Australian rules football has a long history in Victoria, shown in this nineteenth-century junior football team from
Geelong In terms of both attendance and media coverage, Australian rules football is the most popular sport in the state. The participation rate of 4% is the third highest in the country with 223,999 players counted in 2004.
Australian rules football originated in Melbourne in 1858. Ten of the eighteen
Australian Football League clubs are based in Victoria, and the
Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is held by many to be the spiritual home of the game. Victoria hosted all
Australian Football International Cup competitions from 2002 to 2017.
Current Teams •
Melbourne Football Club est 1858 •
Geelong Football Club est 1859 •
Carlton Football Club est 1864 •
North Melbourne Football Club est 1869 •
Essendon Football Club est 1871 •
St. Kilda Football Club est 1873 •
Western Bulldogs Football Club est 1877 •
Richmond Football Club est 1885 •
Collingwood Football Club est 1892 •
Hawthorn Football Club est 1902
Basketball Basketball has the highest participation rate in the state.
Melbourne United (previously Melbourne Tigers) and
South East Melbourne Phoenix are Melbourne's current teams in the
National Basketball League (Australia). United have won the championship 4 times, in 1993, 1997,
2005-2006 and
2007-2008, with the Phoenix, being a new club, having yet to win a title. Both teams currently play home games at
John Cain Arena in the centre of Melbourne, with SE Phoenix playing several games a year at the
State Basketball Centre in the eastern Melbourne suburb of
Wantirna South. Between 2010 and 2013, Basketball in Victoria experienced an increase in participation and at the time had more players in the state than any other sport.
Current Teams •
Melbourne United est 1984 •
South East Melbourne Phoenix est 2018
Cricket Cricket is also popular in Victoria. The governing body for the sport is
Cricket Victoria which administers the 1,182 cricket clubs and 112,000 registered cricketers in Victoria, and 62,774 children involved in school-based competition. The
Victorian cricket team is the state team for both men and women and currently competes in the
Sheffield Shield,
Marsh One-Day Cup and Women's National Cricket League. Since 2011, the
Melbourne Renegades and
Melbourne Stars have competed in the
Big Bash League, Australia's professional domestic
Twenty20 series.
Current Teams •
Victorian cricket team est 1851 •
Melbourne Renegades est 2011 •
Melbourne Stars est 2011
Soccer Soccer in Victoria is governed by the
Football Victoria. It is particularly popular among migrant communities and has one of the highest sporting participation level in the state (after basketball). Victoria currently features three teams in the National
A-League in both the men's and women's competitions.
Current Teams •
Melbourne Victory FC est 2004 •
Melbourne City FC est 2009
Former Teams •
Western United FC 2018–2025
Rugby league The predominantly Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria didn't play host to much
rugby league football, which was traditionally a New South Wales and Queensland-based game during the 20th century. Some representative games were played in Melbourne to gauge public interest in the sport in the early 1990s and the crowds were encouraging. When the newly formed
National Rugby League re-emerged in 1998,
Melbourne Storm was part of the lineup of clubs. They have since become one of the most successful teams in the League and gained a significant following in their home state. As of 2026, there are 18 amateur clubs based in Melbourne with further clubs in regional areas around the state. All clubs are part of
NRL Victoria Melbourne hosted several international matches including: Australia vs England during the
2008 Rugby League World Cup and again in the 2010 Four Nations Series, the
2010 ANZAC Test, which attracted a capacity crowd at the newly opened
AAMI Park and several games at the
2017 Rugby League World Cup including a quarter final.
Current Teams •
Melbourne Storm est 1997
Motorsport Motor racing has its Australian roots in Melbourne. One of the earlier motor races was held on a horse racing venue in Melbourne, but organised motor racing as we know it today began with the first running of the
Australian Grand Prix, held on a rectangular dirt road course on the streets of
Phillip Island in
1928. The Grand Prix wandered across the country in subsequent decades but today is held as part of the
Formula One World Drivers Championship on the streets of inner Melbourne around
Albert Park Lake. A modern
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit hosts the
Australian motorcycle Grand Prix. The state has more motor racing circuits than any other as well as providing the home base for more than half of the teams contesting the premier domestic motor racing series,
V8 Supercar. Even New South Wales' signature motor race, the
Bathurst 1000, has its roots in Victoria, having been first held as a 500-mile race at Phillip Island.
Netball Netball is recognised as the largest female participation sport in
Australia. In
Victoria there are in excess of 105,000 registered participants, which does not include the tens of thousands of school children that participate in school netball programs annually. Approximately 240 associations/groups affiliate with
Netball Victoria on an annual basis. Affiliation provides access to netball events, programs and services as well as a pathway to State, National and International representation. Associations are geographically grouped into one of the 20 Regions, and then Regions are grouped into one of six Zones. 96% of the Netball Victoria membership is female. 55% of the membership resides in regional Victoria with the remaining 45% in the metropolitan suburbs in and around
Melbourne. 62% of the Netball Victoria membership is aged seventeen (17) and under, with the majority of the remaining participants aged between eighteen and fifty. Victoria has two teams in the national
Super Netball competition, the
Melbourne Vixens and the
Melbourne Mavericks.
Current Teams •
Melbourne Vixens est 2007 •
Melbourne Mavericks est 2023
Former Teams •
Collingwood Magpies 2016-2023
Rugby union According to the
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2007), Victoria has very low rugby participation (less than 1%), dominated by amateur competition run by the
Victorian Rugby Union, and participation in many private schools. However, international rugby matches attract large attendances, (e.g.
2003 Rugby World Cup, and
sevens at the 2006 Commonwealth Games). The
Melbourne Rebels represented Victoria in the professional
Super Rugby competition. Their formation was long-awaited in the state, the
Victorian Rugby Union having bid twice previously for a licence, the first time in 1995, losing to the
ACT Brumbies, and the second time in 2005, losing to the
Western Force. Their bid for the 15th licence was successful in 2010, however, after 14 years, Rugby Australia pulled the Rebel's licence, citing excessive debts incurred in running the team as the reason. The team folded in 2024, leaving Australia's second largest city without a team in Super Rugby. ==Open Water Swimming==