Sport plays an important role in the business, community, social and cultural life in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
.
Sport as entertainment plays an important role with South Australia 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.
[Sports attendance in Australia](_blank)
Australian Bureau of Statistics
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
The Tour Down Under (branded as the Santos Tour Down Under under a partnership arrangement) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia, and is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and features all 19 UCI World ...
,
Clipsal 500
The Adelaide 500 (also known as the VALO Adelaide 500 for sponsorship reasons) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 to 2020 and again from 2022. It is someti ...
,
Adelaide Cup
The Adelaide Cup is a South Australian Jockey Club Group 2 Thoroughbred handicap horse race for three-year-olds and older, run over 3,200 metres at Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide, Australia on the second Monday in March. Total prize mone ...
, International Cricket series and hosting various
Australian Swimming Championships
The Australian Swimming Championships is the national Swimming championships for Australia. They are organised by Swimming Australia and separate championships are held annually in both long course (50m) and short course (25m) pools. The two mee ...
. 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 and
Scorpions
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
in cricket,
Adelaide United
Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...
in the
A-League and
W-League,
Adelaide 36ers
The Adelaide 36ers, also known as the Sixers, are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in th ...
in the
National Basketball League,
Adelaide Lightning
The Adelaide Lightning is an Australian professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League ( WNBL). The club is based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. The club was formed in 1993 and they play i ...
in the
Women's National Basketball League, and the
Adelaide Thunderbirds
Adelaide Thunderbirds are an Australian netball team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they pla ...
in the
ANZ Championship
The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League, is a former netball league featuring teams from both Australia and New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2016, it was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned ...
for netball.
The most popular spectator sports in South Australia by attendance are Australian Rules football (31%), motor sports (14%), horse racing (8%), cricket (5%) and soccer (4%).
South Australia boasts world-class venues for high performance sport including the
Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby le ...
,
Adelaide Super-Drome
The Adelaide Super-Drome is located at Adelaide, South Australia's State Sports Park, Main North Road, Gepps Cross. The Super-Drome was designed by Architect Carlo Gnezda and was opened in 1993. From 1993 the venue was managed and promoted by 1 ...
,
Netball SA Stadium
Netball SA Stadium is an Australia netball stadium based in Mile End South, Adelaide. Due to sponsorship and naming rights arrangements, it has also been known as ETSA Park and Priceline Stadium. The stadium is owned by the Government of Sou ...
, and
Hindmarsh Stadium
Hindmarsh Stadium (currently known as Coopers Stadium due to sponsorship from Adelaide-based company Coopers Brewery) is a multi-purpose stadium in Hindmarsh, an inner western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Austral ...
.
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.
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,
Paralympian
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...
s,
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
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
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
,
John Fitzgerald,
Mark Woodforde
Mark Raymond Woodforde, OAM (born 23 September 1965) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. He is best known as one half of " The Woodies", a doubles partnership with Todd Woodbridge.
Woodforde was born in Adelaide, and joine ...
,
Darren Cahill
Darren Cahill (born 2 October 1965) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Australia. In addition, Cahill is a tennis analyst for the Grand Slam events on the US sports network ESPN and a coach with the Adidas Player Devel ...
,
Roger Rasheed and
Alicia Molik, and many other successful world champions including squash player
Vicki Cardwell and
Kylie Halliday in
sport aerobics
Aerobic gymnastics or sport aerobics is a competitive sport originating from traditional aerobics in which complex, high-intensity movement patterns and elements of varying difficulty are performed to music.
Nature of the game
The performance ...
.
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
Mile End is an inner western suburb of Adelaide, located in the City of West Torrens, around 2 kilometres from the Adelaide city centre. It has a census area population of 4,413 people (2011). Much of the suburb is residential, but there are s ...
, with funding from the
Government of South Australia.
Major sports
Australian rules football
![2008 Showdown (AFL) rotated and cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/2008_Showdown_%28AFL%29_rotated_and_cropped.jpg)
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%.
Two South Australian teams participate in the
Australian Football League (AFL): the
Adelaide Football Club (joined in 1991), known as the Crows, and the
Port Adelaide Football Club (joined in 1997), nicknamed the Power. The match between these teams, called the
Showdown
A showdown is a duel. The term may also refer to:
Places
* Showdown Ski Area, in Montana, United States
Books
* ''Showdown'' (Amado novel), a 1984 novel by Jorge Amado
* ''Showdown'' (Dekker novel), a 2006 novel by Ted Dekker
* ''Showdown'' ( ...
, is the most-watched football match in South Australia.
Both clubs also have a women's team in the
AFL Women's
AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football league for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the league ...
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
The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport.
Originally formed as t ...
(SANFL), which was established in 1877 and is the oldest statue league in the country, having formed one week earlier than the
Victorian Football Association
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
. 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
![Adelaide Oval (23183793744)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Adelaide_Oval_%2823183793744%29.jpg)
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
The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) is the peak body for the sport of cricket in South Australia. The association administers the Southern Redbacks based in Adelaide. SACA is the controlling body for the South Australian Grade Cri ...
(SACA), which administers the state's three professional teams: the
South Australian Redbacks (a men's team competing in the
Sheffield Shield
The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...
and the
Australian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament
The One-Day Cup, known as the Marsh One-Day Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an Australian domestic List A 50-over limited-overs cricket tournament. It has had many different names, formats and teams since the inaugural 1969-1970 season. Initi ...
), the
South Australian Scorpions (a women's team competing in the
Women's National Cricket League
The Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) is the national domestic 50-over competition for women's cricket in Australia. Featuring seven teams—one from every state, plus the Australian Capital Territory—each season's winner is awarded the ...
), and the
Adelaide Strikers
The Adelaide Strikers are an Australian professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia that compete in the Big Bash League (BBL).Cricket Australia (n.d), Teams and Players, Cricket Australia, accessed 1 Decembe ...
(with both men's and women's teams playing in the
Big Bash League and
Women's Big Bash League
The Women's Big Bash League (known as the WBBL and, for sponsorship reasons, the Weber WBBL) is the Australian women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 ...
respectively).
South Australia hosts international cricket matches, mostly at
Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby le ...
, which hosted its first
Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to:
* Test cricket
* Test match (indoor cricket)
* Test match (rugby union)
* Test match (rugby league)
* Test match (association football)
...
between
Australia and
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in 1884. Adelaide Oval also hosted the first ever day-night Test match, played between Australia and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
from 27 to 29 November, 2015. South Australia has produced numerous international cricketers, including brothers
Ian Chappell
Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. He captained Australia between 1971 and 1975 before taking a central role in the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation. Born ...
and
Greg Chappell
Gregory Stephen Chappell (born 7 August 1948) is a former cricketer who represented Australia at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). The second of three brothers to play Test cricket, Chappell was the pre-eminen ...
, who both
captained Australia in international cricket.
Soccer
South Australia's sole representative in the national
A-League competition is
Adelaide United FC
Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to ...
. 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
Hindmarsh Stadium (currently known as Coopers Stadium due to sponsorship from Adelaide-based company Coopers Brewery) is a multi-purpose stadium in Hindmarsh, an inner western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Austral ...
, 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
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
.
Adelaide City
Adelaide City Football Club is a soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was known historically as Juventus — the original name given to the club by its founders in Adelaide's Italian community.
Adelaide City is one of Aust ...
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
The Women's National Soccer League (WNSL) was Australia's top women's association football league. Originally known as the Ansett Australia Summer Series for sponsorship reasons, the WNSL began in 1996 consisting of six clubs and continued thr ...
. Adelaide United 'Lady Reds' compete in the current national competition, the
W-League. The state has produced Australian representatives such as
Sharon Black
Sharon Lee Black (born 4 April 1971) is an Australian former soccer player who played national league football in Australia and Denmark as well as representing Australia at the 2000 Olympic Football Tournament and the 1999 FIFA Women's World ...
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
Adelaide Thunderbirds are an Australian netball team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they pla ...
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
Natalie von Bertouch ( ; born 16 December 1982), also known as Natalie Bode, is a former Australia netball international. Between 2004 and 2012 she made 76 senior appearances for Australia. Bertouch was a member of the Australia teams that won ...
,
Rebecca Sanders and
Kathryn Harby-Williams
Kathryn Harby-Williams (born 16 July 1969) is an Australian netball player and television presenter. She captained the Australian netball team.
Harby-Williams currently works with Radio Sport New Zealand and is a Sky TV commentator for Sky S ...
.
South Australia also participates in the
Australian Netball League. In 2012
Southern Force
The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fou ...
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
![Brett Maher Court 023](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Brett_Maher_Court_023.jpg)
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
Lindsay John Casson Gaze (born 16 August 1936) is an Australian former basketball player and coach.
He played for Australia in three Summer Olympics qualification tournaments, between 1960 and 1968, and was the head coach of the senior Austr ...
,
Phil Smyth, Peter Ali,
Darryl Pearce,
Mark Bradtke,
Mike McKay,
Tony Ronaldson,
Brett Wheeler,
Paul Rogers,
Brad Newley
Brad Newley (born 18 February 1985) is an Australian professional basketball player for Melbourne United of the National Basketball League (NBL). After starting his career in Australia, playing for the Australian Institute of Sport and the Tow ...
and
Brett Maher, as well as other
Australian Boomers such as
NBA players including
Luke Schenscher (also a 36ers player) and
Joe Ingles
Joseph Howarth Ingles (born 2 October 1987) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represents the Australian national team. He primarily plays at the small ...
all came from (and in some cases still live in) Adelaide.
The Adelaide 36ers won
NBL Championships in
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
,
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
,
1998–99 and
2001–02 and finished runner up in
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
,
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
and
2013-14. The
West Adelaide Bearcats
West Adelaide Bearcats is a NBL1 Central club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club fields both a men's and women's team. The club is a division of the overarching West Adelaide Basketball Club (WABC), the major administrative basketball o ...
(whose NBL team merged with the 36ers in 1985) won the NBL Championship in
1982 and finished runner up in
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
.
In women's basketball SA has produced outstanding Olympians including
Rachael Sporn,
Erin Phillips
Erin Victoria Phillips (born 19 May 1985) is an Australian rules footballer for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, a radio host, and a former professional basketball player. She played nine seasons in the Wo ...
and
Laura Hodges
Laura Hodges (née Summerton, born 13 December 1983) is an Australian female professional basketball player, having played in Australia's Women's National Basketball League (WNBL), Europe, and the WNBA. She currently plays for the Adelaide Li ...
. SA teams have won numerous national championships, with the
North Adelaide Rockets winning in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
while finishing runner up in
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
(the inaugural season of the
WNBL) and
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
. The
Adelaide Lightning
The Adelaide Lightning is an Australian professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League ( WNBL). The club is based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. The club was formed in 1993 and they play i ...
creating a historic era of success in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
,
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
,
1996 and
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
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
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
and
1999–2000. The West Adelaide Bearcats finished as WNBL runner up in
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
while the Noarlunga Tigers finished runner up in
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
. Adelaide born
Brendan Flynn was the coach of the
Australian Opals at the
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...
.
Baseball
South Australia is home to
Baseball SA, which has a 12 club division 1 competition in the Adelaide metropolitan area.
Adelaide was also home to the former
Adelaide Giants
The Adelaide Giants are a professional baseball team that plays in the Australian Baseball League. They are one of the six foundation franchises of the league, in its first incarnation from 1989 to 1999. The team adopted the name Bite or Adelaid ...
in the defunct
Australian Baseball League
The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it ...
. A new baseball league was approved by the SA sports commission and started in November 2010. Adelaide's team is called the
Adelaide Bite
The Adelaide Giants are a professional baseball team that plays in the Australian Baseball League. They are one of the six foundation franchises of the league, in its first incarnation from 1989 to 1999. The team adopted the name Bite or Adelaid ...
. They formerly played their home games at
Norwood Oval, but moved to the
Diamond Sports Stadium in 2016 due to renovations at Norwood.
Lacrosse
South Australia has dominated the Women's Lacrosse National Championships having won 32 out of 51 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.
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
Jenny Williams (born 1939) is an author and academic at Dublin City University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or ...
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 the 1986 and 2005 IFWLA World Championship victories. Many South Australian players have also had success in the United States' NCAA Women's Lacrosse Competition including
Hannah Nielsen
Hannah Nielsen (born 28 November 1987 in Adelaide, Australia) is the current head coach of the University of Michigan women’s lacrosse team. She was formerly the first women's lacrosse assistant coach at the University of Colorado. Originally ...
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 2003
Peter Inge became the first Australian to play in
Major League Lacrosse
Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff ...
in the USA.
Lacrosse SAis 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.
Hockey
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 include
Robert Haigh
Robert (Herbie) Haigh (born 27 March 1945 in Adelaide, South Australia) is a former hockey player from Australia, a three time olympian who won two Olympic silver medals as a member of the national team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Me ...
,
Trevor Smith,
Paul Lewis and
Craig Victory
Craig Victory (born 3 February 1980 in Adelaide, South Australia) is a field hockey striker from Australia who played 102 international games for the Australia men's national field hockey team, the Kookaburras. He is a Commonwealth Games, Wor ...
.
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.
In the 1980s and 1990s, South Australia saw many fine players achieving Olympic success including
Sandra Pisani,
Juliet Haslam
Juliet Haslam OAM (born 31 May 1969 in Adelaide, South Australia) is a former field hockey defender and midfielder from Australia, who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1992, for her native country. She was a member of ...
and
Alison Peek
Alison Louise Peek (born 12 October 1969), nicknamed "Peeky", is a former field hockey player from Australia, who competed in two Summer Olympics for her native country. She was a member of the Australia women's national field hockey team, best ...
. State representative team SASI Suns won the National Championship in 1995 and the Southern Suns won in 2011 competing in the Australian Hockey League.
Softball
South Australia last won the national championship in 1956 but has produced representatives at international and Olympic level including
Tracey Moseley and
Simmone Morrow.
Rugby league
The state
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...
federation is the
South Australian Rugby League
NRL South Australia (abbreviated as NRLSA, formerly the South Australian Rugby League) is a not-for-profit organisation responsible for administering the game of rugby league in the state of South Australia. It was formed on 28 July 1976 and is ...
. The game traces its roots in the state back to the 1940s, when the Port Adelaide
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
team split in four, and defected to
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...
.
South Australia's only professional rugby league team, the
Adelaide Rams
The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition. The Rams lasted two seasons, the first in the Super Le ...
, had a short but eventful existence. Originally the
Australian Rugby League
The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...
planned to relocate a Sydney team to Adelaide but the
Super League war
The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s.
Super ...
and the
SARL's decision to align themselves with the News Ltd
Super League in 1995 shut that idea down. Later in 1995, with Super League still only consisting of nine teams and Melbourne still aligned with the
ARL
ARL may refer to:
Military
* US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship
* Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK
* United States Army Research Laboratory
* ARL 44, a WWII French tank
Organizations
* Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives comp ...
, a decision was made to give Adelaide the 10th Super League license.
Brought into existence for the
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
Super League season, the team had instant success. In
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
they were selected to join the 20-team
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
; 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, the
South Australian Rugby League
NRL South Australia (abbreviated as NRLSA, formerly the South Australian Rugby League) is a not-for-profit organisation responsible for administering the game of rugby league in the state of South Australia. It was formed on 28 July 1976 and is ...
still operates a local semi-professional competition consisting of both junior and adult teams from across Adelaide.
Rugby union
South Australian Rugby Union or "SA Rugby" is the governing body in the state.
Adelaide also hosts a
rugby sevens tournament. The tournament consists of multiple national teams of seven players that represent their country.
American football
Gridiron is played in the
South Australian Gridiron Association. Current teams are the
Southern District Oilers
Southern Districts Oilers are a Gridiron (also known as American Football) team from Adelaide in the State of South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some ...
, South City Chiefs, Eastside Razorbacks,
Port Adelaide Spartans
The Port Adelaide Spartans are a gridiron football club competing in the South Australian Gridiron Association league.
History
The Spartans were one of four original clubs to form the Gridiron league of South Australia in 1985. Along with the ...
and the Adelaide Eagles.
South Australia also fields a state team known as the SA Swarm.
Other teams
*
Adelaide Adrenaline
The Adelaide Adrenaline is a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team is a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The team was founded in 2008 as the Adelaide A's to replace the defunct Adelaide ...
- ice hockey
*
Adelaide Jets - water polo
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sport In South Australia