Sport
Main article: Sport in AustraliaMany Australians are passionate about sport, and it forms a major part of the country's culture, particularly in terms of spectating, but also in terms of participation. Cricket is popular in the summer, and football codes are popular in the winter. Some strong Australian traditions, such as grand finals and footy tipping are shared across all codes.
The sporting successes of Australians at elite levels in such events as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Cup competitions in cricket, rugby union, rugby league, field hockey, netball, and major tournaments in tennis, golf, surfing, and other sports are a source of great pride for many people in Australia. Leading sportspeople such as Don Bradman, Dawn Fraser, and Cathy Freeman last in the cultural memory of Australia for decades and are accorded high civilian honours and public status.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Australia
Famous quotes containing the word sport:
“Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain,
Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain,
Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,
And parting summer’s lingering blooms delayed,
Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease,
Seats of my youth, when every sport could please,
How often have I loitered o’er the green,
Where humble happiness endeared each scene.”
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774)
“For generations, a wide range of shooting in Northern Ireland has provided all sections of the population with a pastime which ... has occupied a great deal of leisure time. Unlike many other countries, the outstanding characteristic of the sport has been that it was not confined to any one class.”
—Northern Irish Tourist Board. quoted in New Statesman (London, Aug. 29, 1969)
“If a walker is indeed an individualist there is nowhere he can’t go at dawn and not many places he can’t go at noon. But just as it demeans life to live alongside a great river you can no longer swim in or drink from, to be crowded into safer areas and hours takes much of the gloss off walking—one sport you shouldn’t have to reserve a time and a court for.”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)