1.
Docklands Stadium
–
Docklands Stadium is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands precinct of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 under the name, Victoria Stadium. Also headquartered in the precinct is Seven Networks digital broadcast centre. The stadium was announced on 31 October 1996 as a replacement for the much larger Waverley Park as a headquarters for the Australian Football League. Under the terms of the agreement governing construction and operation of the venue, Docklands Stadium, like Waverley Park, was built primarily for Australian rules football, unlike most grounds of a similar size in Australia which were originally designed for cricket. The first match to be played at the ground was between Essendon and Port Adelaide, before a crowd of 43,012, in Round 1 of the 2000 AFL season, Essendon won the match by 94 points. The stadium was the first stadium in Australia to have movable seating, all four level-one tiers of the stadium can be moved up to 18 metres forward into a rectangular configuration. It was first used for a Melbourne Storm game in July 2001, despite the seating being a key feature of the stadium, it has rarely been used, citing damage to turf, time to deploy the seats and a reduced capacity. Docklands Stadium first featured rugby league football when it was used as the Melbourne Storms home ground for one season in 2001, the Storm continued to play home games at the ground sporadically in the following years. Docklands was also the venue for the third and deciding game of the 2006 State of Origin series, in 2015, LED electronic advertising was added around the perimeter of the ground on level 1 and 2. It was the first time Australia had hosted a round of the SGP event since the round of the 2002 season in Sydney. With stadium capacity capped at 42,000 for the event,26,609 fans saw 45 year old American rider Greg Hancock take out his 20th SGP Final, danish rider Niels-Kristian Iversen finished second with Polands Maciej Janowski finishing third. Reigning Australian Champion Jason Doyle qualified for the final but was outed in a crash in the first turn in which he suffered neck, a fully conscious Doyle was then transported to the Royal Melbourne Hospital for observation. The plan was rejected by the AFL, prior to the start of the 2016 AFL season the seats in the Medallion Club were replaced. The old seats in the Medallion Club section were relocated to areas in the ground. On 7 October 2016, the AFL Commission announced that the league had acquired ownership of the stadium. On 16 August 2000, the first indoor One Day International was held when the Australian cricket team played South Africa in the Super Challenge, the following table summarises the ODI centuries scored at Docklands. Events that have held at the Docklands Stadium include concerts by many famous artists
2.
Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre
–
The QSAC was formerly known as ANZ Stadium. ANZ now holds the rights for Sydneys Stadium Australia. From 1993 to 2003, QSAC was the home of the Brisbane Broncos, the facility opened in 1975 and was officially named Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Sports Centre by the Queen in 1977 to mark her Silver Jubilee. It was constructed in close proximity to both the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital and Griffith University campus, which provided athlete accommodation, the original roofed stadium was intended to be the only permanent seating facility. The remainder of the seating was built as temporary seating and was intended to be removed after the Commonwealth Games had finished. Public opinion resulted in the temporary seating being retained as permanent. The stadium was named ANZ Stadium from 1993 to 2003 when it was the home of the Brisbane Broncos rugby league football team, the capacity can be increased to 60,000 with the use of extra temporary seating in front of the Eastern and Western grandstands. These were removed when the track was relaid for the 2001 Goodwill Games. In 1999, ANZ Stadium hosted eventual champions Australia in their Davis Cup Semi-Final win over Russia 4-1, temporary grass courts were erected up one end of the field and temporary stands on 3 sides. The stadium has also permitted students of the neighboring Griffith University to use its expansive carpark and this is due to the relatively low availability of parking as well as the cost of parking on the campus. Students who dont mind the ten-minute walk from the stadium take advantage of the large carpark, list of tennis stadiums by capacity QSAC ‘Potato field’ & not court, Kafelnikov Brisbane to host Australia-Russia Davis Cup semi-final
3.
ANZ National Stadium
–
The ANZ National Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Suva, Fiji. ANZ Stadium is used primarily for rugby league, rugby union and football matches and it has undercover seating for 4,000 spectators, and an embankment that can accommodate an additional 15,000 people. Originally called Buckhurst Park, the stadium was constructed in 1951 on sixteen hectares of land given by William H. B, the stadium was first renovated in 1978–1979 for the Sixth South Pacific Games. Work commenced in April 1978 with the demolition of the grandstand, the stadium was renamed National Stadium upon reopening in 1979. A second renovation took place in 2012, sponsored by ANZ Fiji, Fijis largest bank, the stadium reopened in March 2013, with a rugby union game between the Fiji national team and Classic All Blacks. The 2012–2013 renovation also included the park and playing grounds behind the ANZ National Stadium, the Buckhurst and Bidesi grounds include three pitches primarily used for training and competition in rugby, rugby league, football, and cricket, and a small stadium and synthetic training track. Buckhurst Park was the site of the National Baseball Diamond used in the 2003 South Pacific Games, List of rugby league stadiums by capacity List of rugby union stadiums by capacity
4.
Sydney
–
Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australias east coast, the metropolis surrounds the worlds largest natural harbour, residents of Sydney are known as Sydneysiders. The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years, the first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural. As at June 2016 Sydneys estimated population was 5,005,358, in the 2011 census,34 percent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home and it is classified as an Alpha+ World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has a market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia, there is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as one of Asia Pacifics leading financial hubs. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The first people to inhabit the now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago, the earliest British settlers called them Eora people. Eora is the term the indigenous used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is from this place, prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans. Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan, the principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells. Development has destroyed much of the citys history including that of the first inhabitants, there continues to be examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The first meeting between the people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. He noted in his journal that they were confused and somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors, Cook was on a mission of exploration and was not commissioned to start a settlement
5.
New South Wales
–
New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south and it has a coast line with the Tasman Sea on its east side. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state, New South Wales state capital is Sydney, which is also Australias most populous city. In March 2014, the population of New South Wales was 7.5 million. Just under two-thirds of the population,4.67 million. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen, the Colony of New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised a more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825, in addition, the colony also included the island territories of New Zealand, Van Diemens Land, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century, most of the area was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became New Zealand. However, the Swan River Colony has never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island has become a federal Territory, as have the now known as the Australian Capital Territory. The prior inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi Wodi people are the custodians of the Illawarra region of South Sydney. The Bundjalung people are the custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas. The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his 1770 survey along the eastern coast of the Dutch-named continent of New Holland. In his original journal covering the survey, in triplicate to satisfy Admiralty Orders, Cook first named the land New Wales, however, in the copy held by the Admiralty, he revised the wording to New South Wales. After years of chaos and anarchy after the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, macquaries legacy is still evident today. During the 19th century, large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria. Responsible government was granted to the New South Wales colony in 1855, following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840
6.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
7.
Government of New South Wales
–
The Government of New South Wales, also referred to as the New South Wales Government or NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales, in Australia. The Government of New South Wales, a constitutional monarchy, was formed in 1856 as prescribed in its Constitution. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, New South Wales has been a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, under the Australian Constitution, New South Wales ceded legislative and judicial supremacy to the Commonwealth, but retained powers in all matters not in conflict with the Commonwealth. Section 109 of the Australian Constitution provides that, where a State law is inconsistent with a federal law, initially the Australian states retained significant independence. Over time, however, that independence has been eroded by both the proliferation of Commonwealth Law, and the increasing financial domination of the Commonwealth. New South Wales is governed according to the principles of the Westminster system, Executive power rests formally with the Executive Council, which consists of the Governor and senior ministers. The Governor, as representative of the Crown, is the repository of power, which is exercised by him or her on the advice of the Premier of New South Wales. The Premier and Ministers are appointed by the Governor, and hold office by virtue of their ability to command the support of a majority of members of the Legislative Assembly. In 2006, the Sesquicentenary of Responsible Government in New South Wales, the Act was assented to by the Queen on 3 April 2006. The following individuals serve as government ministers, at the pleasure of the Queen, the government ministers are listed in order of seniority, while their opposition counterparts are listed to correspond with the government ministers. All Opposition counterparts are members of the Parliament of New South Wales
8.
Seating capacity
–
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
9.
2000 Summer Olympics
–
It was the second time that the Summer Olympics were held in Australia, and also the Southern Hemisphere, the first being in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1956. Sydney was selected as the host city for the 2000 games in 1993, the United States won the most medals with 93, while Australia came in 4th with 58. The games cost was estimated to be A$6.6 billion, the Games received universal acclaim, with the organisation, volunteers, sportsmanship and Australian public being lauded in the international media. Bill Bryson from The Times called the Sydney Games one of the most successful events on the world stage, admit there can never be a better Olympic Games, and be done with it, as Sydney was both exceptional and the best. These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch and these were also the second Olympic Games to be held in spring. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by Russia, several World and Olympic records were broken during the games. With little or no controversies, the games were deemed successful with the rising standard of competition amongst nations across the world. The Australian city of Melbourne had lost out to Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics four years earlier, the Oxford Olympics Study 2016 estimates the outturn cost of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics at USD5 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 90% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the committee for the purpose of staging the Games. The competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. The cost and cost overrun for Sydney 2000 compares with a cost of USD4.6 billion, average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is USD5.2 billion, average cost overrun is 176%. In 2000, the Auditor-General of New South Wales reported that the Sydney Games cost A$6.6 billion, many venues were constructed in the Sydney Olympic Park, which failed in the years immediately following the Olympics to meet the expected bookings to meet upkeep expenses. In the years leading up to the games, funds were shifted from education and it has been estimated that the economic impact of the 2000 Olympics was that A$2.1 billion has been shaved from public consumption. Economic growth was not stimulated to a net benefit and in the years after 2000, in the years after the games, infrastructure issues have been of growing concern to citizens, especially those in the western suburbs of Sydney. Proposed rail links to Sydneys west have been estimated to cost in the order of magnitude as the public expenditure on the games. Although the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony was not scheduled until 15 September, among the pre-ceremony fixtures, host nation Australia lost 1–0 to Italy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was the main stadium for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. The opening ceremony began with a tribute to the Australian pastoral heritage of the Australian stockmen and it was produced and filmed by Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation and the home nation broadcaster, Channel 7. This was introduced by a rider, Steve Jefferys
10.
2000 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
–
The 2000 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony took place on 1 October 2000 in Stadium Australia. The Closing Ceremony attracted 114,714 people, the largest attendance in modern Olympic Games history, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch declared that the 2000 Olympic games were best Olympic Games ever. Dimitris Avramopoulos, Mayor of Athens and Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, President of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games Committee were entering to the stadium, after that, the priestesses of Olympia, from Greece, were entering to do a traditional rite in preparation for the Olympic flag Handover Ceremony. After the performance, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Frank Sartor comes with the Olympic flag and handed over to the Mayor of Athens, Dimitris Avramopoulos by the IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch
11.
Bledisloe Cup
–
The Bledisloe Cup is a rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia and New Zealand that has been competed for since the 1930s. New Zealand have had the most success, winning the trophy for the 44th time in 2016, there is some dispute as to when the first Bledisloe Cup match was played. The Australian Rugby Union contend that the one-off 1931 match played at Eden Park was first, the New Zealand Rugby Union believe that the first match was when New Zealand toured Australia in 1932. Between 1931 and 1981 it was contested irregularly in the course of rugby tours between the two countries, New Zealand won it 19 times and Australia four times in this period including in 1949 when Australia won it for the first time on New Zealand soil. The trophy itself was apparently lost during this period and reportedly rediscovered in a Melbourne store room, in the years 1982 to 1995 it was contested annually, sometimes as a series of three matches and other times in a single match. During these years New Zealand won it 11 times and Australia three times, since 1996 the cup has been contested as part of the annual Tri Nations tournament. Until 1998 the cup was contested in a three series, the two Tri Nations matches between these sides and a third match. New Zealand won these series in 1996 and 1997, and Australia won it in 1998. In 1996 and from 1999 through 2005, the match was not played, during those years, Australia. If both teams won one of games, or if both games were drawn, the cup was retained by its current holder. The non-holder had to win the two games 2–0 or 1–0 to regain the Cup,2006 saw the return of the 3-game contest for the Bledisloe Cup as the Tri Nations series was extended so that each team played each other 3 times. The 2007 Cup, however, reverted to the two-game contest because the Tri Nations was abbreviated that year to minimise interference with the preparations for the World Cup. The Hong Kong match, which drew a crowd of 39,000 to see the All Blacks defeat the Wallabies 19–14, even before the match, the two countries rugby federations were considering taking Cup matches to the United States and Japan in 2009 and 2010. Japan hosted a fourth Bledisloe Test match on 31 October 2009, each team is expected to clear at least A$3.8 million/NZ$5 million from the Tokyo match. However a 2010 fourth match was set in Hong Kong and has struggled to attract crowds, the three-match format for the Bledisloe Cup continued in 2012, with the first two matches taking place as part of the 2012 Rugby Championship. Since 1996, Fox Sports has televised it and they jointly televised it with Seven Network between 1996 to 2010, Nine Network in 2011 and 2012 and Network Ten since 2013. History of rugby matches between Australia and New Zealand Laurie OReilly Cup Rugby union trophies and awards
12.
Adele
–
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins MBE is an English singer-songwriter. After graduating from the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in 2006, in 2007, she received the Brit Awards Critics Choice award and won the BBC Sound of 2008 poll. Her debut album,19, was released in 2008 to commercial and critical success and it is certified seven times platinum in the UK, and three times platinum in the US. An appearance she made on Saturday Night Live in late 2008 boosted her career in the US, at the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She released her studio album,21, in early 2011. The album has been certified 16 times platinum in the UK, in the US, it has held the top position longer than any album since 1985, and is certified diamond. The album has sold over 31 million copies worldwide, the success of 21 earned Adele numerous mentions in the Guinness Book of World Records. 21 is the number one album by a female solo artist in the history of the UK. In 2012, Adele released Skyfall, which she co-wrote and recorded for the James Bond film of the same name. The song won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, after taking a three-year break, Adele released her third studio album,25, in 2015. It became the years best-selling album and broke first week records in the UK. 25 was her album to be certified diamond in the US and earned her five Grammy Awards, including her second Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The lead single, Hello, became the first song in the US to sell one million digital copies within a week of its release. Her third concert tour, Adele Live 2016, visited Europe, North America and Oceania, in 2011,2012 and 2016, Billboard named Adele Artist of the Year. In 2012, she was listed at five on VH1s 100 Greatest Women in Music. Time magazine named her one of the most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2016, with sales of more than 100 million records, Adele is one of the best-selling recording artists in the world. Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on 5 May 1988 in Tottenham, London, to an English mother, Penny Adkins, Evans left when Adele was two, leaving her mother to raise her. She began singing at age four and asserts that she became obsessed with voices, growing up, Adele spent most of her time singing rather than reading, the last book she read was Roald Dahls Matilda when she was six years old
13.
Australian dollar
–
Within Australia, it is almost always abbreviated with the dollar sign, with A$ or AU$ sometimes used to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is subdivided into 100 cents, in 2011, the Australian dollar was the fifth most traded currency in the world, accounting for 7. 6% of the worlds daily share. It trades in the foreign exchange markets behind the US dollar, the euro, the yen. The currency is referred to by foreign-exchange traders as the Aussie dollar. With pounds, shillings and pence to be replaced by decimal currency on 14 February 1966, in 1963, the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, a monarchist, wished to name the currency the royal. Other proposed names included more exotic suggestions such as the austral, the oz, the boomer, the roo, the kanga, the emu, the digger, the quid, the dinkum and the ming. Menzies influence resulted in the selection of the royal, and trial designs were prepared and printed by the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Treasurer, Harold Holt, announced the decision in Parliament on 5 June 1963. The royal would be subdivided into 100 cents, but the existing names shilling, florin, the name royal for the currency proved very unpopular, with Holt and his wife even receiving death threats. On 24 July Holt told the Cabinet the decision had been a terrible mistake, on 18 September Holt advised Parliament that the name was to be the dollar, of 100 cents. The Australian pound, introduced in 1910 and officially distinct in value from the pound sterling since devaluation in 1931, was replaced by the dollar on 14 February 1966. The rate of conversion for the new currency was two dollars per Australian pound, or ten Australian shillings per dollar. The exchange rate was pegged to the pound sterling at a rate of $1 =8 shillings, in 1967, Australia effectively left the sterling area, when the pound sterling was devalued against the US dollar and the Australian dollar did not follow. It maintained its peg to the US dollar at the rate of A$1 = US$1.12, on 27 September 2012, the Reserve Bank of Australia stated that they had ordered work on a project to upgrade the current banknotes. The upgraded banknotes will incorporate a number of new features so that they remain secure into the future, the first new banknotes were issued from the 1st of September 2016, with the remaining denominations to be issued in the coming years. In 1966, coins were introduced in denominations of 1,2,5,10,20 and 50 cents. The initial 50-cent coins contained high silver content and were withdrawn after a year after the value of the silver content was found to exceed the face value of the coins. One-dollar coins were introduced in 1984, followed by two-dollar coins in 1988, the one- and two-cent coins were discontinued in 1991 and withdrawn from circulation. In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of decimal currency, the 2006 mint proof and uncirculated sets included one-, in early 2013, Australias first triangular coin was introduced, to mark the 25th anniversary of the opening of Parliament House
14.
Populous (company)
–
Populous is a global architectural firm specializing in the design of sports facilities, arenas and convention centers, as well as the planning of major special events. Populous formerly operated as HOK Sport Venue Event, which was part of the HOK Group, in January 2009, Populous was created through a management buyout, becoming independently owned and operated. It is reported to be one of the largest architecture firms in the world, in 1983, HOK under Jerry Sincoff created a sports group. The firm initially consisted of eight architects in Kansas City, on several projects, HOK Sport had teamed with international design practice LOBB Partnership, which maintained offices in London, England, and Brisbane, Australia. On HOK Sports 15th anniversary in November 1998, the merged with LOBB. The new practice retained headquarters in all three cities, the Kansas City, Missouri, office was first based in the citys Garment District in the Lucas Place office building. It was the first major company to relocate to the neighborhood in several decades, in March 2009, HOK Sport Venue Event changed its name to Populous after a managers’ buyout by HOK Group. In October 2015, Populous relocated to its new headquarters at the newly renovated Board of Trade building at 4800 Main street near the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. Other firms with sports design presence in Kansas City that trace their roots to Kivett include Ellerbe Becket Inc. Populous is credited for spearheading a new era of baseball park design in the 1990s, beginning with Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Starting with the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati in 2003, subsequent stadium exteriors featuring this motif opened in Washington and Minnesota. And because the stadiums were designed for baseball instead of several sports, Camden Yards was not only hugely popular with baseball fans. The success of a new ballpark in downtown Baltimore convinced many cities to invest public funds in their own new ballparks to help revitalize struggling urban neighborhoods, from 1992 to 2012, HOK Sport/Populous were the lead architects on 14 Major League Baseball stadiums and helped renovate four existing stadiums. One sportswriter said the attempt to emulate the old parks in this way is contrived. S, Louis, Missouri – St. Louis Cardinals Nationals Park, Washington, D. C. Sir Bobby Robson Stand at Portman Road – Ipswich, England, UK – Ipswich Town Football Club Estádio da Luz – Lisbon, benfica Estádio Algarve – Loulé, Portugal – S. C. Monterrey Stade des Lumières – Décines, France – Olympique Lyonnais City of Manchester Stadium expansion – Manchester, UK – Manchester City F. C. C. Petersburg, Florida (joint project with Lescher & Mahoney Sports & Criswell, Blizzard & Blouin Architects Ervin J. Paul, Minnesota, USA2015 – Final Four - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Official website
15.
New South Wales rugby league team
–
The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sports beginnings there in 1907. Also known as the Blues due to their sky blue jerseys, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against neighbouring team and this annual event is a series of three games competing for the State of Origin shield. In 2013,2014,2015 and 2016 the Blues were captained by Paul Gallen and they have played all their home matches at Stadium Australia, New South Wales largest stadium, since it was built in 1999. The visiting All Golds won all three games, later in 1908 the Queensland team, whose first taste of rugby league football was also against the visiting Kiwis, traveled to Sydney for the first series of games between the two states. New South Wales won all three matches, setting a precedent for interstate dominance that would continue throughout most of the 20th century, in 1910 New South Wales defeated the touring England team in two of their three games. After that they became the first Blues side to travel to Queensland for the interstate series. In 1912 the New South Wales team first toured New Zealand and they also visited New Zealand in 1913. During the 1913 New Zealand rugby league tour of Australia New South Wales played four matches against the Kiwis, the New South Wales team lost its first game against Queensland in 1922. This year the Blues also toured New Zealand, during the 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand New South Wales played one match against the successful France national rugby league team, a 14-all draw. In a 1954 tour match between Great Britain and New South Wales the referee left the field in disgust at the players persistent fighting after 56 minutes so the match was abandoned. New South Wales dominance over Queensland came to an end with the introduction of state of origin selection rules in the early 1980s, ricky Stuart, who had previously coached New South Wales in 2005, was announced as the first full-time Blues coach in November 2010. Following the 2012 series, the Blues seventh consecutive loss, Stuart resigned the role, Stuart took a role as the Parramatta Eels head coach in 2013, citing family reasons for his move. Although the Blues continued their losing streak during Stuarts tenure, he is credited with restoring passion and pride to the NSW jersey and he was replaced by former Canberra, NSW and Australia teammate Laurie Daley. Daleys appointment as NSW State of Origin coach was announced in August 2012, Daley got job over candidates including Trent Barrett, Brad Fittler and Daniel Anderson. Daley coached the Blues to a victory in 2014, their first since 2005 and over his coaching rival. The secondary colour is blue, with additional contrasting colour of white. The official New South Wales rugby league team supporter group is known as Blatchys Blues,1 - Josh Dugan was originally selected to play in Game I, but he withdrew due to an elbow injury. He was replaced by Josh Morris,2 - James Tamou was originally selected to start on the bench in Game I, but however on game day he swapped positions with Greg Bird
16.
State of Origin series
–
The State of Origin series is the annual best-of-three Australian rugby league football match series between two state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Despite the existence of international tournaments and State of Origin being a domestic competition, players are selected to represent the Australian state in which they played their first senior rugby league game, hence the name state of origin. Prior to 1980 players were selected for interstate matches on the basis of where they were playing their club football at the time. In both 1980 and 1981 there were two matches under the old selection rules and one experimental State of Origin match. From 1982 onwards a best-of-three match series has played around the middle of the rugby league season for the State of Origin shield. Since its inception, total victories for each side were once extraordinarily even, the two states teams are frequently referred to as the Blues and Maroons, reflecting the respective colours of their jerseys. These were the colours of the Australia national rugby league teams jersey until the adoption of the green, the Blues team is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League and the Maroons by the Queensland Rugby League. Whilst other Australian states also have representative rugby teams, they have not competed in State of Origin. The first calls for a state of origin selection policy in interstate rugby football came before the schism between the union and league codes eventuated in Australia. In 1900 a journalist known as The Cynic wrote in The Referee that star rugby player and recent immigrant to Queensland, Stephen Spragg, since the beginning of Australian rugby league in 1908, an interstate competition between New South Wales and Queensland has been conducted from time to time. Until 1982 each team drew its players from the clubs based in that state, no consideration was given to the origins of the players themselves. The first of these games was played at Sydneys Agricultural Ground on 11 July 1908. New South Wales easily accounted for Queensland in a 43–0 victory, There can be no doubt the NSW men are improving a good deal. They cannot be blamed for the farce, for it was nothing else, if the Australian team depends on Queenslanders to strengthen it, one is afraid it will be found wanting. They are quite the weakest lot of footballers I have even come down from Queensland. The play needs no detailed description as it was simply a match for NSW. -The Sydney Morning Herald,13 July 1908 The interstate series was dominated by New South Wales, from 1922 to 1925 Queensland defeated New South Wales 11 times in 12 matches. At the end of the 1925 season a Kangaroo team was to be picked for touring Great Britain, the period spanning 1922 to 1929 saw no Australian team play in Great Britain, the only such hiatus outside the two World Wars
17.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
–
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, as well as New South Wales Rugby League junior competitions, the club was admitted to the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership, predecessor of the current NRL competition, in 1935. In 2012 the Bulldogs won the premiership, but lost to the Melbourne Storm 14–4 in the Grand Final. In 2014 they were in the Grand Finals against Rabbitohs but lost 30-6 and it took the new club, nicknamed Country Bumpkins because of their rural recruiting and CB emblem, four years to win their first premiership in 1938. The grand final-winning effort was repeated in 1942 before a 38-year premiership drought, in 1967, having ended the 11-year premiership reign of St. George by defeating them in the final, The Berries lost to the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the Grand Final. In 1978 Canterbury became known as The Bulldogs, nicknames such as Cantabs CBs and Berries were seen to be soft and the club wanted something to signify determination and grit. In the mid-1990s’ Super League war, the Bulldogs aligned themselves with the Super League competition, in 1998 the Bulldogs came close to adding another premiership trophy after qualifying for the Grand Final where they met the Brisbane Broncos and lost 38–12. On the way to the 1998 Grand Final, the Bulldogs had two come-from-behind wins. The first was against the Newcastle Knights in the week of the finals – behind 16–0 in the second half, they fought back to 16-all at full-time. A week later they trailed Parramatta in the final by 16 points with 9 minutes remaining. Three tries and a conversion in the final minutes got them back level at 18-all, and this resulted in the club falling from first to last place on the ladder, and at the end of the season the Bulldogs received their first wooden spoon since 1964. The Bulldogs returned to contention in 2003, however they fell one step short of yet another Grand Final after losing to the Roosters 28–18 in the Preliminary Final. The club went through some off-field dramas in 2004, the most serious of which included rape allegations during a match in Coffs Harbour. The team managed to focus on football and triumphed when they out the Sydney Roosters 16–13 with a try-saving tackle by Andrew Ryan in the dying seconds of the 2004 Grand Final. The game was to be the last for departing captain Steve Price,2005 saw the Bulldogs unable to mount a serious defence of their premiership title as injuries and contract negotiations saw the year start and finish on a sour note for the club. Due to the extent of injuries suffered, the team was under-strength for most of the year and this took its toll in the final six weeks of the season, with the club suffering successive heavy losses and missing the finals series. Inconsistency and a finish to the 2007 season meant the Bulldogs were knocked out of the finals in week two. In 2008, having already lost Mark OMeley to the Sydney Roosters, further into the off-season the Bulldogs also lost halfback Brent Sherwin, and prospects for the 2008 season began to look dim
18.
National Rugby League
–
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league clubs in Australasia. It is regarded as the worlds elite rugby league championship and, the National Rugby League is Australias top-level domestic rugby-league club competition. It contains clubs from the original Sydney club Rugby League competition and this partnership was dissolved in February 2012, with control of the NRL going to the independently formed Australian Rugby League Commission. NRL matches are played in Australia and New Zealand from March to October, in addition, the NRL premiers also play in the World Club Challenge, a pre-season match against the champions of the European Super League competition. The reigning premiers are the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks winning their maiden premiership after 50 years, the New South Wales Rugby League ran the major rugby league competition of New South Wales from its inception in 1908 until 1994. Following the 1983 season, Sydney foundation club Newtown Jets were ultimately forced to withdraw from the competition because of financial difficulties, the Brisbane and Newcastle sides proved to be successful and popular and paved the way towards a push for a truly national competition. This was attempted in 1995 with control of the passing from the NSWRFL to the Australian Rugby League. The ARL undertook moves to invite the traditional clubs that had moved to the Super League competition back into a re-unified competition. Following a period of negotiation with News Corporation, on 23 September 1997 the ARL announced that it was forming a new company to conduct the competition in 1998, on 7 October News Manaaki Ranginui announced that he was confident that there would be a single competition in 1998. As a result, in the months the National Rugby League, jointly owned by the ARL. Clubs on both sides of the war were shut down, One condition of the peace agreement between the ARL and News Limited was that there would be a 14 team competition in 2000. The 20 clubs that played in 1998 would be assessed on various items such as sponsorship, crowds, on-field success and it was also announced that clubs that merged would receive a large sum of money, as well as a guaranteed position in the 2000 NRL Competition. The St. George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers were the first clubs to take up the offer, the 1999 NRL Grand Final brought about a new official world record attendance for a game of rugby league. 107,999 spectators saw the Melbourne Storm defeat the newly created St. George Illawarra Dragons in the decider at Stadium Australia. Balmain and Western Suburbs formed the club, the Wests Tigers at the end of 1999, while North Sydney. As part of another image makeover, a number of teams also released new club logos, the most notable of these was the Sydney Roosters, dropping the City section of their name for the 2000 season and beyond. Souths were controversially axed from the competition at the end of 1999 for failing to meet the criteria and this move was highly controversial and on 12 November 2000 about 80,000 marched in protest at their continued exclusion. South Sydney challenged the decision in the Federal Court claiming that the NRL agreement was exclusionary, intended to unfairly exclude South Sydney, justice Paul Finn ruled that the agreement did not specifically exclude any club and dismissed the Rabbitohs claims for re-instatement into the national competition
19.
South Sydney Rabbitohs
–
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league team based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital, the club was formed in 1908 as one of the founding members of the New South Wales Rugby Football League, making them one of Australias oldest rugby league teams. They are one of two foundation clubs still present in the NRL, the other being the Sydney Roosters. The Rabbitohs traditional heartland covers the once typically working-class suburbs of inner-south Sydney now generally occupied by factories, the club is based in Redfern, where the clubs administration and training facilities are located, however they have long held a wide supporter base spread all over New South Wales. The teams home ground is currently Stadium Australia in Sydney Olympic Park, the club played in the first round of the newly formed New South Wales Rugby League, defeating North Sydney 11–7 at Birchgrove Oval on 20 April 1908. The team went on to win the inaugural premiership then successfully defended their title in the 1909 season, during these early years Arthur Hennessy was considered the founding father of the South Sydney rugby league club. A hooker and prop forward, Hennessy was Souths first captain and he was also New South Wales first captain and Australias first test captain in 1908. After further premiership success in 1914 and 1918, South Sydney won seven of the eight premierships from 1925–1932, the 1925 side went through the season undefeated and is only one of six Australian premiership sides in history to have achieved this feat. Such was Souths dominance in the years of the rugby league competition that the Rabbitohs were labelled The Pride of the League. South Sydney struggled through most of the 1940s, only making the semifinals on two occasions, South Sydneys longest losing streak of 22 games was during the period 1945–1947. In the 1945 season they managed to win one game while in 1946 they were unable to win a single game. In the 1950s South Sydney again had success, winning five of the six premierships from 1950–1955. Players that were involved in these years included Denis Donoghue, Jack Rayner, Les Chicka Cowie, Johnny Graves, Ian Moir, Greg Hawick, Ernie Hammerton, Bernie Purcell and Clive Churchill. Churchill, nicknamed the Little Master for his brilliant attacking play, is universally regarded as one of the greatest ever Australian rugby league players. In the late 1950s Souths began a run of form failing to make the finals from 1958–1964. However, in 1965 a talented young side made the Grand Final against St. George who were aiming to secure their 10th straight premiership. The young Rabbitohs werent overawed by the Dragons formidable experience and in front of a crowd of 78,056 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Financial problems started to hit Souths in the early 1970s, forcing players to go to other clubs
20.
St. George Illawarra Dragons
–
The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the St. George region of Sydney and the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-venture was formed between the St. George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers and they officially formed as the games first joint-venture club on 23 September 1998 and remain the only cross-city team in the NRL. The Dragons reached the Grand final in their first season in 1999, the St. George Illawarra Dragons also field teams in local competitions within the St. George and Illawarra regions. The Dragons won the 2010 NRL Grand Final against the Sydney Roosters, defeating them 32–8 at ANZ Stadium and they then won the 2011 World Club Challenge, defeating the Wigan Warriors 21–15 at DW Stadium in the UK. The St. George Dragons largely financed a proposal for a merger which would see the St George Illawarra Dragons playing in both Kogarah and Wollongong, essentially, St George would provide the money while Illawarra would provide a broader junior and fan base. Merged entity being a new concept in Australian rugby league, the public watched closely in anticipation of success or failure, no-one was certain how the top players sourced from the merged two feeder clubs would perform when they ran out onto the field. In the semi-finals the Dragons won against the Melbourne Storm at Olympic Park, before returning to Sydney to dispose of the Sydney Roosters, in the 1999 Grand Final the Dragons were leading by 14–0 at the break in front of a world record crowd of 107,999. The Dragons were forced to perform a kick from their own goal line. As the Storms winger Craig Smith caught the ball over the try-line he was knocked unconscious in a tackle by Jamie Ainscough and lost the ball. Referee Bill Harrigan deferred to the referee who ruled a penalty try on the grounds that contact had been made with the head, giving Melbourne a 20–18 lead. In the 2000 season though they had a start, and in Round 5. This was the first game these two played against each other since the 1999 grand final, and was played at the MCG. On 3 May to the surprise and shock of fans and club officials, Anthony Mundine announced his retirement from the club and rugby league in general with immediate effect to pursue a career in boxing. The Dragons were not going well in the first half of the 2000 season, soon after the replacement of coaches, the Dragons recorded their best ever win. They defeated the New Zealand Warriors 54–0 in round 14 at WIN Stadium, the Dragons, however, missed out of the finals series, and came 9th. Despite their poor season, Trent Barrett was awarded with the Dally M Medal, in 2003, Nathan Brown, the merged entitys first number 9 achieved the position of coach, becoming the youngest non-playing coach in premiership history at the age of 29. The Dragons finished the season 10th, Nathan Brown was also involved in a sideline incident when he had slapped Trent Barrett in Wollongong during a game against Manly, and was issued a $5000 fine. 2004 saw the season of the try scoring talent Nathan Blacklock
21.
Wests Tigers
–
The Wests Tigers are an Australian Professional rugby league football club based in Sydneys Western Suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs Magpies, the Wests Tigers started playing in the 2000 NRL season and won their maiden premiership in 2005. It is one of two clubs that has never lost a Grand Final in which it has participated. The club also won the World Sevens in 2004, the Wests Tigers have three home grounds, Leichhardt Oval, Campbelltown Stadium and ANZ Stadium as of 2014. They are currently coached by Ivan Cleary and captained by Aaron Woods, the club CEO is Justin Pascoe and the general manager is Kelly Egan. In Australia, the game of rugby league began in 1908, two of those teams were clubs based in Balmain and the Western Suburbs who happened to meet each other in round 1 of 1908. The Balmain club, who adopted a Tiger as their emblem. The Wests Tigers got their name from their suburb and from their logo, the Western Suburbs club won four premierships in twelve grand finals over the tenure of the NSWRL competition. The Western Suburbs Magpies, like the Balmain Tigers, had a dismal 1990s winning rate, the NSWRL competition was replaced by the Australian Rugby League competition in 1995 due to the expansion of rugby league within Australia. With a media-driven rival competition being set up, the pressure was for clubs to survive and preserve their short-term future, both the Magpies and the Tigers signed with the ARL, whereas eight clubs of the 1995 ARL competition signed with the rival Super League competition for 1997. In 1998, the ARL and Super League were unified into a National Rugby League competition. As part of the deal with the ARL and Super League, with the addition of a team in 1998, this meant that nine teams would be forced out before the 2000 season. With the NRL offering guaranteed entrance into the 2000 competition and A$6 million funding for clubs that merged, Balmain had garnered interest to merge with the Parramatta Eels and Gold Coast Chargers while Western Suburbs had talked with the Canterbury Bulldogs and Penrith Panthers. Both Balmain and Western Suburbs felt that those offers were seen more as takeovers of their clubs rather than mergers, by June 1999, both clubs boards had unanimously voted to form a joint-venture partnership with each other to make a competitive entity. One hundred shares were issued to Balmain Tigers Rugby League Football Club and 100 shares were issued to Western Suburbs Rugby League Football Group Pty Limited as a 50/50-owned joint venture. Due to Western Suburbss record-breaking dismal season in 1999, they supplied just six of the players to the new joint venture. A board of directors was appointed with five sourced from Balmain, five sourced from Western Suburbs, the chairman and CEO appointments for the inaugural season were from Western Suburbs. Balmain coach Wayne Pearce was the coach of the Wests Tigers
22.
Parramatta Eels
–
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, owing to the demolition of Pirtek Parramatta will play its home games at ANZ Stadium. It took thirty years for the club to make the grand final, however, this period foreshadowed their most successful period in the early 1980s, when they won four premierships and qualified for five grand finals in six seasons. This was an era for the club and yielded their only premiership titles. In 2016, a salary cap breach saw them stripped of their 2016 Auckland Nines premiership, the club plays in the National Rugby League, the premier rugby league football competition in Australia. Parramatta sides are also fielded in lower grades and junior competitions run by the New South Wales Rugby League where they regularly win premierships in various grades. The roots of the playing of rugby union and rugby league in Parramatta lie in the 19th century with the formation of the Parramatta Rugby Club in 1879. With the advent of a Sydney District competition in 1900, the Parramatta club merged with Western Suburbs, on a local level, rugby league began to be played in 1910 when a district competition was formed. Other clubs in the Parramatta district also emerged, over the ensuing decades, the proposal was rejected by all clubs except Western Suburbs who, despite having the most to lose from the entrance of a Parramatta side, voted for the entrance of the new club. The advent of World War II put the establishment of the club on hold, Parramatta saw very little success in their early years, despite narrowly missing out on finals qualification in 1949 under the guidance of former Western Suburbs and Leeds five-eighth Vic Hey. Between 1952 and 1961, they finished last eight times and won only 35 of 180 matches, in 1962, Parramatta made the finals for the first time, this achievement was repeated for the three following seasons. However, the club slid back down the ladder in the following years, the club’s first major success came in 1975 when they defeated Manly-Warringah in the pre-season cup final. In 1976, the club reached the Grand Final, in their thirtieth season. However, they lost narrowly to a Manly-Warringah side that they had defeated just two weeks earlier, unfortunately for Parramatta, this game is regarded as “the one that got away” with Manly winning 13–10 despite the Eels crossing for two tries to Manly’s one. A dropped pass by winger Neville Glover with the wide open in the dying moments of the game ultimately costing the Eels a chance to win the game. Had Glover scored the score would have been tied at 13-all giving goal kicking Five-eighth John Peard a sideline conversion attempt to win the game, the following year, Parramatta captured their first minor premiership before qualifying for the Grand Final for the second year running. Against St. George, the match was drawn 9–9, forcing a Grand Final replay the following weekend, in this match, Parramatta lost 22–0. The Eels made the finals in both 1978 and 1979, but missed the finals in 1980 for the first time since 1974, the early 1980s was the most successful period for Parramatta, who earned five Grand Final appearances and four premierships from 1981 to 1986
23.
New South Wales cricket team
–
The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian mens professional first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales. The team competes in the Australian first class cricket competition known as the Sheffield Shield, the team previously played in the now defunct Twenty20, Big Bash, which has since been replaced by the Big Bash League since the 2011–12 season. New South Wales were the winners of the Champions League Twenty20. They are by far the most successful cricket side in Australia having won the First-class competition 46 times. In addition, they have won the Australian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament cup 10 times. They occasionally play first-class matches against touring International sides, New South Wales have played teams representing every test playing nation bar Bangladesh. The secondary club colour is blue, with additional contrasting colour of white. Players with international caps are listed in bold, as of 28 April 2016 The following is a list of notable players who have represented both New South Wales and Australia
24.
Sydney Thunder
–
The Sydney Thunder are an Australian professional cricket team, competing in Australias domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League. The teams home ground is Sydney Showground Stadium, known as Spotless Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park and their team uniform is lime green. Thunder won the edition of Big Bash, as well as the inaugural Womens Big Bash League. Along with the Sydney Sixers, the Sydney Thunder are the successors of the New South Wales Blues who played in the now-defunct KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. The NSW Cricket board unanimously decided on lime green as the colour, though other colours were considered. Cricket Australia did not allow Cricket NSW to use the sky blue colour associated with New South Wales sports teams. The team made their debut in the 2011-12 Big Bash League season - the inaugural season of the Big Bash League, the team performed poorly in its first years in the competition, finishing last in each of its first three seasons and second last in its fourth season. From 2011 to 2014, the Thunders home ground was ANZ Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park, in June 2015, the Thunder announced they would leave ANZ Stadium and play all home games at Sydney Showground Stadium until the 2024-25 BBL season. The 2015–16 Big Bash League season marked the first year in which the Thunder finished in the top half of the table, however, the Thunder lost their following four games and it looked as if they were set to miss out on the finals. In their final game of the 2015–16 Big Bash League season, the Thunder faced the Adelaide Strikers at Adelaide Oval in the first semi final, winning convincingly. The Thunder then faced the Stars in the Finals the Melbourne Stars, the final was played at Melbourne Cricket Ground on 24 January 2016 and resulted in the Thunders defeat of the Melbourne Stars. The Sydney Thunder franchise also swept the titles as the team won the inaugural womens title hours ago on the same ground by the same margin with the same number of balls remaining. The mens game also featured a battle of two captains as brothers Michael and David Hussey went against each other on their mothers birthday, Sydney Thunder were the most watched sports team in Australia during 2015/16 with an average TV audience of 1. 2m. Shane Watson was elected to captain the side in 2016, Thunder Bus The Thunder Bus travels around schools and cricket club in Sydney and Regional NSW, it has an interactive quiz and inflatable nets. The Thunder Bus directly engaged with 100,000 children aged between 5-12 during this period and was seen by over 1 Million people, gayle was pursued by Perth Scorchers but he rejected an offer of $250,000 to stay with the New South Wales team. The Sydney Smash – When the league began in 2011, Cricket Australia decided they would place two teams in Sydney, with the core group of players for both sides coming from the New South Wales cricket team, this rivalry automatically becomes widely anticipated in Sydney. In the first four seasons of the BBL the Thunder lost all seven Sydney Derby games to the Sixers. However, in the first match of the fifth Big Bash League, the season also marked the first time the Thunder beat the Sixers in both games contested during the season
25.
Big Bash League
–
The Big Bash League is an Australian professional Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash League replaced the competition, the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. The competition has been sponsored by fast food chicken outlet KFC since its inception, BBL matches are played in Australia during the summer in the months of December and January. It is now placed sixth in the list of most attended sports leagues in the world with respect to average crowd per match, out of the eight teams in the tournament, four have won the title at least once. The other three teams which have won the title are Sydney Sixers, Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder, the current champions are the Perth Scorchers. Earlier, the top two teams in the tournament used to qualify for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament and it was an annual international Twenty20 competition played between the top domestic teams from various nations. However, the CLT20 has now become defunct from 2015 onwards, a design contest was held in 2011 to determine the design of the Big Bash League trophy. The competition was restricted to Australian designers, with the final design and it had been proposed that the tournament would undergo expansion into more regional areas not supported by international cricket. The expansion was planned to be implemented in 2012, the proposed teams included, Newcastle, Canberra, Geelong, and Gold Coast. A New Zealand-based team was mentioned as a possibility which would be based at Auckland or Christchurch. Cricket expert Mark Waugh commented on Fox Sports that an expansion could dilute the player resulting in a sub-standard league. The expansion proposal was dumped, mainly because the proposed cities lacked the proper cricket hosting facilities. In 2015, former Black Caps captain and Melbourne Stars coach Stephen Fleming suggested expansion of the tournament to include New Zealand teams and he said an expansion into New Zealand would be widely supported by locals. His views were supported by Brisbane Heat coach and former Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori. Melbourne Renegades chief executive Stuart Coventry also stated that he wants Cricket Australia to grant each club a home fixture next season. Coventry said the BBL was ready to expand from 8 to 10 games, in 2016, Anthony Everard, head of the BBL, flagged the leagues intentions to approach expansion through a soft launch. He also indicated the regional markets of Canberra, Geelong and Gold Coast will likely host games during the launch period. She stated that the proposal was being considered due to the rise in television ratings in the BBL03 season
26.
Australian Football League
–
The Australian Football League is the pre-eminent professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the governing body. The league was founded as the Victorian Football League as a breakaway from the previous Victorian Football Association, the league currently consists of 18 teams spread over five of Australias six states. Matches have been played in all states and territories of Australia. The AFL season currently consists of a competition, followed by a 23-round regular season. The top eight teams play off in a four-round finals series, culminating in the AFL Grand Final. The winning team in the Grand Final is termed the premiers, the current premiers are the Western Bulldogs. The six clubs invited two more VFA clubs – Carlton and St Kilda – to join the league for its season in 1897. In 1908, the league expanded to ten teams, with Richmond crossing from the VFA, Port Adelaide was the most successful club of the competition winning three titles during the period along with an earlier victory. In 1925, the VFL expanded from nine teams to twelve, with Footscray, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Hawthorn remained very weak in the VFL for a very long period. Between the years of 1927 and 1930, Collingwood became the first, in 1952, the VFL hosted National Day, when all six matches were played outside of Melbourne. Matches were played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Brisbane Exhibition Ground, North Hobart Oval, Albury Sports Ground and Victorian country towns Yallourn, Footscray became the first of the 1925 expansion teams to win the premiership in 1954. Melbourne became a powerhouse during the 1950s and early 1960s under coach Norm Smith, the club contested seven consecutive grand finals from 1954 to 1960, winning five premierships, including three in a row from 1955 to 1957. Television coverage began in 1957, with telecasts of the final quarter permitted. At first, several channels competed through broadcasting different games, however, when the VFL found that television was reducing crowds, it decided that no coverage was to be allowed for 1960. In 1961, replays were introduced although direct telecasts were rarely permitted in Melbourne, in 1959, the VFL planned the first purpose built mega-stadium, VFL Park, to give it some independence from the Melbourne Cricket Club, which managed the Melbourne Cricket Ground. VFL Park was planned to hold 155,000 spectators, which would have made it one of the largest stadiums in the world – although it would ultimately be built with a capacity of 78,000. Land for the stadium was purchased at Mulgrave, then farmland, the VFL Premiership Trophy was first awarded in addition to a pennant flag in 1959, essentially the same trophy design has been in use since
27.
Greater Western Sydney Giants
–
The Greater Western Sydney Giants, nicknamed the GWS Giants or just Giants, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. Representing the Greater Western Sydney area and Canberra, the club is based at the Tom Wills Oval in Sydney Olympic Park, the teams primary home ground is Spotless Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park. Four games a year are played at Manuka Oval in Canberra as part of a deal with the government of the Australian Capital Territory. A reserve team, the Western Sydney University Giants, participates in the North East Australian Football League, the reserve team was renamed in 2016 to reflect the rebranding of the university from University of Western Sydney. A netball team, Giants Netball, operated by the club, the commercial club entity itself is a 100% wholly owned subsidiary of the AFL Commission. The idea of an AFL team from western Sydney originated from the AFLs plans in 1999 to make the North Melbourne Football Club Sydneys second team. The AFL was buoyed when it gained the support of then NSW premier Morris Iemma in late 2006, and the league became a partner in the Blacktown sporting facility in Rooty Hill, New South Wales. The facility was announced as the new base for its team out of western Sydney in 2007. In January 2008, the AFL officially registered the business name Western Sydney Football Club Ltd with ASIC, the Sydney Celtics plan was first put to AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou in early 2007 by Gaelic Players Association executive Donal ONeill. It was said that the proposal originated at the International Rules series in Ireland in late 2006 when ONeill put forward a plan to purchase an AFL licence in Sydney, however, the idea never materialised and the AFL has since stated that this was never a serious option. In March 2008, the AFL won the support of the leagues 16 club presidents to establish a side in Western Sydney. The Western Sydney working party devising player rules and draft concessions for the second Sydney team met on 22 July 2008, during 2008, the AFL Commission, whose agenda was to make a final decision on the Western Sydney Football Club, delayed it on multiple occasions. During the same year, in November, the AFL announced a A$100 million venture for a stadium at the Sydney Showground. After a third meeting in Sydney in November, the AFL cited the Economic crisis of 2008 as being a key factor in the delays, an Australian Senate enquiry into the Tasmanian AFL Bid concluded that Sydney had insurmountable cultural barriers to the establishment of a second AFL team. In May 2009, AIS/AFL Academy coach Alan McConnell was appointed as the high performance manager. McConnell was the first full-time appointment for GWS and his new role commenced on 1 July 2009, Kevin Sheedy was appointed inaugural coach in November 2009, signing a three-year contract. His role commenced on 2 February 2010 and his first senior assistant coach was former premiership coach of Port Adelaide, Mark Williams. Williams left the role at the conclusion of 2012, in order to become a development coach at the Richmond Tigers
28.
Sydney Swans
–
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club has been based in Sydney since the South Melbourne Football Club was relocated to Sydney in 1982, Sydney was the first club in the competition to be based outside Victoria. The Swans have played their games at the Sydney Cricket Ground since 1982. The South Melbourne Football Club was founded in 1874 and was strong through the 1880s and it won three premierships in 1909,1918 and 1933 before experiencing 72 years without a premiership, the longest premiership drought of any club. The club broke the drought in 2005 and won another premiership in 2012, the inauguration date of the club is officially 19 June 1874, and it adopted the name South Melbourne Football Club four weeks later, on 15 July. In 1880, South Melbourne amalgamated with the nearby Albert-park Football Club, following the amalgamation, the club retained the name South Melbourne, and adopted the clubs now familiar red and white colours from Albert-park. Nicknamed the Southerners, the team was more known as the Bloods. The colorful epithet the Bloodstained Angels was also in use, the club was based at Lake Oval, also home of the South Melbourne Cricket Club. The match took place on 3 October 1896 at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, Collingwood won the match, six goals to five, in front of an estimated crowd of 12,000. This Grand Final would be the last match South Melbourne would play in the VFA, the other clubs were St Kilda Football Club, Essendon Football Club, Fitzroy Football Club, Melbourne Football Club, Geelong Football Club, Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club. South Melbourne was one of the founding clubs of the Victorian Football League that was formed in 1897. The club had success and won three VFL premierships in 1909,1918 and 1933. Ironically, the driver was a South Melbourne supporter. It was during this period that the team known as the Swans. The name stuck, in due to the clubs association with nearby Albert Park and Lake. After several years only limited success, South Melbourne next reached the grand final in 1945. The match, played against Carlton, was to become known as the Bloodbath, courtesy of the brawl that overshadowed the match, Carlton won the match by 28 points, and from then on, South Melbourne struggled. In the following years, South Melbourne consistently struggled, as their traditional inner-city recruiting district largely emptied as a result of demographic shifts, the club missed the finals in 1946 and continued to fall such that by 1950 they were second-last on the ladder
29.
New South Wales Waratahs
–
The New South Wales Waratahs (/ˈwɒrətɑːz/ or /ˌwɒrəˈtɑːz/, referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other parts of the state, are represented by the Brumbies. The name and emblem comes from the waratah, the flower for New South Wales. Their home ground is Allianz Stadium in Sydney, some matches are also held at ANZ Stadium. The NSWRU was established in 1874, and the very first club competition took place that year, by 1880 the SRU had over 100 clubs in its governance in the metropolitan area. In 1882 the first New South Wales team was selected to play Queensland in a two-match series, NSW would go on to win both the games. That same year the first NSW touring squad was selected to go, in 1907, several of the New South Wales rugby union teams players defected to play for the New South Wales rugby league team against a visiting rebel New Zealand rugby team. This was essentially the birth of rugby league in Australia, during World War I, the NSW Rugby Unions ceased senior competition. The Queensland body however would not reform until 1929, which saw NSW have more responsibilities for Australian rugby, in 1921 the Waratahs toured New Zealand again, and out of their 10 fixtures, won nine games, including the Test. They won 24 and drew two of their 31 official matches, seven members of this 1927/8 side were from the Drummoyne Rugby Club. Upon returning home, were greeted with a parade through Sydney, matches against Queensland would soon resume also. The 1930s were a successful time for NSW. The height of the success of NSW is best represented by the defeat of the South African Springboks in 1937 at the SCG, in 1963 the Sydney Rugby Union was established for the growth of the game in the city area. The NSW Rugby Union would celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1974, as part of the anniversary celebrations, a match was played at the SCG on 18 May against the All Blacks, though the Waratahs lost nil to 20. In their inaugural Super 12 season of 1996, the Waratahs won just under half of their games, finishing mid table, the following season of 1997 saw the Waratahs end in a 9th place, winning four fixtures. The Waratahs won four fixtures the next season and they won five games in the 2000 season and the Tahs finished their season in 9th place. In 2001 after replicating their 2000 performance, the Waratahs were still out of reach of finals contention, in 8th position. 2002 was a record breaking season for the Waratahs, as the team won eight out of their 11 season games, however, in the final game of the regular season the Waratahs lost 96–19
30.
Super Rugby
–
Super Rugby is the preeminent professional mens rugby union football competition in the Southern Hemisphere and Japan. By 2006, matches were being broadcast in 41 countries, SANZAAR is the body that administers Super Rugby, and has the Australian, New Zealand, South African and Argentine rugby unions as its sole members. The organisation was formed in 1995 to establish and run the Super 12, prior to 2011, Super Rugby was a round-robin competition where each team played with every other team once, a team had six or seven home games, and six or seven away games each. The winner received four points, if the game was a draw two points were awarded to each team. The Rugby union bonus points system was used, where any team scoring four or more tries, and/or losing by seven points or less. In 2016, the try bonus changed, a team now has to score three more tries than their opponents. The top four teams at the end of the round-robin phase then played semi-finals – the first placed team hosting the fourth placed team, the two winners then played the final at the home ground of the top surviving seed. There were 91 regular season games in total, games were held over 14 weekends with each team receiving one bye. From 2011 –2015 the format changed, with each country forming its own conference, each team within a conference plays each of the other teams in its conference twice, once at home and once away. Each team then plays four out of the five teams each of the other conferences once. Competition points are awarded on a basis as before. The four lower ranking teams are paired in two sudden death games, the winners of two games each play one of the two top ranked teams. Those winners play for the championship, in 2016 the format changed with three more teams joining. There are four conferences with Africa getting two conferences, the finals now have eight teams with each conference winner getting a home quarter final. They are joined by four wild card teams, three will be from the Australasian group and one from the South African group, before 1996, a number of transnational competitions involving regional and provincial rugby union teams had taken shape in the southern hemisphere. The earliest of these was the South Pacific Championship, which was launched in 1986, after the demise of the South Pacific Championship, with no tournament played in 1991, the competition was relaunched as the Super 6 in 1992. In 1993, the Super Six competition was revamped and expanded into the Super 10 tournament, the inaugural competition featured the following teams, Waikato, Auckland, Otago and North Harbour, Natal, Transvaal and Northern Transvaal, Queensland and New South Wales and Western Samoa. The Super 10 was won by Transvaal in 1993, and by Queensland in 1994 and 1995, the official declaration of professionalism in rugby union in August 1995 led to a restructuring of the Super 10 competition
31.
Western Sydney Wanderers FC
–
Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the western region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the premier soccer competition, the A-League. The club has established itself as a force in both Australia and Asia, having won one A-League Premiership and an AFC Champions League title in its short history. Formed in April 2011 by FFA, Wanderers was established with a community focus. A series of community forums across Western Sydney helped choose the name and colours, as well as its culture. The clubs record-breaking inaugural season won them an A-League premiership and saw the club reach the 2013 A-League Grand Final, the club followed that up by contesting the 2014 A-League Grand Final and securing second place in their second season of the league. The club was also crowned Asian Champions in their debut Champions League season, an affiliated youth team competes in the National Youth League and will compete in the National Premier Leagues NSW in 2016. A womens team competes in the W-League, the youth and womens matches are played at various locations across Western Sydney, including Marconi Stadium, Campbelltown Stadium and Cook Park. The club also has a Powerchair Football team which competes in the NSW Western Division Powerchair Football League, the Western Sydney region was regarded as a potential location for one of the founding A-League clubs in 2005, originally intended to be the base for Sydney FC. When Sydney FC put forward their bid to participate in the inaugural A-League season, though after winning the A-League licence, Football Federation Australia Chairman Frank Lowy forced a number of changes to the bid. The main of these were in moving the club to Sydney Football Stadium in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Frank Lowy’s son, David Lowy, was also installed as a major investor. In response, Football NSW made the decision to pull out its involvement with Sydney FC amid claims the A-League club had become a plaything for Frank Lowy and his family. Football NSW stated its dislike of Lowys autocratic style in establishing the club, an unsuccessful bid named Sydney Blues, which had proposed to play at the Sydney Football Stadium was the only other Sydney-based bid. By 2008, as the five-year deal wound to its conclusion, FFA announced its intention to expand the A-League, FFA received 10 expressions of interest, two of which from potential Western Sydney based teams. Despite the unsuccessful attempt to establish a Western Sydney-based team in the form of Sydney Rovers, the catalyst for the formation of the Western Sydney Wanderers was FFA revoking Gold Coast Uniteds A-League licence on 29 February 2012. After a series of running battles between FFA and Clive Palmer – owner of Gold Coast United, over such as crowd control. The loss of Gold Coast United brought the league down to nine clubs, on 4 April 2012, then FFA CEO Ben Buckley announced the creation of New Sydney Club based in the citys west to play in the A-League. With the October deadline approaching, FFA decided to push through the club by taking on the ownership role themselves and this was helped by securing $4 million from the Australian Government in a grant for the creation and ongoing costs of the club
32.
A-League
–
The A-League is a professional mens soccer league run by Football Federation Australia. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the primary competition for the sport. The A-League was established in 2004 as a successor to the National Soccer League, the league is currently contested by ten teams, nine based in Australia and one based in New Zealand. It is known as the Hyundai A-League through an arrangement with the Hyundai Motor Company. Seasons run from October to May and include a 27-round regular season, the winner of the regular season tournament is dubbed premier and the winner of the grand final is champion. This differs from the major football codes in Australia, where premier refers to the winner of the grand final. Successful A-League clubs gain qualification into the competition, the Asian Football Confederation Champions League also known as AFC Champions League. Since the leagues inaugural season, a total of six clubs have been crowned A-League Premiers, the current premier and champion is Adelaide United, who finished first in 2015–16 as well as winning the 2016 A-League Grand Final. A national round-robin tournament existed in various forms prior to the formation of the A-League, few clubs continued to grow with Sydney Olympic, Perth Glory, and the newly established Adelaide United the exception in a dying league. In April 2003, the Australian Federal Government initiated the Independent Soccer Review Committee to investigate the governance and management of the sport in Australia, the A-League was announced in April 2004, as a successor to the NSL. The competition start date was set for August 2005, by June 2004,20 submissions had been received and a month later 12 consortiums sent in their final bids for the eight spots. Three bids were received from Melbourne, two each from Sydney and Brisbane, one each of the remaining preferred cities and a bid from the New South Wales Central Coast city of Gosford. Each club was given a five-year exclusivity deal in its own market as part of the leagues one-city and this was intended to allow clubs to grow and develop an identity in their respective region without local competition. On 26 August 2005,16 months after the demise of the NSL, on 20 March 2007, it was announced that Wellington Phoenix would replace New Zealand Knights from the start of the 2007–08 season. Both Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury joined the league in the 2009–10 season, on 12 June 2009, Melbourne Heart was awarded a license to join the 2010–11 season. On 1 March 2011 North Queensland Furys A-League license was revoked for financial reasons, on 29 February 2012, Gold Coast United also had its licence revoked. On 4 April 2012 it was announced that a new Western Sydney-based club, Western Sydney Wanderers, in January 2014, Melbourne Heart was acquired by the City Football Group and was renamed Melbourne City ahead of the 2014–15 season. The regular season runs mainly during the Australian summer, from early October to April of the following year, the competition consists of 27 rounds, with each team playing every other team three times
33.
Australia national cricket team
–
The Australia national cricket team, represents the country of Australia in international cricket. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, having played in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team draws its players from teams playing in the Australian domestic competitions – the Sheffield Shield, the Australian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament and the Big Bash League. The national team has played 801 Test matches, winning 377, losing 215, drawing 207, Australia is ranked the number-one team overall in Test cricket in terms of overall wins, win-loss ratio and wins percentage. As of 29 March 2017, Australia is ranked third in the ICC Test Championship on 108 rating points, the Australian cricket team has played 898 ODI matches, winning 554, losing 303, tying 9 and with 32 ending in no-result. They currently lead the ICC ODI Championship, having done so for 130 of 161 months since its introduction in 2002. Australia have made a record seven World Cup final appearances and have won the World Cup a record five times in total,1987,1999,2003,2007 and 2015 and it is also the second team to win a World Cup on home soil, after India. The team was undefeated in 34 consecutive World Cup matches until 19 March at the 2011 Cricket World Cup where Pakistan beat them by 4 wickets. Australia have also won the ICC Champions Trophy twice – in 2006 and in 2009 – making them the first and the only team to become back to back winners in the Champions Trophy tournaments. Test cricket, which occurred between Australia and England at the time, was limited by the long distance between the two countries, which would take several months by sea. Most cricketers at the time were either from New South Wales or Victoria, with the exception of George Giffen. A highlight of Australias early history was the 1882 Test match against England at The Oval, in this match Fred Spofforth took 7/44 in the games fourth innings to save the match by preventing England from making their 85-run target. This was the start of the famous Ashes series in which Australia, to this day, the contest is one of the fiercest rivalries in sport. It participated in between the 1897–98 English tour of Australia and the 1910–11 South African tour of Australia, Victor Trumper became one of Australias first sporting heroes, and was widely considered Australias greatest batsman before Bradman and one of the most popular players. He played a number of Tests at 49 and scored 3163 runs at a high for the time average of 39.04. His early death in 1915 at the age of 37 from kidney disease caused national mourning, the Wisden Cricketers Almanack, in its obituary for him, called him Australias greatest batsman, Of all the great Australian batsmen Victor Trumper was by general consent the best and most brilliant. Led by Peter McAlister, who was attempting to gain control of tours from the players. This led to six leading players walking out on the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England and this was the last series before the war, and no more cricket was played by Australia for eight years, with Tibby Cotter being killed in Palestine during the war. Test cricket resumed in the 1920/21 season in Australia with a touring English team, captained by Johnny Douglas losing all five Tests to Australia, the team continued its success on the 1921 Tour of England, winning three out of the five Tests in Warwick Armstrongs last series
34.
India national cricket team
–
The Indian cricket team, also known as Team India and Men in Blue, represents India in international cricket. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, it is a member of the International Cricket Council with Test, One Day International. In its first fifty years of cricket, India was one of the weaker teams. From 1932 India had to wait until 1952, almost 20 years for its first Test victory. Traditionally much stronger at home than abroad, the Indian team has improved its overseas form since the start of the 21st century, winning Test matches in Australia, England and South Africa. It has won the Cricket World Cup twice – in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev and in 2011 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. After winning the 2011 World Cup, India became only the team after West Indies and Australia to have won the World Cup more than once. It has won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and it was also the joint champions of 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, along with Sri Lanka. As of 7th March 2017, India is ranked first in Tests, fourth in ODIs, Virat Kohli is the current captain of the team across all formats, while former Test captain Anil Kumble is the head coach. The Indian cricket team has rivalries with other Test-playing nations, most notably with Pakistan, however, in recent times, rivalries with nations like Australia, England and Bangladesh and have also gained prominence. The British brought cricket to India in the early 1700s, with the first cricket match played in 1721, in 1848, the Parsi community in Bombay formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be established by India Ltdns. After slow beginnings, the Europeans eventually invited the Parsis to play a match in 1877, by 1912, the Parsis, Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims of Bombay played a quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year. In the early 1900s, some Indians went on to play for the England cricket team, in 1911, an Indian team went on their first official tour of the British Isles, but only played English county teams and not the England cricket team. The one-off Test match between the two sides was played at Lords in London, the team was not strong in their batting at this point and went on to lose by 158 runs. In 1933, the first Test series in India was played between India and England with matches in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, the Indian team continued to improve throughout the 1930s and 40s but did not achieve an international victory during this period. In the early 1940s, India didnt play any Test cricket due to the Second World War, the teams first series as an independent country was in late 1947 against Sir Donald Bradmans Invincibles. It was also the first Test series India played which was not against England, Australia won the five-match series 4–0, with Bradman tormenting the Indian bowling in his final Australian summer. India subsequently played their first Test series at home not against England against the West Indies in 1948, West Indies won the 5-Test series 1–0
35.
South Africa national cricket team
–
The South African national cricket team, nicknamed the Proteas, represents South Africa in international cricket. It is administered by Cricket South Africa, South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status. As of 27 November 2016, South Africa has played 405 Test matches, winning 148, the team has played 564 ODIs, winning 348, losing 194 and tying six, with 16 no-results. Finally, it has played 91 Twenty20 Internationals, winning 54 and losing 36, on 20 August 2012, South Africa became the top ranked team in test cricket for the first time. 8 days later, on 28 August 2012, it became the first team to top the rankings in all three formats of the game, South Africa is currently ranked third in Tests, first in ODIs and third in T20Is by the ICC. South Africa first played cricket in 1889, though the players participating at the time were not aware of the fact. The South African cricket team toured England in 1947, at Trent Bridge, Captain Alan Melville and vice-captain, Dudley Nourse achieved a Test match record for a third wicket partnership of 319. The following year Nourse, 38-year-old captain of Natal, was appointed Captain for the 1948 MCC Test matches in South Africa and they continued to play regularly series of matches against England, Australia and New Zealand until 1970. The membership rules of the Imperial Cricket Conference meant that when South Africa left the Commonwealth in May 1961, despite the rules being changed in 1964 to allow other nations to be Associate members, South Africa did not reapply. Due to South African apartheid laws, which introduced legal racial segregation to the country in 1948, the anti-apartheid movement led the ICC to impose a moratorium on tours in 1970. This decision excluded players such as Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, World class cricketers of their day like Clive Rice, Vintcent van der Bijl also never played Test Cricket despite their first class records. The ICC reinstated South Africa as a Test nation in 1991, South Africas first Test match after re-admission was played against the West Indies in April 1992. The match was played in Bridgetown, Barbados and South Africa lost by 52 runs, since South Africa have been reinstated they have achieved mixed success, and hosted the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup in 2003. In 2003, South Africa were one of the favourites but were eliminated by one run in the stages after they had mistakenly counted the number of runs they needed. They have also had bad press for failing in vital matches in tournaments including the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. With Donald retiring, Cronje banned for match-fixing and later killed in a crash, and Pollock also retiring from international cricket. Graeme Smith was made captain, although following injuries to Smith and Jacques Kallis, at the age of 29, he became the first non-white man to captain the once all-white South African cricket team. Due to a racial policy, the side was once required to contain black players
36.
Australia women's national cricket team
–
The Australian womens national cricket team represent Australia in international womens cricket. The team is captained by Meg Lanning and coached by former Victoria. As of 20 October 2015, the Southern Stars are ranked first in all forms of international cricket. The team played their first Test match in 1934–35, when they lost to England two-nil in a three-Test series and they now compete against England for the Womens Ashes. They have won more World Cups than any other side — winning in 1978,1982,1988,1997,2005 and 2013. The team has also be crowned champions of the ICC Womens World Twenty20 tournament more than any other side - winning in 2010,2012 and 2014. In 2003, Womens Cricket Australia, and the Australian Cricket board merged to form a national cricket board. This merger has been an influence on womens cricket, providing more financial support. The ICC Womens Rankings incorporates results from Tests, ODIs and T20Is into a single ranking system
37.
New Zealand women's national cricket team
–
The New Zealand womens national cricket team, nicknamed the White Ferns, represents New Zealand in international womens cricket. One of eight teams competing in the ICC Womens Championship, the team is organised by New Zealand Cricket, New Zealand made its Test debut in 1935, against England, becoming the third team to play at that level. With Australia and England, New Zealand is one of three teams to have participated in all ten editions of the Womens Cricket World Cup. The team has made the final of the tournament on four occasions, winning in 2000 and placing second in 1993,1997, at the Womens World Twenty20, New Zealand were runners-up in 2009 and 2010, but are yet to win the event
38.
West Indies women's cricket team
–
The West Indies womens cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a combined team of players from various countries in the Caribbean that competes in international womens cricket. The team is organised by the West Indies Cricket Board, a member of the International Cricket Council. At the inaugural edition of the World Cup, in 1973, two teams now compete as part of the West Indies, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. A combined West Indian team made its Test debut in 1976, the West Indies currently competes in the ICC Womens Championship, the highest level of the sport, and has participated in five of the ten editions of the Womens Cricket World Cup held to date. At the most recent 2013 World Cup, the made the tournaments final for the first time. At the ICC World Twenty20, the team won its first title at the 2016 tournament, the first Test series played by the West Indies was at home to Australia in 1975–76, when both the three-day matches were drawn. In 1976–77 the same team played a six Test series away to India. They lost the fourth and then won the sixth Test by over an innings to level the series,1979 then saw the Windies play their third Test series, this time away to England. However, they fared poorly, losing the first and third Tests, finally, in 2003–04, after a 24-year wait, the West Indies resumed Test cricket with a one-off match away to Pakistan, this time played over 4 days. When the first World Cup was played in 1973, the West Indies did not compete as an individual unit, instead a separate team represented Jamaica, and another side represented Trinidad and Tobago. Additionally, three West Indian players participated in an International XI side that competed in the 1973 World Cup. The first one-day internationals played by a combined West Indian side were two games away to England during their 1979 tour, three ODIs were planned, but the second ODI was washed out without a ball being bowled. In the first ODI, England won comfortably by eight wickets,1993 saw West Indian players compete in a World Cup for the second time, this time as part of a combined team. They finished seventh, with only Denmark and the Netherlands below them and their next games were in the 1997–98 World Cup, where they finished in ninth place, above only Denmark and Pakistan. The only match they won was the 9th place play-off game against the Danes, 2002–03 saw the Sri Lankan womens cricket team tour the West Indies and play a six-match ODI series, which the Sri Lankans won six-nil. The closest match was the fourth, where the Windies went down by only 9 runs,2003 saw the Windies greatest cricketing success, when they finished second in the International Womens Cricket Council Trophy, after winning four and losing one of their five games. The Trophy was competed for by the weaker ODI sides – Ireland, Windies, 2003–04 saw the Windies play five ODIs in India followed by a seven ODI and one Test tour to Pakistan. All five games against India were lost comfortably, as expected, the tour to Pakistan was more successful and the ODI series was won five-two
39.
Multi-purpose stadium
–
Multi-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event and it is used most commonly in Canada and the United States, where the two most popular outdoor team sports – football and baseball – require radically different facilities. Football uses a field, while baseball is played on a diamond. This requires a design to accommodate both, usually an oval. While building stadiums in this way means that sports teams and governments can share costs, some stadiums were renovated to allow multipurpose configurations during the 1980s. This type of stadium is associated with an era of suburbanization, in many sports teams followed their fans out of large cities into areas with cheaper. They were usually built near highways and had large parking lots, as multipurpose stadiums were rarely ideal for both sports usually housed in them, they had fallen out of favor by the 1990s. With the completion of the Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City in 1973, since Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992, most major league sports stadiums have been built specifically for one sport. In other countries, such as England, teams rarely share facilities, in Australia, many sports grounds are suited to both Australian rules football and cricket, as Australian rules was originally conceived for play on cricket fields. As of 2016, the Oakland Coliseum is the last multipurpose stadium to serve as a home to both an MLB team and an NFL team. Several stadiums hosted multiple sports teams prior to the advent of multipurpose stadiums, the original configuration of Yankee Stadium was specifically designed to accommodate football, as well as track and field, in addition to its primary use for baseball. Wrigley Field, while originally built for baseball, also hosted the Chicago Bears, just as Comiskey Park hosted the Chicago Cardinals, later venues such as Cleveland Stadium and Baltimore Memorial Stadium were built to accommodate both baseball and football. In the 1960s, multipurpose stadiums began replacing their baseball-only and football-only predecessors, subsets of the multipurpose stadiums were the so-called cookie-cutter stadiums or concrete donuts which were all very similar in design. They featured a circular or nearly circular design, and accommodated both baseball and football by rotating sections of the box seat areas to fit the respective playing fields. The first of these stadiums was Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, as of 2016, seven of these 11 stadiums have been demolished. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was unusual in that it was one of the few air-supported dome stadiums that was multipurpose in practice, being convertible between football and baseball. Home of the Minnesota Vikings through the 2013 season, it was home to the Minnesota Twins until 2009. The Carrier Dome was another such air-supported, multipurpose stadium, although it was built to accommodate sports such as football
40.
Sydney Olympic Park
–
Sydney Olympic Park is a large sporting, cultural and leisure complex in western Sydney. It is also a suburb of Sydney, commonly known as Olympic Park. Sydney Olympic Park is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, the area was redeveloped for the 2000 Olympics. The suburb also contains commercial development and extensive parklands, the area was originally part of the suburb of Homebush Bay, but was designated a suburb in its own right in 2009. The Wangal clan of Indigenous Australians lived in the area before British settlement, the area was called The Flats by a scouting party shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. It became part of the Newington Estate in 1807, which was acquired by John Blaxland, the Government acquired some of the land for an aged womens home in the late 19th century. Much of the land was reclaimed from the river and wetlands by landfill, in the mid-1980s, an area bounded by Australia Avenue and what are now Herb Elliott Avenue and Sarah Durack Avenue was promoted as a technology park called the Australia Centre. However, apart from a few relatively high tech businesses like AWA Microelectronics, BASF, Philips and Sanyo, the idea did not catch on, in any event, a decade later the entire area became the site for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Before its transformation, a part of Olympic Park was derelict former industrial land, after more than a century of industrial. The site was home to a brickworks, abattoir and an armaments depot as well as being the site for eight of Sydneys rubbish dumps. These activities resulted in a contaminated site with little natural ecology. Sixty-five percent of the soils were required to be excavated and contained on-site, commercial developments now sit alongside sporting facilities with tenants in office buildings such as Commonwealth Bank from September 2007. A five-star Pullman hotel and a two-star Formule 1 hotel were completed in mid-2008, the parklands have undergone redevelopment with Blaxland Riverside Park being transformed into an urban park along Parramatta River. The Park opened on 3 March 2007, in addition the Wentworth Common area was upgraded with significant adventure playground facilities for children aged 8–13 years. Auburn Council sought public comment on a proposal to rename the Homebush Bay area and it hosts the Big Day Out music festival and has been the venue for free, open air performances as part of the Sydney Festival such as Movies in the Overflow and Music by Moonlight. The Newington Armory has in the past been the venue for the now-defunct Great Escape and Acoustica at the Armory music festivals, in August 2009, the funerals for the murdered Lin family were held here. Every December since 2009, the V8 Supercar event, the Sydney 500, is held through the streets of the Olympic precinct, however, it was announced in March 2016 that the event would no longer take place at Sydney Olympic Park following its final edition in December 2016. EB Games Expo has been held at The Sydney Showgrounds from 2012 to present
41.
Grand final
–
A grand final is a game that decides a sports leagues championship winning team, i. e. the conclusive game of a finals series. Synonymous with a game in North American sports, grand finals have become a significant part of Australian culture. The earliest competitions to feature a final were Australias AFL. They influenced other competitions such as soccers A-League, the National Basketball League, netballs Suncorp Super Netball, most grand finals involve a prestigious award for the player voted best on field. The Anglo-Norman term grand to describe an event, documented in England as grand match in 1836, was used in Australia from the 1850s. A steeplechase in England has been called the Grand National Steeple Chase since at least 1839, use of the term in Australian Football dates back to the first organised and widely publicised match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College on 7 August 1858 at Yarra Park, Melbourne. The game was advertised as the football match in the Melbourne Morning Herald. In 1859, a football match was advertised in Richmond. The earliest known event described as grand in Sydney was a match in 1862. In the 1871 South Yarra Challenge Cup, Carlton and Melbourne drew their three matches, but also won their remaining matches. As head-to-head record was the tiebreaker at that time, the team captains. Carlton won by two goals to nil, the New South Wales Rugby Football League experimented with a finals system in 1908, its inaugural year, but abandoned it the following season. Finals were reintroduced in 1926, and the premiership decider appeared to only be called a grand final if it involved the minor premiers, by the 1930s, the NSWRFL adopted the term grand final to describe the premiership decider. Up until 1954 a grand final match was only if the minor premiers were beaten. The tradition is maintained by the present-day NRL National Rugby League, prior to 1898, the South Australian Football Association was awarded to the team that finished top of the end-of-season ladder placings. In 1889, Norwood and Port Adelaide finished equal first, meaning a play off match was required to determine the premiers, in promoting the decider match, local press dubbed the match a play-off or a deciding match rather than a grand final. This was played on October 5, and Norwood won the match 7.4 to 5.9, in 1894, Norwood and South Adelaide finished with a 13-5 record from their 18 matches. The SAFA fixed a replay for October 10, Labor Day Norwood won the replay 4.7 to South Adelaide 3.5 with a goal as the bell rang
42.
2003 Rugby World Cup
–
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. The tournament began with host nation Australia defeating Argentina 24–8 at Telstra Stadium in Sydney, Australia went on to defeat New Zealand 22–10 in the semifinal, to play England in the final. The following 20 teams, shown by region, qualified for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, a record 81 nations from five continents were involved in the qualification process designed to fill the remaining 12 spots, which began on 23 September 2000. The overall stadium capacity was 421,311 across 11 venues and this was a reduction from the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales which had a total capacity of 654,677 across 18 venues. Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane was a new A$280 million venue designed specifically for rugby league, rugby union and soccer, the Central Coast Stadium was also a newly built rectangular venue built for union, league and soccer. It was built on the site of the old Grahame Park ground and was opened in February 2000 at a cost of A$30 million, the Sydney Football Stadium was one of two venues in Sydney that were used for football during the 2000 Olympic Games. The other venue in Sydney was Stadium Australia, which was the centrepiece of the 2000 Olympic Games, by 2003 Stadium Australia was known as Telstra Stadium. It was built as the stadium of the 2000 Olympics at a cost of A$690 million. The only stadium with a retractable roof used was the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, with forty matches to be played in the pool stage on top of the knock-out matches would make the event the largest Rugby World Cup tournament to be played to date. For the first time, a point system was implemented in pool play. The ARUs main promotion for the event was Show Your True Colours, the Australian media criticised the competition early in the tournament as the smaller nations were crushed by the rugby superpowers by 60 points or more. However, some of smaller, third tier nations, such as Japan. In pool C, Samoa gave England a fright with an approach that allowed them to take an early lead, however. This match was marked by controversy, as England fielded 16 players at one point during the game, coinciding with a last-gasp try-saving tackle, the big clashes ran mainly to form. A disappointing South Africa limped through the pool, eventually capitulating to England to relegate them to a quarter final against New Zealand. Australia however only beat Ireland by one point to top their pool, whilst Wales pushed the All Blacks to the wire, France beat Scotland to round out the quarter-finals. The quarter-final stage produced the widely predicted set of semi-finalists, although England again made heavy weather of defeating a resurgent Wales, France destroyed an Irish side who had gone into the match hopeful of a win, scoring 31 early points to put the game out of reach. In the other quarter-finals, a disappointing South Africa fell to New Zealand, the first semi-final produced an upset, when Australia defeated the fancied New Zealand to become the first defending champions to reach the following championship final
43.
VFL/AFL
–
The Australian Football League is the pre-eminent professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the governing body. The league was founded as the Victorian Football League as a breakaway from the previous Victorian Football Association, the league currently consists of 18 teams spread over five of Australias six states. Matches have been played in all states and territories of Australia. The AFL season currently consists of a competition, followed by a 23-round regular season. The top eight teams play off in a four-round finals series, culminating in the AFL Grand Final. The winning team in the Grand Final is termed the premiers, the current premiers are the Western Bulldogs. The six clubs invited two more VFA clubs – Carlton and St Kilda – to join the league for its season in 1897. In 1908, the league expanded to ten teams, with Richmond crossing from the VFA, Port Adelaide was the most successful club of the competition winning three titles during the period along with an earlier victory. In 1925, the VFL expanded from nine teams to twelve, with Footscray, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Hawthorn remained very weak in the VFL for a very long period. Between the years of 1927 and 1930, Collingwood became the first, in 1952, the VFL hosted National Day, when all six matches were played outside of Melbourne. Matches were played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Brisbane Exhibition Ground, North Hobart Oval, Albury Sports Ground and Victorian country towns Yallourn, Footscray became the first of the 1925 expansion teams to win the premiership in 1954. Melbourne became a powerhouse during the 1950s and early 1960s under coach Norm Smith, the club contested seven consecutive grand finals from 1954 to 1960, winning five premierships, including three in a row from 1955 to 1957. Television coverage began in 1957, with telecasts of the final quarter permitted. At first, several channels competed through broadcasting different games, however, when the VFL found that television was reducing crowds, it decided that no coverage was to be allowed for 1960. In 1961, replays were introduced although direct telecasts were rarely permitted in Melbourne, in 1959, the VFL planned the first purpose built mega-stadium, VFL Park, to give it some independence from the Melbourne Cricket Club, which managed the Melbourne Cricket Ground. VFL Park was planned to hold 155,000 spectators, which would have made it one of the largest stadiums in the world – although it would ultimately be built with a capacity of 78,000. Land for the stadium was purchased at Mulgrave, then farmland, the VFL Premiership Trophy was first awarded in addition to a pennant flag in 1959, essentially the same trophy design has been in use since
44.
Association football
–
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
45.
Australia national soccer team
–
The Australian national soccer team represents Australia in international mens soccer. The team has represented Australia at the FIFA World Cup tournament on four occasions, the team has also represented Australia at the FIFA Confederations Cup three times. The first Australia national team was constituted in 1922 for a tour of New Zealand, during the tour, Australia suffered two defeats and scraped a draw. For the next 36 years, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa became regular opponents in tour matches, during that period, Australia also competed against Canada and India during their tours of Australia in 1924 and 1938 respectively. Australia recorded their worst ever defeat on 30 June 1951 as they lost 17–0 in a match to a touring England side, Australia had a rare opportunity to compete on the worlds stage during the teams very first major international tournament as hosts of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. However, an inexperienced squad proved to be reason for the disappointing performance. With the advent of air travel, Australia began to diversify its range of opponents. However, its isolation continued to play a role in its destiny for the next 30 years. It would prove to be the appearance for the Australian team until the World Cup tournament returned to Germany more than three decades later in 2006. The teams previously poor record in World Cup competition was not reflected in their performances against strong European. In 1988, Australia defeated reigning world champions Argentina 4–1 in the Australian Bicentennial Gold Cup, in 1997, Australia drew with reigning world champions Brazil 0–0 in the group stage and then defeated Uruguay 1–0 in the semi-finals to reach the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup Final. Many commentators and fans, most notably soccer broadcaster and former Australian captain Johnny Warren, on 13 March, the AFC executive committee made a unanimous decision to invite Australia to join the AFC. After the OFC executive committee unanimously endorsed Australias proposed move, FIFA approved the move on 30 June 2005. Australia joined Asia, with the taking effect on 1 January 2006, though until then. After a successful campaign, the team took the first steps towards qualification for the 2006 World Cup, after coach Frank Farina stood down from the position after Australias dismal performance at the 2005 Confederations Cup, Guus Hiddink was announced as the new national coach. Australia, ranked 49th, would then have to play the 18th ranked Uruguay in a rematch of the 2001 qualification play-off for a spot in the 2006 World Cup. The second leg of the qualifying play-off was played in front of a crowd of 82,698 at Stadium Australia, Australia led Uruguay 1–0 after 90 minutes following a goal by Mark Bresciano in the first half. The aggregate was tied, and extra time was played, neither team scored after two periods of extra time, bringing the game to a penalty shootout
46.
Sydney FC
–
Sydney Football Club /ˈsɪdni/, commonly known as Sydney FC, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the premier competition, the A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. The club has won two A-League Championships and two Premierships and is the only A-League club to have won the OFC Champions League, since 2006, A-League teams have competed in the AFC Champions League. Sydney FC have participated in the stage of the AFC Champions League three times, previously, in 2007,2011 and 2016, qualifying for the knock-out phase of the tournament once. Having won titles in the W-League and in the National Youth League Sydney hold the distinction of being the club to have won the A-League alongside its two affiliated competitions. The clubs home ground is Allianz Stadium, a 45,500 seat multi-use venue in the suburb of Moore Park, as the only A-League team in the city for the first seven years of its existence, the clubs fans hail from all across the Sydney Metropolitan Area. Since its establishment, Sydney FC has had a reputation for signing high-profile players, notable players who have represented the club include Dwight Yorke, Juninho Paulista, John Aloisi, Brett Emerton, Lucas Neill and Alessandro Del Piero. The first steps towards the foundation of Sydney FC taken in April 2004 when Soccer New South Wales announced its intention to bid for a licence in the new A-League competition. Sydney FC was officially launched as a member of the new 8-team A-League on 1 November 2004, with a 25% stake in the held by Soccer NSW. Walter Bugno was announced as the chairman of the club. These included the choice of the Sydney Football Stadium over Parramatta Stadium as the home ground. German Pierre Littbarski was signed as Head Coach, to be assisted by former Norwich City player Ian Crook, Sydney FC played its first ever match against Manly United FC on 25 March 2005, winning 6–1. Shortly after, Sydney FC set off on a tour to the United Arab Emirates to play matches against local teams FC Hatta, Al Ain FC and Al Jazira, winning all three. Sydney FCs first competitive match was against Queensland Roar at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford as part of an Australian qualifying tournament to enter the 2005 Oceania Club Championship. After winning the match 3–0, Sydney went on to defeat Perth Glory, despite an early scare against New Zealand club Auckland City FC, Sydney FC won all of its matches in the competition and qualified for the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship in Japan. The start of the 2005 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup marked Sydney FCs first match at Allianz Stadium, Yorke scored the first goal of Sydney FCs 3–1 win which stretched its unbeaten run to 9 competitive matches. Upon reaching the semi-finals, Sydneys unbeaten run ended at 11 with Perth Glory midfielder Nick Ward scoring in injury time to inflict the new clubs first ever loss. Sydney FCs first season was ultimately a success, finishing second on the ladder behind Adelaide United they went on to defeat Central Coast Mariners 1–0 in the 2006 A-League Grand Final with Steve Corica scoring in the second half
47.
2015 AFC Asian Cup
–
The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the mens AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015, the win was Australias first Asian title since their move from the Oceania Football Confederation in 2006. Australia was chosen as the host on 5 January 2011, after being the sole bidder for the right to host the 2015 tournament, the matches were played in five different stadiums across five cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle. It was the first time that Australia had hosted the tournament, the final tournament was played in two stages, the group stage and the knockout stage. In the group each team played three games in a group of four, with the winners and runners-up from each group advancing to the knockout stage. In the knockout stage the eight teams competed in matches, beginning with the quarter-finals. A third-place match was played between the two losing teams of the semi-finals. Japan were the defending champions going into the tournament, having won the competition in 2011. They recorded their worst finish in the Asian Cup since the 1996 edition in the United Arab Emirates, Australia initially put forward its bid to host the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in 2010. As the sole bidder for the rights, Australia was officially named host on 5 January 2011. The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification process determined the 16 participating teams for the tournament, there were two main competitive paths to the 2015 Asian Cup. The AFC Challenge Cup acted as a competition for eligible countries within the emerging and developing category of member associations. The winners of the AFC Challenge Cup competitions in 2012 and 2014 qualified automatically for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup finals, the remaining spots were available for the teams competing in the main Asian Cup preliminaries. The AFC decided that the 20 teams involved in the qualifiers would be split into five groups of four teams each, the top two teams from each group and one best third-placed team from among all the groups would qualify for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. The following sixteen teams qualified for the tournament, the draw for the final tournament occurred at the Sydney Opera House on 26 March 2014. The draw procedure involved the 16 participating teams drawn at random into the four groups of the group stage, in preparation for this, the teams were organised into four pots based on a seeding which used the March 2014 FIFA World Rankings. The draw and seeding ensured a fair distribution of teams in the groups, the host nation was automatically placed into Pot 1, with the team having been predetermined to be in Group A. In addition, at the time of the draw, the identity of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup winners was not known yet, and they were automatically placed into Pot 4
Australia v 
India
South Africa
New Zealand
West Indies
.jpg)
