Aussie Sports Trivia

For a country with a relatively small population, Australia has a proud sporting history. It has long been a world power in cricket and rugby union, its Australian Rules football league is a national obsession and the "Socceroos" are an emerging force in international soccer. Whether compiling a quiz or just looking for a few facts to drop into conversation next time you watch these sports on TV, Aussie sports trivia is a fascinating field to investigate.

  1. Cricket

    • As of May 2011, Steve Waugh holds the record for the most career matches played by an Australian test cricketer. He made 168 appearances between 1985 and 2004. The most career runs by an Australian test cricketer were scored by Ricky Ponting, who hit 12,363 between 1995 and 2010. Ponting also holds the record for the most career centuries: 39, seven more than Steve Waugh. However, the title of most double centuries by an Australian test cricketer goes to Donald Bradman, who scored 12 between 1930 and 1948. The top three run partnerships in Australian test cricket all contain Bradman as well: two of his 1934 partnerships with Bill Ponsford and his 1946/1947 partnership with Sid Barnes all garnered over 385 runs.

    Australian Rules Football

    • The record attendance for an Australian Rules football match is 121,696. This was the number of people who turned up for the 1970 VFL Grand Final between Carlton and Collingwood. Carlton won the match by 10 points. The most career goals scored by an Australian rules player is the 1360 scored by Tony Lockett when playing for St Kilda and Sydney between 1983 and 2002. Melbourne's Fred Fanning remains the only man to have scored 18 goals in a single Australian Rules game, doing so in a 1947 match against St Kilda.

    Rugby Union

    • As of May 2011, George Gregan holds the record for the most appearances for the Australian national rugby union team. He appeared 139 times between 1994 and 2007. Michael Lynagh is the only player to have scored over 900 points for the Australian national team, managing 911 between 1984 and 1995, including 195 points at the Rugby World Cup. Peter Slattery has the best win ratio of any player to have played over 10 games for the national side. Australia won 94.11 percent of games he played in between 1990 and 1995.

    Soccer

    • The Australian national soccer team holds the record for the greatest victory margin in a professional soccer match, as of May 2011. They beat American Samoa 31-0 in a World Cup qualifying game in 2001. Archie Thompson, who scored 13 goals in that match, also broke the record for the most goals scored in a single soccer game. Damian Mori has scored the most goals for the so-called "Socceroos" in total, netting 29 between 1992 and 2002.