Sport is a crucial part of life in Australia and a true passion for millions of Australians.
Moreover, Aussies have their own ideas about what the most exciting sports in the world are.
And they have their own version of football, too… So, get ready! It’s time to find out more
about Australia’s top sports with STATSCORE!
What are the most popular sports in Australia?
Let’s take a look at data on sports spectatorship in the last seasons.
Total Average
Sport Competition
spectatorship attendance
Australian football AFL 7,517,677 36,317
Rugby league NRL 3,176,561 15,804
Soccer A-League 1,405,469 10,411
Cricket BBL 1,212,696 20,554
Cricket WBBL (women’s league) 852,549 14,450
Basketball NBL 688,712 6,622
Data for seasons 2018-19; total spectatorship – cumulative attendance at the venues throughout the season.
In this article, we’ll focus on the most popular sports leagues in the country. Still, it’s worth
noting that a number of individual sports, such as tennis, golf, running, swimming, and horse
racing are also very popular in Australia.
Having said that, let’s check out Australia’s most exciting sports leagues!
1. Australian football (AFL)
As we all know, the word football means different things in different parts of the world. In
the United States, you’ve got American football, obviously, while in Europe Association
football (soccer) is definitely the king. But that’s not the end of it! There’s also, among other
variations, Canadian football and… yes, Australian rules football.
Sport is a crucial part of life in Australia and a true passion for millions of Australians.
Moreover, Aussies have their own ideas about what the most exciting sports in the world are.
And they have their own version of football, too… So, get ready! It’s time to find out more
about Australia’s top sports with STATSCORE!
What are the most popular sports in Australia?
Let’s take a look at data on sports spectatorship in the last seasons.
Total Average
Sport Competition
spectatorship attendance
Australian football AFL 7,517,677 36,317
Rugby league NRL 3,176,561 15,804
Soccer A-League 1,405,469 10,411
Cricket BBL 1,212,696 20,554
Cricket WBBL (women’s league) 852,549 14,450
Basketball NBL 688,712 6,622
Data for seasons 2018-19; total spectatorship – cumulative attendance at the venues throughout the season.
In this article, we’ll focus on the most popular sports leagues in the country. Still, it’s worth
noting that a number of individual sports, such as tennis, golf, running, swimming, and horse
racing are also very popular in Australia.
Having said that, let’s check out Australia’s most exciting sports leagues!
1. Australian football (AFL)
As we all know, the word football means different things in different parts of the world. In
the United States, you’ve got American football, obviously, while in Europe Association
football (soccer) is definitely the king. But that’s not the end of it! There’s also, among other
variations, Canadian football and… yes, Australian rules football.
Australian rules football is the most popular sport in the country, both in terms of attendance
and total spectatorship.
The game was first played 162 years ago in Melbourne and has since then become hugely
popular in every state and territory of Australia, especially in Victoria, South Australia, Western
Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory.
The Australian Football League is the highest level of men’s competition in the sport. The
league is currently contested by 18 teams from Australia’s six states.
The season consists of a 23-round regular season, which is played from March to September.
The eight teams with the best record advance to a four-round finals series, which culminates in
the AFL Grand Final held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
2. Rugby league (NRL)
Rugby league is in fact, another type of football game, which is extremely popular in
various regions of the world (and to make things more complicated is often simply called
football in Oceania!)
Throughout its history, rugby has been competing with Australian football for the attention of the
country’s sports fans. Historically, rugby league and rugby union have been especially
popular in New South Wales, The Australian Capital Territory and Queensland.
National Rugby League (NRL) is the top-level rugby league competition in Australia. The
competition consists of sixteen clubs which compete within a single group system (there are no
divisions or conferences), without relegation to or promotion from other leagues.
The 2019 NRL season attracted 3,176,561 spectators to the venues, which translated into an
average attendance of 15,804 fans per game. Moreover, it rated 88,201 million viewers, which
means an average viewership per game was 459,000.
