A Guide to the Popular Sports in New South Wales

Australia is a sporting nation, home to many avid sports fans. There is a range of sports you can enjoy, and games you can go to with friends and family, so which one is for you? From cricket to soccer, rugby league to good old surfing, here’s what you can go and see, and try for yourself in the state of New South Wales. See what you enjoy and remember to have fun!

Physical activity has proven links to heart health, so it’s no surprise that many Australians choose to engage in sports as their form of cardiovascular activity. Even if you’re not a player yourself, going to a game can be a great social event and way to meet people with something in common. This in turn is good for your mental health, as well as socialising children from a young age. 

 

Soccer

Soccer is a form of football that is played by two teams, each with eleven players. The focus of the game is a round ball which may not be handled while the game is in play, except by the goalkeepers of each team.Each team has one designated goalkeeper and ten outfield players, with each usually specialising in attacking, defending or both. Soccer is a team sport, and is played on a field. The word soccer comes from the term “association football” in Britain and goes back for 200 years, to the point when “association football” simply became soccer. Playing soccer involves several basic skills which every good soccer player is constantly working to refine; passing and shooting, dribbling and controlling (trapping) the ball. You can learn to play soccer and build these skills at any age, which is why the sport is popular amongst those both young and old.

 

Cricket

Cricket is a bat and ball game played with two teams of eleven players each. The aim of cricket is simple – score more than the opposing team. In the centre of the oval grass field of play, there is a strip of hardened turf 22 yards (20 metres) long, called a cricket pitch. The pitch has a wicket at each end, each with two horizontal bails balanced on three vertical stumps. The earliest reference to cricket was in South East England in the middle of the 16th century. Each team takes turns to bat and play the field, the same as you see in a sport such as baseball. In cricket, the batter is a batsman and the pitcher is a bowler. The bowler tries to knock down, or hit, the bails or the wicket. Both teams take it in turns to bat or bowl; when one team is batting, they try to score as many runs as they can by hitting the ball.

 

[Conclusion]: We hope this article has helped to educate your understanding of some of the common sports in New South Wales. Whether you’re thinking of going to a match or giving it a go yourself, sport is a fun and healthy way (depending on how much you and your mates frequent the bar, as is the tradition at rowdy soccer games!