Sport is an important part of the culture of the Australian state of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

is the most played organised sport and touch football is the most played team sport.

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

is the most popular female sport, while

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 112 ...

is the most watched sport. Queensland also has two

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

teams, the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

, and two National Basketball League teams, the

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to th ...

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...

and Delta Gymnastics. The largest sporting event held in Queensland annually is the

Gold Coast 600 The Gold Coast 500 (formally known as the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. The event has been a regular part o ...

motor race.

Australian rules football

Australian Football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modifie ...

has a long history in

. The first foray made by the then VFL came in the form of the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

, who began playing Premiership matches in 1987. Despite some rocky times in the northern state, the game now appears to be entrenched within the Queensland, thanks to a hat-trick of

Premiership wins from 2001-2003. The introduction of the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

in 2011 highlights the game's growth in Queensland.

Basketball

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

is a popular sport in Queensland, and offers an alternative to outdoor sport during rainy weather. Since the National Basketball League's inception in 1979, at least one team has been based in Queensland. Queensland has two current NBL teams: *

– based at

Nissan Arena The Queensland State Netball Centre, also known commercially as Nissan Arena, is a multi-purpose facility located in the southern Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The centre features a 5,000 seat indoor arena that is the home court of Super Netball t ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

– founded in 1979 *

– based at the Cairns Convention Centre,

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

– founded in 1999

Cricket

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

is popular in Queensland. Many domestic and international matches are held at

the Gabba The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The nickname Gabba derives from the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. Over the years, the Gab ...

. The

Queensland Bulls The Queensland cricket team or the Queensland Bulls is the Brisbane-based Queensland representative cricket side in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments: *Sheffield Shield: four-day matches with first-class status, since the 1926–27 sea ...

and the

Brisbane Heat The Brisbane Heat are an Australian men's professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Big Bash League. The Heat wears a teal uniform and are based in Brisbane in the Australian state Queensland. Their home ground is the Br ...

are based in

and represent

in Australia's domestic

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

tournaments: *

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 ...

, 4-day matches with first-class status, since the 1926/27 season *

Marsh One-Day Cup 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. Init ...

, a one-day (50 over per side) tournament with

List-A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

status, since its inception in 1969/70 *

Big Bash League The Big Bash League (known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, often abbreviated to BBL or Big Bash) is an Australian professional club Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash Le ...

, a 20 overs per side tournament, since its inception in 2011/12

Rugby league

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 112 ...

is the most spectated sport in

Queensland Rugby League The Queensland Rugby Football League QRL Constitution, 2009: 3 (QRL QRL Constitution, 2009: 2) is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL Commission) and selects the membe ...

has been in operation since 1908, creating strong roots in both city and regional communities. There are currently three teams in the

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 ...

competition, two of which have been part of the NRL since its inauguration in 1998: *

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

- based at

Suncorp Stadium Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

– founded in 1988 *

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

- based at

Cbus Super Stadium Robina Stadium, also known by its sponsored name Cbus Super Stadium, is a rectangular football stadium in the Gold Coast suburb of Robina, Queensland. The main usage is as the home ground to the National Rugby League's Gold Coast Titans; t ...

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

– founded in 2007 *

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

- based at

Queensland Country Bank Stadium North Queensland Stadium, commercially known as Queensland Country Bank Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in South Townsville, Queensland, Australia, primarily used for rugby league. History As part of Australia's 2022 FIFA World Cup bid in ...

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

– founded in 1995 The other major rugby league team is the

Queensland Maroons The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales in the State of O ...

who play New South Wales Blues in the fiercely contested three game

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

competition. The Maroons have recently won their third straight Origin series, as well as their eleventh from the past twelve. The other major state based competition is the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by four ...

Rugby Union

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 its m ...

is a major sport in Queensland with more than 55,000 registered players in 210 clubs and 235 schools across the state. The first games were played in 1876, and Queensland has been represented by the

since 1882, who currently compete in the

competition. In 2011, the Reds won the Super Rugby Championship in front of more than 52,000 fans. They repeated this feat in the 2021 Super Rugby AU Final.

Swimming

Swimming is also a popular sport in Queensland, with a majority of Australian team members and international medalists hailing from the state. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, Queensland swimmers won all six of Australia's gold medals, all swimmers on Australia's three female (finals) relays teams were from Queensland, two of which won gold. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2005 and 2007 World Long Course Swimming Championships, Australia won both the 4 × 100 m freestyle and medley relays. In five of these teams, three out of the four swimmers were from Queensland, and in the medley relay in 2007, all were from Queensland.

Triathlon

Triathlon has been a popular sport in Queensland since the early 1980s with the state three times hosting the ITU World Championships in addition to: the Noosa Triathlon - the world's largest triathlon (also the country's longest-lasting event at the same venue),

Mooloolaba Triathlon The Mooloolaba Triathlon is an annual triathlon held since 1993 in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia.It is reported to attract up to 4,000 competitors and includes open-water swimming, cycling, and running. USM EVENTS (now World Triathlon Corpor ...

, Hervey Bay Triathlon and the

Gold Coast Triathlon Gold is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a Brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, s ...

to name but a few.

Major events

1982 Commonwealth Games

*Motto: The Friendly Games *Nations participating: 46 *Athletes participating: 1,583 *Events: 141 events in 12 sports *Dates: 30 September to 9 October *Mascot:

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...

(Kangaroo)

1994 World Masters Games

*Motto: The Challenge Never Ends *Nations participating 71 *Athletes participating: 23,659 *Events: 30 sports *Dates: 26 September to 8 October

2001 Goodwill Games

*Nations participating: 70 *Athletes participating: 1,300 *Events: 155 in 14 sports *Dates: 29 August to 9 September

2018 Commonwealth Games

*Motto: Share the Dream *Nations participating: 71 *Athletes participating: 4,426 *Events: 275 in 18 sports *Dates: 4 April to 15 April *Mascot: Borobi (Koala)

2019 INAS Global Games

*Nations participating: 50 *Athletes participating: 814 *Events: 11 sports *Dates: 12 October to 19 October *Mascot: Lori (Lorikeet)

Other events

* Birdsville Races - annual horse races at

Birdsville Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Birdsville had a population of 110 people. It is a popular tourist destination with many people using it as a starting point acro ...

which were first held in 1882. *

Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race The Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race is held annually, starting on Good Friday. The premier blue water classic begins from Shorncliffe in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, and finishes in Gladstone Harbour. Yachts compete for the Courier M ...

Gold Coast Indy 300 The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging track, alongside a strip of beaches, had severa ...

- open-wheel motor race at the

Surfers Paradise Street Circuit The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit in Surfers Paradise, in Queensland, Australia. The beach-side track has several fast sections and two chicanes, having been shortened from an original length in 2010. It is the ...

held between 1991 and 2008. *

* International Rally of Queensland * Queensland 400 * Quicksilver Pro and Roxy Pro *

- Best of three

games between New South Wales and Queensland which began in 1980. *Annual

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

matches - Australia vs New Zealand

Queensland Sports Awards

Each year the Queensland Sport Awards are held. The major award is the Sport Star of the Year: *1995 Susan O'Neill - Swimming *1996 Susan O'Neill - Swimming *1997

Michael Doohan Michael Sydney Doohan (born 4 June 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion, who won five consecutive 500 cc World Championships. Biography Originally from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan attended ...

- Motorcycling *1998

- Motorcycling *1999

Loretta Harrop Loretta "Loz" Harrop (born July 17, 1975, in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian triathlete. As a teenager she attended Cavendish Road State High School along with her siblings and as of 2007 has a house named after her. Harr ...

- Triathlon *2000 Susan O'Neill - Swimming *2001

Grant Hackett Grant George Hackett OAM (born 9 May 1980) is an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him t ...

- Swimming *2002

Matthew Hayden Matthew Lawrence Hayden (born 29 October 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer. His career spanned fifteen years. Hayden was a powerful and aggressive left-handed batting order (cricket)#opening batsman, opening batsm ...

- Cricket *2003 Patrick Johnson - Athletics *2004

Jodie Henry Jodie Clare Henry, OAM (born 17 November 1983) is an Australian competitive swimmer, Olympic gold medallist and former world-record holder. Early life and career Henry was born in Brisbane, Queensland. She began swimming competitively at the ...

- Swimming *2005

- Swimming *2006

Emma Snowsill Emma Laura Snowsill OAM (born 15 June 1981) is an Australian professional triathlete and multiple gold medalist in the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. She won the gold medal in triathlon at the 2008 Olympics. Snowsill is marri ...

- Triathlon *2007

- Cricket *2008

Stephanie Rice Stephanie Louise Rice, OAM (born 17 June 1988) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2009. On 9 April 2 ...

- Swimming *2009

Greg Inglis Gregory Paul Inglis (born 15 January 1987), also known by the nickname of "G.I.", is a retired Australian professional rugby league footballer. His regular playing positions were Centre, Fullback, Five-eighth and Wing. From 2011 to 2019 he pl ...

- Rugby league *2010

Stephanie Gilmore Stephanie Louise Gilmore (29 January 1988) is an Australian professional surfer and eight-time world champion on the Women's WSL World Tour (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2022). Career Gilmore's life as a surfer began at age 9 wh ...

- Surfing *2011

Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...

- Tennis *2012

Sally Pearson Sally Pearson, OAM (née McLellan; born 19 September 1986) is an Australian former athlete. She is the 2011 and 2017 World champion and 2012 Olympic champion in the 100 metres hurdles. She also won a silver medal in the 100 m hurdles at t ...

- Athletics *2013 Adam Scott - Golf *2014

Mat Belcher Mathew "Mat" Belcher, (born 20 September 1982) is an Australian sailor and a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 470 (dinghy), 470 dinghy, who currently competes with crew William Ryan (sailor), Will Ryan. In 2011, following World Championsh ...

- Sailing *2015

Jason Day Jason Day (born 12 November 1987) is an Australian professional golfer, PGA Tour member and winner of the 2015 PGA Championship. He is a former world number one in the World Golf Ranking, having first achieved the ranking in September 2015. ...

- Golf *2016

Cate Campbell Cate Natalie Campbell, (born 20 May 1992) is a Malawian-born Australian competitive swimming (sport), swimmer, and a current multiple world record holder, who won two bronze medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, a gold medal at the 2012 Summer O ...

- Swimming *2017

Jeff Horn Jeffrey Christopher Horn Jr. (born 4 February 1988) is an Australian professional boxer who held the WBO welterweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur he represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals of the light- ...

- Boxing *2018

- Swimming *2019

Ashleigh Barty Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley (given name), Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom. Notable people B *Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian ...

- Tennis

Teams in national competitions

Brisbane-based

Outside Brisbane

Australian rules football

Basketball

Cricket

Rugby league

Rugby Union

Swimming

Triathlon

Major events

1982 Commonwealth Games

1994 World Masters Games

2001 Goodwill Games

2018 Commonwealth Games

2019 INAS Global Games

Other events

Queensland Sports Awards

Teams in national competitions

Brisbane-based

Outside Brisbane

Sporting Venues

Brisbane

Outside Brisbane

See also

References