Common Australian Sports

Australia has a rich heritage of participation in sporting events. According to the Australian Sports Commission, Australia is one of only two nations to have competed in all of the modern Olympic games. Among the Australian sporting traditions are sports including rugby, Australian rules football, football, cricket and tennis. All of these sports contribute to the Australian sporting tradition and make Australia a true sporting nation.

Rugby

Games of Rugby were being played in Australia as early as the 1820s, and crowds of as large as 50,000 were being drawn to the sport as early as 1907. Though a different version of the game did evolve in the form of Australian rules football, rugby has still survived in Australia. The National Rugby League and Australian Rugby League are professional organizations for the sport in Australia, and the Wallabies of the Australian Rugby Union represent the nation on an international scale.

Australian Rules Football

Australian rules football was originally known as Victorian Rules; it is a variation on the original game of rugby. The sport was originally invented in Melbourne around 1850 and was the first modern version of football -- this includes rugby and American football -- to have an official set of rules. The game is played professionally by the Australian Football League. Australian football is, according to Professor of Sport Management John Nauright, "the country's most popular sports competition in terms of attendance and television viewing."

Football

The sport of football -- known in the U.S. as soccer -- was first played in Australia in 1880. Although for a time the popularity of football was decreasing in Australia, since the Australian success at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the sport has significantly increased in popularity. Today, the sport of football is governed by the Football Federation Australia, which governs the game domestically and internationally for Australia.

Cricket

Cricket was an established sport as early as 1892 in Australia. The governing body for domestic and international cricket is called Cricket Australia. In recent, years the popularity of cricket has declined in Australia. This is due to a lack of quality players and a lack of fan interest.

Tennis

A 2008 survey by an Australian research agency, Sweeney Research, found that tennis is the most popular sport in Australia. According to the research, this is due to the yearly tennis tournament called Australian Open, which is hosted by the governing body for tennis is Australia, Tennis Australia.