Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a sport played by relatively few people in Australia, but is one of the oldest established sports in the country, having been introduced in 1875. Despite the small playing numbers and being generally concentrated in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, lacrosse is played to a high standard in Australia, with many individual players also achieving success in American college and professional teams. The national teams have been successful too, with the women’s national team winning the World Cup in 1986 and again in 2005, while the men’s team have been runners-up on a number of occasions.

Motorsport

Motorsport is a popular spectator sport in Australia, although there are relatively few competitors compared to other sports due to relatively high perceived costs of competing. The most widely watched motorsport is V8 Supercars, especially at the Bathurst 1000. Other classes in Australia include Formula 3 and Formula Holden (open wheel racing), Superbikes, and touring cars.

Australia hosts a round of most international series, including:
Formula One - Australian Grand Prix
Champ Car - Lexmark Indy 300
MotoGP - Phillip Island MotoGP Round
World Rally Championship - Telstra Rally Australia
A1 Grand Prix

Netball

Netball is one of the most widely played sports in Australia. It is played by thousands of girls and women, from early primary school through into adulthood, predominantly throughout the cooler months. There are competitions based in schools and local netball associations, as well as nationally and internationally. Additionally, many sports centres host social competitions for women, men and mixed teams.

The national competition, the Commonwealth Bank Trophy, was established in 1997, with eight teams.

The Australian netball team frequently competes against other netball-playing nations, particularly England (netball’s traditional “home”), New Zealand, South Africa and Jamaica. Of these teams, New Zealand and Australia are by far the strongest and have been fierce rivals for decades at major championships. Although netball is not officially a part of the summer program of the Olympic games, it has been in the Commonwealth games since 1998.

Rugby League

Rugby League is one of the most popular sports in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory dating back to 1908. The game is appreciated less but still played by a hand full of people in non-traditional territories, such as Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and almost not play at all in Tasmania. Traditionally, the divide between support between league and union is to a large extent along socioeconomic lines, with the professional league being the sport of the working class while the “amateur” rugby union competition played and supported by the middle class.

The Australian Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of Rugby League in Australia. It is made up of state bodies, including the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and the Queensland Rugby League (QRL). The National Rugby League (NRL) is one of the most popular sporting competitions in Australia. It holds the main competition of Rugby League, with 15 teams. It has done so since 1998, when the ARL merged with Super League. The ARL had held the competition between 1995 and 1997, with the New South Wales Rugby League competition holding it before that, from 1908 to 1994. In the 2005 NRL Finals Series, the Wests Tigers won the premiership, beating North Queensland Cowboys in the grand final.

The Australian national rugby league team represents Australia at rugby league. Since July 7, 1994 the team’s nickname has been the Kangaroos. See also List of results of the Australian national rugby league team

A number of competitions exist between national rugby league sides which Australia is involved in. The Rugby League Ashes is the name given to the trophy awarded to the winner of rugby league test series between Great Britain and Australia, held since 1908. The Tri-Nations is a rugby league tournament involving the top three nations in the sport: Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, which started in 1999. The Rugby League World Cup has been held since 1954.

The Rugby League State of Origin competition began in 1980 after Queensland had campaigned for a State of Origin series as Queensland was consistently losing the state competitions because many of its best players had been lost to New South Wales clubs. Full results: Rugby league State of Origin games