Albury - Sport

Sport

Despite being located in New South Wales, Albury is a stronghold of Australian rules football. The local Ovens & Murray Football League is one of the strongest regional leagues in the nation, with the Oven's & Murray Grand Final regularly drawing 15,000 spectators. The league contains three teams from Albury; Current Premiers Albury Football Club, Lavington Panthers Football Club and North Albury Football Club. Many footballers from Albury have gone on to play in the Australian Football League, including Haydn Bunton Senior, who won three Brownlow Medals and was an inaugural legend of the Australian Football Hall of Fame; and South Melbourne Brownlow medallist Fred Goldsmith.

Albury also has a rugby league team, the Albury Thunder, competing in the Group 9 Rugby League competition.

The Albury-Wodonga Steamers are the local Rugby Union Club playing in the Southern Inland Rugby Union competition. The Steamers have produced several players for the Australian Rugby Union National Talent Squad.

The Albury Wodonga Bandits compete in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) East Conference of the Australian Basketball Association (ABA) playing their home games at the Albury Sports Stadium. (known now as the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre) The Lady Bandits joined the women's SEABL in 2006. The Albury Gold Cup horse race is the major autumn event for the district. In 2005, it attracted a record crowd in excess of 18,600 racegoers. Albury has lately become a stronghold of junior hockey, boasting one of the few synthetic fields in the area. The town also has the Albury Grass Tennis Courts. V8 Supercar Team, Brad Jones Racing and drivers Brad Jones and his nephew Andrew also calls Albury home.

Albury is the birthplace of women's tennis grand slam winner Margaret Court, 2003, 2007 and 2010 WNBA MVP winner Lauren Jackson, NRL Player Adrian Purtell, and Test cricketer Steve Rixon, among other champion sports people.