Sport in Tasmania describes participation in and attendance at organised sports events in the state of Tasmania in Australia. Sport is an important part of Tasmanian culture; though, while spectator sports have grown in recent decades, overall participation in sports has declined and is currently lower than the national average.
The most popular spectator sports are Cricket (summer) and Australian rules football (winter). Both sports have very long histories in the state and important roles in the culture and are widely covered by the media. In participation Tasmania's most popular sport for men is Association football (known locally as "soccer") and for women is swimming. The fastest growing sport in terms of participation in the state is junior and women's soccer.
There are significant regional differences and regional rivalries, particularly between the north and south of the state which have an effect on the sport participation and attendances.
Read more about Sport In Tasmania: Athletics, Cricket, Golf, Hockey, Horse Racing, Motorsport, Yachting
Famous quotes containing the words sport in and/or sport:
“Sport inevitably creates deadness of feeling. No one could take pleasure in it who was sensitive to suffering; and therefore its pursuit by women is much more to be regretted than its pursuit by men, because women pursue much more violently and recklessly what they pursue at all.”
—Ouida [Marie Louise De La Ramée] (1839–1908)
“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)