Sport plays an important role in the business, community, social and cultural life in the state ofSouth 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.[1][needs update]
Regional and rural opportunities to participate in sport plays an important role in community life throughout SA.[2] 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.[3]
Significant elite sporting events in South Australia include theTour Down Under,Clipsal 500,Adelaide Cup, International Cricket series and hosting variousAustralian Swimming Championships. Major events have been shown to bring significant economic benefit to the state.[4]
South Australian-based teams are represented in almost allAustralian major professional sporting codes including theAdelaide Football Club andPort Adelaide Football Club in theAustralian Football League, theRedbacks,Scorpions andAdelaide Strikers in cricket,Adelaide United in theA-League andW-League,Adelaide 36ers in theNational Basketball League,Adelaide Lightning in theWomen's National Basketball League, and theAdelaide Thunderbirds in theSuncorp Super Netball for netball.
In 2005-06, the most popular spectator sports in South Australia by attendance were Australian Rules football (31%), motor sports (14%), horse racing (8%), cricket, (5%) and soccer (4%).[5][needs update]
South Australia boasts many venues for high-performance sport, including theAdelaide Oval,Adelaide Super-Drome,Netball SA Stadium, andHindmarsh 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.
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.[6]
Sport SA established the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame in 2009, and the inaugural inductees were announced on 15 September 2010.[7]
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.[2]
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.[2]
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.[2] 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.[2]
South Australia has produced successfulOlympians,[8]Paralympians,[9]Commonwealth Games representatives,[10] world champions and national champions across a wide range of individual and team sports. The state has produced successful professional golfers includingJane Crafter and Tamie Durdin, world-class tennis players includingLleyton Hewitt,John Fitzgerald,Mark Woodforde,Darren Cahill,Roger Rasheed andAlicia Molik, and many other successful world champions including squash playerVicki Cardwell andKylie Halliday insport 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.[11] A new building for the institute is being constructed atMile End, South Australia, with funding from theGovernment of South Australia.[12][13]
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Australian rules football is the most popular spectator sport in South Australia with an attendance level (of at least one match per year) of 31% of the population, compared with a national average of 16%.[1]
Two South Australian teams participate in theAustralian Football League (AFL): theAdelaide Football Club (joined in 1991), known as the Crows, and thePort Adelaide Football Club (joined in 1997), nicknamed the Power. The match between these teams, called theShowdown, is the most-watched football match in South Australia.[14] Both clubs also have a women's team in theAFL Women's league, with Adelaide joining for the inaugural season in 2017 and Port Adelaide joining for the seventh season in late 2022.[15][16]
South Australia also has a ten-team competition called theSouth Australian National Football League (SANFL), which was established in 1877 and is the oldest statue league in the country, having formed one week earlier than theVictorian Football Association. Prior to the Adelaide Crows joining the AFL in 1991, the SANFL was the highest level of competition in the state.[17] Both AFL teams have reserves teams which play in the SANFL. The SANFL also runs an eight-team women's competition called the SANFLW.[18] Beyond the AFL and SANFL, the state also has 30 community leagues in both metro and regional areas.[19] 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.[20]
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Cricket is a popular summer sport in South Australia, with over 100,000 people in the state participating.[21] The sport is overseen by theSouth Australian Cricket Association (SACA), which administers the state's three professional teams: theSouth Australian Redbacks (a men's team competing in theSheffield Shield and theAustralian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament), theSouth Australian Scorpions (a women's team competing in theWomen's National Cricket League), and theAdelaide Strikers (with both men's and women's teams playing in theBig Bash League andWomen's Big Bash League respectively).[22][23]
South Australia hosts international cricket matches, mostly atAdelaide Oval, which hosted its firstTest match betweenAustralia andEngland in 1884.[24] Adelaide Oval also hosted the first ever day-night Test match, played between Australia andNew Zealand from 27 to 29 November, 2015.[25][26] South Australia has produced numerous international cricketers, including brothersIan Chappell andGreg Chappell, who bothcaptained Australia in international cricket.[27]
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South Australia's sole representative in the nationalA-League competition isAdelaide United FC. They won the2016 A-League Grand Final and have won twopre-season cups and have made the finals every year except for 2009 and 2012 since theA-league started in 2005. Adelaide United have been one of the most successful teams in theA-league, despite failing to win an A-league Grand Final in their first two attempts. They have qualified for theAFC 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 ongoing2012 AFC Champions League. Their home ground isHindmarsh Stadium, which has a capacity of 16,500. Hindmarsh was one of four non-Sydney venues chosen to host matches as part of theMen's Football tournament during the2000 Summer Olympic Games.
Adelaide City remains South Australia's most successful club, having won threeNational Soccer League titles and threeNSL Cups. City was the first side from South Australia to ever win a continental title when it won the1987 Oceania Club Championship and it has also won a record 17South Australian championships and 17Federation Cups. Adelaide City contests theAdelaide derby against its crosstown rivalWest Adelaide, also a former national champion having been the first South Australian club to win the national league in1978.
SASi Pirates were National Champions in 1997 and 98 in theWomen's National Soccer League. Adelaide United 'Lady Reds' compete in the current national competition, theW-League. The state has produced Australian representatives such asSharon Black andDianne Alagich who have contributed to the international success of theMatlidas.
Netball is a significant sport in South Australia with a wide range of participation opportunities across metropolitan, regional and rural locations within the state.
TheAdelaide 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 captainNatalie von Bertouch,Rebecca Sanders andKathryn Harby-Williams.
South Australia also participates in theAustralian Netball League. In 2012Southern Force took the title.[28]
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.[2]
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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 OlympiansLindsay Gaze,Phil Smyth, Peter Ali,Darryl Pearce,Mark Bradtke,Mike McKay,Tony Ronaldson,Brett Wheeler,Paul Rogers,Brad Newley andBrett Maher, as well as otherAustralian Boomers such asNBA players includingLuke Schenscher (also a 36ers player) andJoe Ingles all came from (and in some cases still live in) Adelaide.
The Adelaide 36ers wonNBL Championships in1986,1998,1998–99 and2001–02 and finished runner up in1985,1994 and2013-14. TheWest Adelaide Bearcats (whose NBL team merged with the 36ers in 1985) won the NBL Championship in1982 and finished runner up in1983.
In women's basketball SA has produced outstanding Olympians includingRachael Sporn,Erin Phillips andLaura Hodges. SA teams have won numerous national championships, with theNorth Adelaide Rockets winning in1990 while finishing runner up in1981 (the inaugural season of theWNBL) and1988. TheAdelaide Lightning creating a historic era of success in1994,1995,1996 and1998 where it won 4 out of 5 National Championship Finals in the WNBL, as well as2007–08. The Lightning also finished runner up in1997 and1999–2000. The West Adelaide Bearcats finished as WNBL runner up in1984 while the Noarlunga Tigers finished runner up in1985. Adelaide bornBrendan Flynn was the coach of theAustralian Opals at the1984 Summer Olympics.
The staterugby league federation is theSouth Australian Rugby League.[29] The game traces its roots in the state back to the 1940s, when the Port Adelaiderugby union team split in four, and defected torugby league.
South Australia's only professional rugby league team, theAdelaide Rams, had a short but eventful existence. Originally theAustralian Rugby League planned to relocate a Sydney team to Adelaide but theSuper League war and theSARL's decision to align themselves with the News LtdSuper League in 1995 shut that idea down. Later in 1995, with Super League still only consisting of nine teams and Melbourne still aligned with theARL, a decision was made to give Adelaide the 10th Super League license.[30]
Brought into existence for the1997Super League season, the team had instant success. In1998 they were selected to join the 20-teamNational Rugby League; however, rumours abounded that they were to be axed from the 1999 season as part of a rationalisation of teams (from 20 to 14) in the competition. At present however, theSouth Australian Rugby League still operates a local semi-professional competition consisting of both junior and adult teams from across Adelaide.
Adelaide Oval hostedState of Origin series games in both2020 and2023, with the latter drawing a state record rugby league attendance of 48,613.
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South Australia is home toBaseball SA, which has a 12 club division 1 competition in the Adelaide metropolitan area.
Adelaide was also home to the formerAdelaide Giants in the defunctAustralian Baseball League. A new baseball league was approved by the SA sports commission and started in November 2010. Adelaide's team is called theAdelaide Bite. They formerly played their home games atNorwood Oval, but moved to theDiamond Sports Stadium in 2016 due to renovations at Norwood.The Adelaide Giants won the 2023 ABL Claxton Shield, breaking a 43 year drought after a 5-2 game three victory over the Perth Heat at West Beach.
South Australia has dominated the Women'sLacrosse National Championships having won 34 out of 61 National championships since competitions started in 1961. South Australia won regularly during the 60's and 70's but in 1985 begun its total domination when it won the first of 11 National Championships in a row[31], an achievement that was recognised when it was inducted into theSouth Australian Sport Hall of Fame in 2018[32].
SA Coach Peter Koshnitsky having established a women's lacrosse program with the South Australian Sports Institute helped forge this success in partnership with outstanding leader and Australian & State captain and World Champion,Jenny Williams and other players of this era. The legacy of this era was highlighted by the continued success by South Australian teams at national championship level with success in 1997 and a further run of wins with six in a row from 1999 until 2005.
South Australia has produced significant players during this period who have had incredible careers at international level contributing importantly to the1986 and2005IFWLAWorld Championship victories.[33] Many South Australian players have also had success in the United States'NCAA Women's Lacrosse Competition includingHannah Nielsen and arguably the world's best player, Australian World Champion,Jen Adams.
In Men's Lacrosse South Australia has won 12 National Championships including three in a row from 2001 - 2003, and won again in 2012. In 2003Peter Inge became the first Australian to play inMajor League Lacrosse in the USA.
Lacrosse SA is the peak body for lacrosse in South Australia, managing competitions for Women and Men, and Girls and Boys from age 8 to adults. While the primary focus revolves around the main field lacrosse season from April to September, differing formats of lacrosse including Box Lacrosse, Junior and Senior indoor competitions, modified preseason, university and High School competitions offer opportunities to enjoy lacrosse year round.[34]
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South Australia has produced many fine international representatives and successful Olympians as part of the powerhouse performances of Australian Hockey on the international stage. Kookaburras representatives includeRobert Haigh,Trevor Smith,Paul Lewis andCraig Victory.[35]
South Australian women have featured prominently in the Hockeyroos. In fact in 1914 in the very first Australian women's test vs England, SA had five players in the Australian team as well as coach Judy Smith.[35] In the 1980s and 1990s, South Australia saw many fine players achieving Olympic success includingSandra Pisani,Juliet Haslam andAlison Peek. State representative team SASI Suns won the National Championship in 1995 and the Southern Suns won in 2011 competing in the Australian Hockey League.
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South Australia last won the national championship in 1956 but has produced representatives at international and Olympic level includingTracey Moseley andSimmone Morrow.
South Australian Rugby Union or "SA Rugby" is the governing body in the state.[36]
Adelaide also hosted arugby sevens tournament until 2011. The tournament consists of multiple national teams of seven players that represent their country.[37]
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Gridiron is played in theSouth Australian Gridiron Association. Current teams are theSouthern District Oilers, South City Chiefs, Eastside Razorbacks,Port Adelaide Spartans and the Adelaide Eagles.
South Australia also fields a state team known as the SA Swarm.