'Tie Me Kangaroo Down - sport': Sports Clubs in Australia

摘要

Australia carries the reputation of being, per capita, the most sports-orientated nation in the world. This is when measured in terms of international success in sports such as cricket, rugby union, swimming and athletics, and it must be remembered that the population of Australia is a mere 19 million, mostly huddled around the edge of a vast island continent that has a landmass nearly as big as the us. This small population has to be compared with, for example, the UK at over 60 million and the us at about 275 million. It must also be borne in mind that the tourist brochure image of perpetual blue skies, golden beaches and beautiful tanned bodies refers to a country with huge climatic differences ranging from the temperate coastal conditions of New South Wales to steamy northern tropical conditions in Queensland and the Northern Territory, to cooler, greyer weather in the south, to searing hot arid desert throughout the expansive middle, and to snow-covered alpine conditions in the mountains. An overview of the sports and social club culture in, for example, the greater Sydney region, reveals that excluding nightclubs there are about 1,600 clubs over a wide spectrum ranging from sports, cultural, social and political groups to various minority-interest groups such as the NSW Coaster Collectors Club, or possibly the most eccentric, the New South Wales Fancy Rat and Mouse Club!