Sport in Australia the country. January February – March February – August March – September April April – August June – July September September – November October October – January October – March October – April November Sport in Australia Sport is an important part of Australian culture dating back to the early colonial period. Cricket, Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, soccer and horse racing are among the earliest organised sports in Australia . Sport has shaped the Australian national identity through events such as the Ashes, the Melbourne Cup and the America's Cup . There are a number of professional
Sport in Australia governments, and local governments. In the late 1990s, government support for sport was double that of public non-financial corporations. Amateur sport was transformed in Australia in the 1980s with the creation of the Australian Institute of Sport. The Institute, formally opened by Malcolm Fraser in 1981, was designed to make Australian amateur sport at major world competitions, like the Olympics, competitive with the rest of the world and increase the number of medals won by the country. A few years later, in 1984, the Australian Sports Commission was created to better address the distribution of funds to support sport. It