Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, is oftentimes proclaimed and known as the sporting capital of the world. They are the second biggest city in Australia but were voted the sports capital of the decade in 2016. The people of Melbourne are sports nuts and it isn’t important just what the sports activity is, the crowds in Melbourne come out for it.
So why is the city the sporting capital and exactly how did it end up being the sporting capital? To begin with, Melbourne is known for a rich sporting past and culture. Melbourne was founded in 1835 and sport was a aspect of city daily life right from then, with the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) becoming created in 1838. The now famed Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) launched in 1853. It’s still there and it is the actual most significant sports stadiums in the country. Several types of football started to be also preferred in Melbourne’s formative years, ultimately bringing about its own sports activity – Australian Rules Football (AFL), or ‘footy’ as it’s called by the residents. The first Melbourne Cup horse race occured in 1861 and is still going. The very first Australian tennis championships was held in 1905 and is also still held in Melbourne. Melbourne hosted the 1956 Olympic Games.
Community sports activity is known as a considerable part of the Melbourne life style and participation rates in Melbourne are some of the highest in the world. This is certainly readily seen each and every weekend you can see exactly how prominent community sporting activities is with people partaking and enjoying a number of sports for example cricket, tennis games, footy, rugby, netball, basketball, baseball, golfing along with soccer. These sports play an important part of so many people’s community lives and wellness. When individuals in Melbourne aren’t actively playing sport, they’re fans of watching sport. The Australian Football League grand final pulls 100 000 people to the MCG. Rugby Union isn’t a well-known or a popular sports activity in the city, but Melbourne stills has the record for the highest number of individuals to attend to see a game live!
Along with the 1956 Olympic Games, the city continues to host international sports entertainment. Every year, there is the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Open Tennis Grand Slam, the Spring Horse racing Carnival, the MotoGP, the Boxing Day cricket test game as well as the Rip Curl Pro surfing tournament. You can find the main AFL, National Rugby League, or Australian A-League (soccer) games on the majority of weekends. There have recently been other international one-off events like the Commonwealth Games, the Cricket World Cup, World swimming championships as well as Asian Cup soccer.
All of this is sustained by many world class sports activities amenities like the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Melbourne Park, Rod Laver Arena, AAMI Park, Hisense Arena, Etihad Stadium, Flemington Racecourse, The State Netball and Hockey Centre, Margaret Court Arena and the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and that is an infrastructure that’s not near to being surpassed by any other area in the world. You can easily observe how and the reason Melbourne is definitely the sports capital of the world and the reason why sports activity is such included in the way of life around Australia.