Sport in Saudi Arabia Championship and has also attracted NBA-players such as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Rugby union in Saudi Arabia is a minor but growing sport, which has been played for several decades in the Kingdom. Many of the local rugby clubs date back to the late 1970s. Ice hockey is also a minor sport but it has not been popular in Saudi Arabia, which has been played its first game in 2010 during the Gulf Ice Hockey Championship. Professional wrestling has been a recognizable minor sport in Saudi Arabia. The country has hosted one event by the U.S.-based promotion, WWE in Jeddah dubbed the
Sport in Australia identity as a sport-obsessed country, an identity which was embraced inside the country. This was so well known that in a 1962 edition of "Sports Illustrated", Australia was named the most sports obsessed country in the world. In 1967, Australia hosted the second World Netball Championships in Perth. That same year, South Australia became the last state to lift its ban on the playing of sports on Sunday. Starting in the early 1970s, Australian sport underwent a paradigm shift with sponsorship becoming one of the fundamental drivers of earnings for Australian sport on amateur and professional levels. By the mid-1980s,