Australian sport owes much to little old Adelaide
Columnist 
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Tour Down Under - Adelaide.
Over 100,000 will gather in Adelaide’s CBD today to watch Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans and their pro-cycling buddies – impressive for a city with just over one million inhabitants. Adelaide, so often derided by its eastern seaboard brethren as a backwater has, in fact, contributed much to the wider Aussie sporting landscape, be it cycling, motorsport and even rugby.
The Tour Down Under has grown exponentially over the past decade, fuelled in the last two years by the presence of Lance Armstrong, becoming the first event outside of Europe to be included on the UCI’s Pro Tour.
It was state government funding and support that helped the event develop beyond its formative stages, and Premier Mike Rann hasn’t hidden the fact that the government has dipped into its own pockets to attract the likes of Armstrong, knowing how crucial competitors of that calibre are to an event’s success.
Adelaide has an impressive history of not only attracting such international events to the state – particularly impressive when you consider its size – but also turning them into a success.
The Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix was Adelaide’s forerunner of its major sporting events – first held in 1985, becoming one of the most popular stops on the F1 tour.
South Australian government support was crucial in attracting the event; attempting to put Adelaide on the map and distinguishing it from Melbourne and Sydney to an international audience.
Without that state government investment and the success of the season-ending Adelaide race, it is unlikely Australia would be enjoying its current golden age in motorsport, which owes much to the knock-on effects of the race that helped to popularise all forms of motorsport in Australia.
When the race was lost to Melbourne, Adelaide rebounded with the Clipsal 500 for the V8 Supercar series – creating the template of a festive city event that is being replicated by races across the series, particularly in Sydney (Homebush).
Government investment was also crucial in bringing the Sevens Rugby tournament to the state, perhaps the strangest feather in Adelaide’s cap.
Although the South Australian Rugby Union board was established as far back as 1932, Adelaide is far from a rugby stronghold, with Aussie Rules the staple sporting diet for locals.
Adelaide’s League and Union footprint is almost non-existent (anyone remember the Adelaide Rams?), yet the state government, yet again, invested heavily to attract the event, which is popular with locals, fitting neatly into Adelaide’s congested opening few months of each year alongside the Tour Down Under, Clipsal 500 and various Arts and music festivals.
The idea of moving the Sevens tournament away from Adelaide to try and help expand the form of the game on the eastern seaboard was recently raised here on The Roar, and though the proposal won’t be well received in the city (Adelaidians have a fear of major events being stolen – see the Grand Prix), it is yet another example of how an Adelaide grown event could go on to substantially benefit the wider Australian landscape.
But few events are as well received as in Adelaide, which is deprived of so many world class acts, be it headline bands or major acts.
As a result the locals create a euphoric support for events in the state, and Adelaidians tend to idolise their sporting heroes like few others – to the point where a non-sporting friend told me he was concerned at how feverishly Adelaide was under the Armstrong spell and backing Premier Rann and his sporting investments.
Armstrong’s arrival into Adelaide unbelievably and inexcusably bumped the Haiti tragedy from the frontpage of the daily newspaper, The Advertiser, on Thursday.
When Armstrong sent out an invite to join him on a public ride through his Twitter page, approximately 5,000 accepted and joined him.
It’s a sports mad city, perhaps only truly rivalled by Melbourne, and on Friday night at Hindmarsh, with Armstrong stealing the headlines, this point was proven with the woeful and bottom of the table Adelaide United pulling yet another 10,000 plus crowd – an incredible phenomenon this season that I’ve explored previously.
Far from a backwater, Adelaide’s legacy and impact on Australian sport is immense.
When debating the sporting capital of Australia, Adelaide deserves a mention at minimum.
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.
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January 18th 2010 @ 11:03am
Redb said | January 18th 2010 @ 11:03am | Report comment
As a frequent visitor to Adelaide including for sport I can only say this is article is typical of the small town attitude amongst the locals.
All cities have their hubris, but this is a gem. Sorry Adrian, but Adelaide is hardly a major contributor to Australian sport, it plays its part, but not in the league of Melbourne or Sydney, or Brisbane for that matter.
Redb
January 18th 2010 @ 11:40am
Marshall said | January 18th 2010 @ 11:40am | Report comment
Think a lot of people are missing the point, particularly about how important Adelaide bringing the Grand Prix to Australia was and what an impact that had on all Australian sport. Victorians love to use the GP has proof of how their sports mad, but it was Adelaide’s and the race helped put Australia on the map, particularly in Europe. The Tour Down Under is doing that also, particularly as it incorporates country SA
January 18th 2010 @ 11:47am
True Tah said | January 18th 2010 @ 11:47am | Report comment
That begs the question, how did Adelaide lose the GP to Melbourne in the first place?
As someone with minimal interest in motorsport, the only real memory I have of the Adelaide GP is when Schumacher bumped Nigel Mansell off the track in 1994 (?).
January 18th 2010 @ 11:52am
Marshall said | January 18th 2010 @ 11:52am | Report comment
Because they paid more $$$. Remember F1 is ruled by $ not loyalty. The point is Adelaide and the SA government got it in Australia in the first place. PS: It was Damon Hill that Schumacher took out.
January 18th 2010 @ 12:38pm
Redb said | January 18th 2010 @ 12:38pm | Report comment
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, the writer is a motor sport nut and this has skewed his view of motor racing’s importance in OZ. Sure the V8′s are a big deal thhse days but still behind the major sports.
The Bathhurst 1000 is arguably the most influentional motor racing event in Australia’s history and that is in central-western NSW.
Swimming is more significant than motor racing and for that you would look to Queensland and NSW primarily.
Redb
January 18th 2010 @ 12:35pm
Redb said | January 18th 2010 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
“Victorians love to use the GP has proof of how their sports mad”
Do they?
The GP was important for about 5 minutes in the mid 1990s when Victoria’s economy was down the rabbit hole and Kennett used the poaching of the event to lift some confidence in the State. Worked as well, Victoria/Melbourne has never looked back.
The F1 GP is the least important of the big sporting events in Melbourne and is well behind the AFL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup, Boxing Day test and Aust Open tennis in the collective Melbourne sporting conscious.
Redb
January 18th 2010 @ 4:45pm
Beast-A-Tron said | January 18th 2010 @ 4:45pm | Report comment
“but it was Adelaide’s and the race helped put Australia on the map”
I can agree the Adelaide street circuit was superior to the Melbourne GP.
January 18th 2010 @ 3:31pm
Rohan said | January 18th 2010 @ 3:31pm | Report comment
…but hardly a patch on melbourne’s sporting capital of the world hubris!
January 18th 2010 @ 1:04pm
Marshall said | January 18th 2010 @ 1:04pm | Report comment
Redb, that says a lot in itself. The Grand Prix was a huge deal in Adelaide and in Melbourne it’s hardly noticed. I think you’re underestimating the popularity of F1 around the world and the sort of viewership it gets, hence exposure for Adelaide and Australia.
January 18th 2010 @ 1:10pm
Redb said | January 18th 2010 @ 1:10pm | Report comment
“The Grand Prix was a huge deal in Adelaide and in Melbourne it’s hardly noticed”
Now your getting it, and you just contradicted yourself from a previous post.
Redb
January 18th 2010 @ 3:42pm
Lazza said | January 18th 2010 @ 3:42pm | Report comment
Well besides the F1 and the Australian Open how many truly World Class sporting events does Melbourne host? Can you afford to lose one of them and still call yourself a ‘sporting capital’?
Sporting capital of Australia perhaps, sporting backwater to everyone else.
January 18th 2010 @ 3:54pm
True Tah said | January 18th 2010 @ 3:54pm | Report comment
Lazza as a sandgrouper you might be subjective, but when will Adelaide ever host the Olympics?
Melbourne has hosted the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, futbol world cup qualifiers, bledisloe cup matches, British and Irish lions matches, state of origin matches. Not to mention Tiger Woods “playing” last year.
This is on top of everything else mentioned (AFL grand final, F1, Australian open, cricket). Plus having the most successful team in Australian domestic futbol, and the best NRL team in recent years.
Plus the MCG was voted by the average Pom as one of the top 5 sports venues in the world outside the UK, interestingly it was the only non-futbol stadium to make the cut).
And Marshall, if the Grand Prix was such a huge deal for Adelaide, then why the hell did the SA Government let Jeff Kennett outbid it?
Adelaide is a relatively small city, and while it has made a worthwhile contribution to Australian sport at times, some of the stuff on here is ludicrous. Most of the athletic talent in SA gets funnelled into Australian football, and thus most of the rest of the world cant appreciate their achievements sadly.