Culture of Melbourne - Sport

Sport

In a country that is often labelled 'sports mad', Melbourne has a reputation among Australians for being the national sporting capital. In 2010, the city was named "World's Ultimate Sports City" for the third time in a row by SportAccord and SportBusiness. Criteria for the award include "the number of annual sports events held, major events held or hosting rights secured between 2006 and 2014, numbers of federations hosted, facilities/venues, transport, accommodation, government support, security, legacy, public sports interest and quality of life." A similar study conducted in 2006 by the London-based research and consulting firm ArkSports found Melbourne to be the world's top city for sports events.

The city hosts many major sporting events including the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival (featuring "the race that stops the nation", the Melbourne Cup); the Australian Formula One Grand Prix; the Australian round of the MotoGP; the Australian Open tennis tournament, the first of the four annual Grand Slam events; the AFL Grand Final and the Boxing Day Test Match. In 1956, Melbourne became the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the Olympic Games, and played host to the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Melbourne is where Australian rules football originated in the 1850s—the world's first codified game of football and the most popular sport in Australia by attendance and viewership. The city is home to nine of the eighteen teams that constitute the Australian Football League (AFL), whose five Melbourne games per week attract an average of 40,000 people per game. The AFL Grand Final, one of the biggest sporting events in Australia, is played on the last Saturday of September at the sport's "spiritual home", the 100,000 capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Another significant Melbourne-based event on the AFL calendar is the Anzac Day clash between rival clubs Collingwood and Essendon. The city is also home to nine out of thirteen teams competing in the semi-professional Victorian Football League. Since 1999, the city has been the biennial host of the International Rules series involving the Australian national team and the Irish national team. The Australian Football International Cup is staged every three years in Melbourne.

During the summer months cricket takes preference amongst Melburnians. In 1877, the world's first Test cricket match was contested by Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and The Ashes urn—symbol of the cricket rivalry between Australia and England—originated in Melbourne. The annual Boxing Day Test, also held at the MCG, is a prominent feature of the Melbourne summer, attracting the largest attendance of any Test match in the world. The Melbourne-based Victorian Bushrangers represent the state of Victoria in the Sheffield Shield and One-Day Cup. The Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades compete in the Twenty20 Big Bash League.

Melbourne has two A-League (association football) teams: Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart. In rugby there is Melbourne Storm (NRL), and Melbourne Rebels (Super Rugby). The Melbourne Tigers compete in the NBL (basketball). For netball, two Melbourne teams compete for the Commonwealth Bank Trophy: Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne Kestrels.

Bledisloe Cup Test matches between the Australian and New Zealand national rugby union teams were staged at the MCG in 1997 and 2007. Melbourne also hosted 7 of 48 matches during the 2003 Rugby World Cup. One-off rugby league matches have been held at Etihad Stadium including the Rugby League State of Origin (most recently in 2012), and a 2006 Tri-Nations Test.

Melbourne is home to 29 stadiums with a capacity of over 10,000 people. Some venues, such as the Albert Park Formula One track and the Calder Raceway, have large capacities but only temporary structures, while there are numerous suburban horse racing tracks and Australian rules football playing fields. In 2000 construction was completed on the Docklands Stadium, capable of seating up to 56,000 people. The stadium was the first in the world to host cricket and Australian football matches under a roof.

The city also has large State Cycling, Hockey, Baseball/Softball and Netball centres, and an Ice centre (National Ice Sports Centre, hosting the Australian Olympic Winter Institute) is being constructed in Melbourne Docklands.

Melbourne hosted the 2002 World Masters Games; broke new ground as the first city outside the United States to host the World Police and Fire Games in 1995, and the Presidents Cup golf tournament in 1999; and was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the World Polo Championship in 2001. The city has hosted FIFA World Cup qualifiers in both 1997 and 2001.

The Rod Laver Arena was converted into a pool for the 2007 World Aquatics Championships.

Melbourne's skateboarding culture has a lengthy history, with brands such as Globe originating in the city. In 1988, the Australian 60 Minutes program produced a segment that focused solely on Victorian skateboarding. The segment featured Melbourne skateboarding and conducted interviews with notable figures such as the Hill brothers (Stephen, Matt and Mike) and Borgy. X-E-N is a Melbourne skateboard company that was established in 1999 and was co-founded by Andrew and Anthony Mapstone—two figures who, as of August 2012, remain influential in Australian skateboarding.