The question of what Australia’s national sport is has occupied us for decades, igniting passionate debate at the pub, forcing us to grapple with ideas of what makes a sport part of the national identity and even inspiring a TAB campaign in which famous athletes cast a vote for their own sports.
Cricket has been the default answer for a long time, but is it still the national sport? Arguing no is Crikey’s media reporter (and sports fanatic) Daanyal Saeed, and making the affirmative case is sports writer Megan Maurice.
It was October 2022 and I was in a dark room in a radiology clinic waiting for a biopsy on a suspected malignant tumour. I knew by then it was quite likely to be bad news. When the doctor entered the room, he asked me gentle questions to put me at ease, enquiring about what I did for work. When he found out I was a sports journalist, he quickly turned the conversation to the upcoming men’s Test series against South Africa and asked for my opinion on the team Australia would select.
There, among the unfolding horrors of my life, cricket provided a spark of joy in the dark. Most people I know have stories like this, times when the sport provided an unexpected connection with a stranger, with people from all walks of life across this wide, brown land.
Cricket holds this power because it is our national sport. While there may be some who argue the case for AFL, given its muddying of the Barassi Line in recent years, there continues to be too strong an allegiance to rugby league in NSW and Queensland for AFL to legitimately unite us as a nation.
Many more will support the elevation of round ball football (soccer to those who need a distinguishing name among the plentiful other football codes in Australia) to this status, after the incredible success of the Matildas last year.
While the Matildas certainly united Australia and inspired the next generation to take up the game, football as a sport hits a stumbling block when considering the strength of the domestic competition. The A-Leagues have experienced growth over the years, but most of the country’s best players must eventually leave it behind in search of a higher standard of competition and better pay overseas.
Compare this to cricket, where not only do the women’s and men’s Big Bash Leagues draw in Australia’s best T20 cricketers, but those from around the world as well. Almost 600 players nominated for the international draft in 2024, highlighting the strength of the competition and exciting atmosphere it provides.
Cricket’s hold on our hearts is also being driven by migration trends. Though there may be a slight dwindling among the traditional white male audience, there is growth and resurgence among newer Australians. In 2022/23 (the most recent year for which data is available), the most common country of origin for permanent migrants to Australia was India. Also in the top 10 were cricket-playing nations Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Indian-born Australians now comprise 2.9% of the population, and many more have Indian and other south Asian heritage. This growing population is a driving force behind community cricket and has brought renewed passion to the stands of the professional game.
Women and girls have also contributed to the upswell that keeps cricket at the top of the rising tide. It is a sport that has long been at the forefront of gender equity — in 2016, the NSW Breakers became the first fully professional domestic women’s sporting team in Australia, and this was followed closely by the negotiation of a revenue-sharing model for female cricketers in 2017, taking professionalism nationwide. In 2023, a new deal saw a pay increase of almost 66% for women, with approximately 75% of female domestic cricketers earning over $100,000 a year. In our current era of women’s sport dominance, our national sport should be the one that pays women what they are worth — not just the select few who make it to the very pinnacle and represent Australia, but also those who lay the groundwork in our domestic competitions, driving viewership and participation.
Perhaps most importantly of all, cricket provides hope for the future. Despite the best efforts of the “keep politics out of sport” crowd, Australian men’s Test captain Pat Cummins continues to “go woke” without the slightest indication that he will ever “go broke”. Cummins founded the player-led Cricket for Climate movement in 2021, aiming to “lead the way on climate solutions and create change that benefits everyone.” The sport has also stepped into other political domains, including supporting the “Yes” campaign in the Voice referendum and becoming one of the first Australian sports to introduce a trans and gender diverse inclusion policy.
Australia has changed a great deal since the days of David Boon drinking 52 beers on a flight, which helped power the great myth of Australia as the land of the larrikin. But cricket has kept pace with this changing nation. Cricket in 2024 is equitable, inclusive, progressive and diverse, reflecting modern Australia in a way no other sport does.
From kids running around in suburban parks to the gruelling Test arena, cricket continues to inspire, unite and spread joy. It is as synonymous with Australian summer as barbeques and Golden Gaytimes. It is the queen of the summertime, our beloved national sport. Long may it reign.
Read the opposing argument by Daanyal Saeed.
