Sport in South Australia
Sport plays an important role in the business, community, social and cultural life in the state of South Australia.
Sport as entertainment plays an important role with South Australia, in 2007 having the second highest rate of event attendance of all states and territories with 49% of South Australians aged 15 years and over attending a sporting event each year.
Regional and rural opportunities to participate in sport plays an important role in community life throughout SA. SA has developed a range of programs in supporting inclusive sports pathways focusing on specific populations groups such as indigenous, mature-aged, early childhood, people with disabilities and women.
Significant elite sporting events in South Australia include the Tour Down Under, Clipsal 500, Adelaide Cup, International Cricket series and hosting various Australian Swimming Championships. Major events have been shown to bring significant economic benefit to the state.
South Australian-based teams are represented in almost all Australian major professional sporting codes including the Adelaide Football Club and Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League, the Redbacks, Scorpions and Adelaide Strikers in cricket, Adelaide United in the A-League and W-League, Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League, Adelaide Lightning in the Women's National Basketball League, and the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the Suncorp Super Netball for netball.
In 2005-06, the most popular spectator sports in South Australia by attendance were Australian Rules football, motor sports, horse racing, cricket, and soccer.
South Australia boasts many venues for high-performance sport, including the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Super-Drome, Netball SA Stadium, and Hindmarsh Stadium.
All major sporting codes within South Australia field representative teams on the national stage. South Australia's official sporting colours are red, blue, and gold.
Sport SA
The South Australian Sports Federation Incorporated, known as Sport SA, is the peak professional association for all South Australian sports. It was established in 1991.Sport SA established the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame in 2009, and the
inaugural inductees were announced on 15 September 2010.
Participation
Research shows two thirds of South Australians are involved in sport or recreation with around forty percent of those involved, participating in organised sporting activities. Significantly people from regional areas are more likely to participate through a club based structure and are more likely to volunteer and to be a spectator than those in the Adelaide metropolitan area. It is estimated regional communities have an estimated one third of adults participating in exercise recreation and sport via a club or association and almost a quarter are involved as a coach, official, umpire or administrator.Participation rates for males and females are similar and while overall, participation rates decline with age it was more so with males, while women's participation rates remain constant until they are over the age of 65.
Research shows walking, running, swimming, aerobics/fitness, golf, lawn bowls, weight training and cycling to be the most popular sports with strong participation by both men and women in South Australia. Historically not all sports have been available to women but that has changed with equal opportunity laws targeting discrimination based on gender.
Differences in participation rates by men and women relate to the football codes and netball, which have in the past been limited by opportunities for participation by genders not traditionally associated with the sport.
High performance sport
South Australia has produced successful Olympians, Paralympians, Commonwealth Games representatives, world champions and national champions across a wide range of individual and team sports. The state has produced successful professional golfers including Jane Crafter and Tamie Durdin, world-class tennis players including Lleyton Hewitt, John Fitzgerald, Mark Woodforde, Darren Cahill, Roger Rasheed and Alicia Molik, and many other successful world champions including squash player Vicki Cardwell and Kylie Halliday in sport aerobics.The establishment of the South Australian Sports Institute in 1982 played a role in supporting elite individuals and team sports. Currently it has high performance programs for rowing, Paralympic, netball, canoe sprint, swimming, cycling, trampoline, diving, volleyball, hockey and water polo and conducts talent search activities throughout the state. A new building for the institute is being constructed at Mile End, South Australia, with funding from the Government of South Australia.
Major sports
Australian rules football
Australian rules football is the most popular spectator sport in South Australia with an attendance level of 31% of the population, compared with a national average of 16%.Two South Australian teams participate in the Australian Football League : the Adelaide Football Club, known as the Crows, and the Port Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Power. The match between these teams, called the Showdown, is the most-watched football match in South Australia. Both clubs also have a women's team in the AFL Women's league, with Adelaide joining for the inaugural season in 2017 and Port Adelaide joining for the seventh season in late 2022.
South Australia also has a ten-team competition called the South Australian National Football League, which was established in 1877 and is the oldest statue league in the country, having formed one week earlier than the Victorian Football Association. Prior to the Adelaide Crows joining the AFL in 1991, the SANFL was the highest level of competition in the state. Both AFL teams have reserves teams which play in the SANFL. The SANFL also runs an eight-team women's competition called the SANFLW. Beyond the AFL and SANFL, the state also has 30 community leagues in both metro and regional areas. As of 2018, more than 200,000 South Australians play Australian rules football, including more than 50,000 registered players in club competitions, making Australian rules football the number one club participant sport in the state.
Cricket
Cricket is a popular summer sport in South Australia, with over 100,000 people in the state participating. The sport is overseen by the South Australian Cricket Association, which administers the state's three professional teams: the South Australian Redbacks, the South Australian Scorpions, and the Adelaide Strikers.South Australia hosts international cricket matches, mostly at Adelaide Oval, which hosted its first Test match between Australia and England in 1884. Adelaide Oval also hosted the first ever day-night Test match, played between Australia and New Zealand from 27 to 29 November, 2015. South Australia has produced numerous international cricketers, including brothers Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell, who both captained Australia in international cricket.
Soccer
South Australia's sole representative in the national A-League competition is Adelaide United FC. They won the 2016 A-League Grand Final and have won two pre-season cups and have made the finals every year except for 2009 and 2012 since the A-league started in 2005. Adelaide United have been one of the most successful teams in the A-league, despite failing to win an A-league Grand Final in their first two attempts. They have qualified for the AFC Champions League 4 times, making them the most represented club in Australia. Of these appearances they made the round of 16 in 2010, were runners up in 2008, and have made the round of 16 in the ongoing 2012 AFC Champions League. Their home ground is Hindmarsh Stadium, which has a capacity of 16,500. Hindmarsh was one of four non-Sydney venues chosen to host matches as part of the Men's Football tournament during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games.Adelaide City remains South Australia's most successful club, having won three National Soccer League titles and three NSL Cups. City was the first side from South Australia to ever win a continental title when it won the 1987 Oceania Club Championship and it has also won a record 17 South Australian championships and 17 Federation Cups. Adelaide City contests the Adelaide derby against its crosstown rival West Adelaide, also a former national champion having been the first South Australian club to win the national league in 1978.
SASi Pirates were National Champions in 1997 and 98 in the Women's National Soccer League. Adelaide United 'Lady Reds' compete in the current national competition, the W-League. The state has produced Australian representatives such as Sharon Black and Dianne Alagich who have contributed to the international success of the Matlidas.
Netball
Netball is a significant sport in South Australia with a wide range of participation opportunities across metropolitan, regional and rural locations within the state.The Adelaide Thunderbirds have participated in the premier netball league in Australasia, winning premierships in 1998, 1999 in the CBT, and 2010 in the ANZ Championship. Many South Australian players have represented Australia, including World Championship player and Australian captain Natalie von Bertouch, Rebecca Sanders and Kathryn Harby-Williams.
South Australia also participates in the Australian Netball League. In 2012 Southern Force took the title.
Netball continues to have a strong metro, regional and intrastate competition throughout South Australia with around 70,000 women and men participating across the state.
Basketball
South Australia has a long history of producing outstanding representatives which have shaped and influenced Australia's high international standing in both men's and women's basketball. High-profile players and coaches include Olympians Lindsay Gaze, Phil Smyth, Peter Ali, Darryl Pearce, Mark Bradtke, Mike McKay, Tony Ronaldson, Brett Wheeler, Paul Rogers, Brad Newley and Brett Maher, as well as other Australian Boomers such as NBA players including Luke Schenscher and Joe Ingles all came from Adelaide.The Adelaide 36ers won NBL Championships in 1986, 1998, 1998–99 and 2001–02 and finished runner up in 1985, 1994 and 2013-14. The West Adelaide Bearcats won the NBL Championship in 1982 and finished runner up in 1983.
In women's basketball SA has produced outstanding Olympians including Rachael Sporn, Erin Phillips and Laura Hodges. SA teams have won numerous national championships, with the North Adelaide Rockets winning in 1990 while finishing runner up in 1981 and 1988. The Adelaide Lightning creating a historic era of success in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1998 where it won 4 out of 5 National Championship Finals in the WNBL, as well as 2007–08. The Lightning also finished runner up in 1997 and 1999–2000. The West Adelaide Bearcats finished as WNBL runner up in 1984 while the Noarlunga Tigers finished runner up in 1985. Adelaide born Brendan Flynn was the coach of the Australian Opals at the 1984 Summer Olympics.