Sport In South Australia
Sports play an important role in the business, community and social life and culture throughout Australia. Participation and success in high performance sport and regular health and fitness opportunities in community and grassroots sports are an important part of an active, healthy life for men, women and children across South Australia (SA).
South Australia has produced successful Olympians, Paralympians, Commonwealth Games representatives, World Champions and National Champions across a wide range of individual and team sports. Regional and rural opportunities to participate in sport plays an important role in community life throughout SA. SA has developed a range of programs in supporting inclusive sports pathways focusing on specific populations groups such as indigenous, mature-aged, early childhood, people with disabilities and women.
Sport as entertainment plays an important role with South Australia having the second highest rate of event attendance of all states and territories with 49% of South Australians aged 15 years and over attending a sporting event each year.
Significant sporting events in South Australia include the Tour Down Under', Clipsal 500, Adelaide Cup, International Cricket series and hosting various Australian Swimming Championships. Major events have been shown to bring significant economic benefit to the state.
South Australian-based teams are represented in all major professional sporting codes including Adelaide Football Club and Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League, the Redbacks and Scorpions in Cricket, Adelaide United in the A-League and W-League, Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League and Adelaide Lightning in the Women's National Basketball League, and the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the ANZ Championship for Netball.
The most popular spectator sports in South Australia by attendance are Australian Rules football (31%), motor sports (14%), horse racing (8%), cricket (5%) and soccer (4%).
South Australia boasts world class venues for high performance sport including the Adelaide Super-Drome, Netball SA Stadium, Hindmarsh Stadium and the South Australian Government has recently undertaken a major project redeveloping the iconic Adelaide Oval.
All major sporting codes within South Australia field representative teams on the National stage. South Australia's official sporting colours are red, blue and gold.
Read more about Sport In South Australia: Participation, High Performance Sport, Individual Sports
Famous quotes containing the words sport, south and/or australia:
“Rabelais, for instance, is intolerable; one chapter is better than a volume,—it may be sport to him, but it is death to us. A mere humorist, indeed, is a most unhappy man; and his readers are most unhappy also.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I don’t have any doubts that there will be a place for progressive white people in this country in the future. I think the paranoia common among white people is very unfounded. I have always organized my life so that I could focus on political work. That’s all I want to do, and that’s all that makes me happy.”
—Hettie V., South African white anti-apartheid activist and feminist. As quoted in Lives of Courage, ch. 21, by Diana E. H. Russell (1989)
“I like Australia less and less. The hateful newness, the democratic conceit, every man a little pope of perfection.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)