Sport
Whether they're filling stadiums, glued to the big screen at the pub or on the couch in front of the TV, Australians invest heavily in sport – both fiscally and emotionally. The federal government kicks in more than $300 million every year − enough cash for the nation to hold its own against formidable international sporting opponents. Despite slipping to 10th spot on the 2012 London Olympics medal tally, Australia is looking forward to redemption at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Australian Rules Football
Australia's most attended sport, and one of the two most watched, is Australian Rules football (Aussie rules). While traditionally embedded in Victorian state culture and identity, the Australian Football League (AFL; www.afl.com.au) has gradually expanded its popularity into all states, including rugby-dominated New South Wales and Queensland. Long kicks, high marks and brutal collisions whip crowds into frenzies: the roar of 50,000-plus fans yelling 'Baaall!!!' upsets dogs in suburban backyards for miles around.
Rugby
The National Rugby League (NRL; www.nrl.com.au) is the most popular football code north of the Murray River, the season highlight being the annual State of Origin series between NSW and Queensland. To witness an NRL game is to appreciate all of Newton's laws of motion – bone-crunching!
The national rugby union team, the Wallabies, won the Rugby World Cup in 1991 and 1999 and was runner-up in 2003, but hasn't made the final since (let us know what happens in 2015!). Australia, New Zealand and South Africa compete in the superpopular Super 15s (www.superxv.com) competition, which includes five Australian teams: the Waratahs (Sydney), the Reds (Brisbane), the Brumbies (Australian Capital Territory, aka ACT), the Force (Perth) and the Rebels (Melbourne). The Waratahs beat New Zealand's Canterbury Crusaders by a point on the 2014 final – go 'tahs! The competition will expand to 18 teams from 2016, including teams from Argentina and Japan.
Soccer
Australia's national soccer team, the Socceroos, qualified for the 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups after a long history of almost-but-not-quite getting there. Results were mixed, but pride in the national team is sky-high (and actually reached the stratosphere when the Socceroos won the Asian Cup in 2015).
The national A-League (www.a-league.com.au) comp has enjoyed increased popularity in recent years, successfully luring a few big-name international players to bolster the home-grown talent pool.
Cricket
The Aussies dominated both test and one-day cricket for much of the noughties, holding the No 1 world ranking for most of the decade. But the subsequent retirement of once-in-a-lifetime players such as Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting sent the team into an extended rebuilding phase. Only now is the team returning to a level of success to which the viewing public has become accustomed.
The pinnacle of Australian cricket is the biennial test series played between Australia and England, known as 'The Ashes'. The unofficial Ashes trophy is a tiny terracotta urn containing the ashen remnants of an 1882 cricket bail (the perfect Australian BBQ conversation opener: ask a local what a 'bail' is). Series losses in 2009, 2011 and 2013 to the arch-enemy caused nationwide misery. Redemption came in 2014, when Australia won back the Ashes 5-0, only the third clean-sweep in Ashes history. (The 2014 series was due to be played in 2015, but was bumped forward a year to avoid a clash with the 2015 one-day World Cup.)
Despite the Australian cricket team's bad rep for sledging (verbally dressing down one's opponent on the field), cricket is still a gentleman's game. Take the time to watch a match if you never have – such tactical cut-and-thrust, such nuance, such grace.
Tennis
Every January in Melbourne, the Australian Open attracts more people to Australia than any other sporting event. The men's competition was last won by an Australian, Mark Edmondson, back in 1976 – and while Lleyton Hewitt has been Australia's great hope for many years, the former world No 1's best playing days are behind him (but he looks set for a career as a commentator). Young gun Nick Kyrgios looks set to take up the mantle (or at least impress with his haircuts). In the women's game, Australian Sam Stosur won the US Open in 2011 and has been hovering around the top-10 player rankings ever since.
Swimming
Australia: girt by sea and pock-marked with pools; its population can swim. Australia's greatest female swimmer, Dawn Fraser, known simply as 'our Dawn', won the 100m freestyle gold at three successive Olympics (1956−64), plus the 4 x 100m freestyle relay in 1956. Australia's greatest male swimmer, Ian Thorpe (known as Thorpie or the Thorpedo), retired in 2006 aged 24 with five Olympic golds swinging from his neck. In early 2011, Thorpe announced his comeback, his eye fixed on the 2012 London Olympics – but he failed to make the team in the selection trials, and left the pool again to finish his autobiography. Speedy upstart James Magnussen hasn't won Olympic gold, but at the time of writing was the 100m freestyle world champ.
SURF'S UP!
Australia has been synonymous with surfing ever since the Beach Boys effused about 'Australia's Narrabeen', one of Sydney's northern beaches, in 'Surfin' USA'. Other surfing hot spots such as Bells Beach, Margaret River, the Pass at Byron Bay, the heavy-breaking Shipstern Bluff in Tasmania and Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast also resonate with international wave addicts. Iron Man and Surf Lifesaving competitions are also held on beaches around the country, attracting dedicated fans to the sand.
More than a few Australian surfers have attained 'World Champion' status. In the men's comp, legendary surfers include Mark Richards, Tom Carroll, Joel Parkinson and 2013 champ Mick Fanning. In the women's competition, iconic Aussie surfers include Wendy Botha, seven-time champion Layne Beachley and 2014 champ (and six-time winner) Stephanie Gilmore.
Horse Racing
Australians love to bet on the 'nags' – in fact, betting on horse racing is so mainstream and accessible that it's almost the national hobby! There are racecourses all around the country and local holidays for racing carnivals in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.
Australia's biggest race – the 'race that stops a nation' – is the Melbourne Cup, which occurs on the first Tuesday in November. The most famous Melbourne Cup winner was the New Zealand–born Phar Lap, who won in 1930 before dying of a mystery illness (suspected arsenic poisoning) in the USA. Phar Lap is now a prize exhibit in the Melbourne Museum. The British-bred (but Australian-trained) Makybe Diva is a more recent star, winning three cups in a row before retiring in 2005.