say the average support is greater in London than the average support per capita in Sydney, but only just.
February 11th 2010 @ 4:46pm
John Ryan said | February 11th 2010 @ 4:46pm | Report comment
Whats the Population of Greater London think its close (though I could be wrong)to 13 mil
February 11th 2010 @ 6:53pm
Daniel King said | February 11th 2010 @ 6:53pm | Report comment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London
It is referenced.
January 25th 2009 @ 12:26pm
Kettles said | January 25th 2009 @ 12:26pm | Report comment
Melbourne is the sporting capital of the world.End of.
January 25th 2009 @ 12:45pm
Sam said | January 25th 2009 @ 12:45pm | Report comment
London would have one rugby league team at most. It is London Broncos (although don’t know if they are still around). Rugby League is a very Northern English sport. There would be at least a few Rugby Union teams.
Still:
Wembley – home of football
Wimbeldon – home of tennis
Twickenham – home of rugby
Lords – home of cricket
is just about impossible to beat.
February 11th 2010 @ 3:40pm
Michael C said | February 11th 2010 @ 3:40pm | Report comment
however – the MCG is the site of the first official test match in 1877 – - it is hallowed turf in the cricket world,
Melbourne is the home of the ashes urn, (Sunbury lays claim) and was presented by a group of Melbourne Women when England tourned in 1882/83.
Albert Park is a famous Grand Prix circuit and the Australian home of such, dating back to the Bradham days,
Kooyong – alas, no longer used and the Aust Open is no longer a grass court tourney —– mores the shame,
Bathurst (NSW) is a world reknowned Race track,
Bell’s Beach,…..famous would over,
we do alright
and the MCG doubles up as the first Sth Hemisphere Olympic Stadium, and doubles more than doubles as the home of Australian Football – - in addition to it’s cricket role.
For a country barely over 200 years old and born from the British Empire ruled by London – - Australia is going alright on any relative scale,…..and does okay in real terms too.
February 11th 2010 @ 4:02pm
Realist said | February 11th 2010 @ 4:02pm | Report comment
Don’t forget about Lang Park, which is the world’s premier rugby league stadium and the spiritual home of Queensland Rugby League.
The Australian Ice Hockey competition is one of the oldest in the world, too.
February 11th 2010 @ 4:15pm
Siva Samoa said | February 11th 2010 @ 4:15pm | Report comment
Is that why the broncos paid rent to play at suncorp stadium ?
February 11th 2010 @ 4:48pm
John Ryan said | February 11th 2010 @ 4:48pm | Report comment
Another day another stupid statement by PW or Sam or Siva just how many alias,s do you have Poly
January 25th 2009 @ 8:27pm
Marco said | January 25th 2009 @ 8:27pm | Report comment
I’ll only believe we are the sporting capital of the world once we are capable of hosting the largest sporting event in the world.