“Happy Slam”

Beside baseball, cricket and football there is another kind of sport which often seems to be in the shade when talking about Australia.  Thereby you shouldn’t forget that Down Under – or better Melbourne – is part of a very awesome international tournament. You might already noticed what I’m talking about: the Australian Open which are part of the international Grand Slam tournament which takes place in Australia, French, Great Britain an in the US. It’s all about tennis. This sport has suffered from a void where much of the history has simply vanished or focused only on the leading players of the time where Aussies were “just” part of during the 1960’s. Australia, does have a significant place in the annals of tennis and it a pleasure to present, in the one location, some interesting historical aspects of the game as it developed here and spawned a sporting industry which catered to the demand. The Grand Slam tournaments are the biggest, highest paid and most popular tennis tournaments all over the world. 

 

 

Probably the most successful Australian tennis player is Rodney George Laver. With more than 200 single titles won during his career he is also one of the greatest tennis player in the history of this sport.
Nowadays there are a few tennis players who shared the best ranks with each other: the “Elite Four” consisting of the Spanish Rafael Nadal, the Swiss Roger Federer, the Serb Novak Djokovic and the Scot Andy Murray. It is hard to really differentiate between these four great grand slam players although Djokovic is the only one of them who won all of the four tournaments in a row.

 

Rod Laver

 

When talking about Tennis in Australia you cannot miss the Australian Open. The Australian Open – the first of the annual four major international tennis tournaments – takes place every year in January in Melbourne. They had a difficult stand in the history of tennis tournaments.
In the 1980’s there were lots of discussions about the fact if the Australian Open are still allowed to be a part of the so-called “Big Four”. The best tennis players at this time didn’t join the event in Down Under ’cause the Australian Open were hold over the time of Christmas. That made the tournament unattractive especially for the successful European and American players like Bjorn Borg or John McEnroe.
Not until 1986 the Australian Open organisers decided to change the dates of the Australian Open to the end of January. Therefore they also agreed to change the location and since 1988 the Australian Open  have hold in Melbourne.

 

 

In the time era between 1950 to 1968 Aussies won the Davis Cup 15 out of 18 times – until today the most successful era of any country in the Davis Cup. The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men’s tennis. The Aussie men won the Davis Cup more than 20 times since this event has been taking place in 1900. The premier women event is the Federation Cup. By the way Australia is one of just three nations all over the world which won both titles in one year.
When thinking about tennis in Australia you have to mention the “golden age” of this sport between the 1950’s and 1960’s. During the 1960’s the international world of tennis were dominated by six Australian men: Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe, Tony Roche, Ken Rosewall and Fred Stolle who won at least one Grand Slam title during this era.
Today the Australian Open are one of the most popular sport events in the world and can reach millions of visitors each year. It’s definitely a must if you visit the most awesome country all over the world.

Thanks for that!

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World Masters Games

In 2017 the 9th World Masters Games are going to take place in Auckland New Zealand. The World Masters Games are an international sport event – but not the same as every other one. It is called the biggest multi-sport competition on the world. There are two criteria for participants to be allowed to take part at this competition. Firstly they need to be a member of their sport – obviously. Secondly they have to be at minimum in the age range between 25 and 35 (mostly the athletes are not younger than 40 years) to an open end maximum age. The average age of the participants is 50 years. (For comparison only: The average age of Olympians is 26 years.) And to stress it it’s interesting that the athletes don’t represent their country so there is no process of getting selected in a national competition.
The first games ever were hold in Toronto in 1985. Since then the World Masters Games have been taking place generally every four years. Next year more than 25.000 athletics are going to be expected in this event consisting of over 45 disciplines.

 

 

The idea behind the games was to give former Olympians the chance to have a few more competitions even if they are older than Olympic athletes. So more than 230 past Olympians participated at the Masters World Games in 2009 in Australia seven years ago. But there are not just these type of sportspersons.
There are lots of different sports disciplines. The former but still passionate sportsmen compete against each other in competitions like weightlifting, athletics or tennis. The oldest guy who competed at the World Masters Games was more than 100 years old – and still won a gold medal in his discipline of 100 metres for which he needed more than two minutes.
Significant the motto of the World Masters Games in Sydney: Fit, fun and forever young. A prove for the success of that sport event is the fact that more athletes took part at the World Masters Games in Sydney in 2009 than at the Olympic games in the same city nine years ago.
Until today above 20.000 athletes from over 95 countries have applied for the upcoming event in 2017. To put it in a nutshell: the World Masters Games are even bigger than the Olympic Games.  Unbelievable isn’t it?

 

 

The World Masters Games have got an impressive history and are a proof of the success of sports out of “normal” age. When you think about the fact that just 8000 athletes took part at the first World Masters Games it’s unbelievable that since the first competition the number of participants have been rising year per year to one of the biggest sport competitions all over the world. As it was hold in 2013 athletes from more than 107 different countries took part at it. There were already some winter sport events in 2010 and 2015 which also had a big number of participants.
The World Masters Games are the international edition of this kind of Olympic events with smaller competitions like the European Masters Games or the Pacific Masters Games to bridge the time gap to the next WMGs.
It is definitely an arising sport event so why don’t become a part of the also growing fan community?

 

Cheers! 

 

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Soccer in Down Under and Up Over

The most popular sport in the world is undoubtedly soccer. The history of that sport started in England in 1869 when you talk about nowadays-soccer. But the real origins are even further behind. So some sources claim that a kind of soccer has played during the 2nd century BC in China. 
In the following article I wanna take a look at the – let’s call it – “soccer situation” in Australia and in Germany. Therefore I decided for three different points I wanna focus on. The history of soccer in the two countries, the league systems and a small selection of famous soccer clubs. 
Firstly let us think about the history. There are some debates about the first documented soccer game in Australia. Some experts claim the first one was hold in the early 1870s, other historian try to prove that the first real game was hold in 1875 where the players followed the British soccer rules for the first time (or at least the rule that they weren’t allowed to carry or handle the ball.) The A-League – the top league in Australia – was founded in 2004.
In Germany lots of sources date the first soccer game in the year 1850 where some students played soccer after own created rules which were quite similar to the British ones. Even if it is hard to imagine but soccer had a very difficult start in Germany. Today it is – and this is undisputed – the most popular sport even in Europe. The Bundesliga – the top league in Germany – was established in 1962. Until today there is one soccer club who was one of the founders of this league and is still one of the 18 teams of the league: the Hamburger SV.

One of the first pictures from an Australian soccer team: St. Kilda British Football Club.

 

A picture of one of the first small German soccer teams.

Let’s continue with the really different league systems. Therefore we limit our view to the most popular German and Australian League, the Bundesliga or rather the A-League.
The A-League consists currently of at least ten soccer clubs – nine from Australia one from New Zealand. These clubs cannot relegate into a lower league. That might be based on the fact that there are “just” around 14.000 soccer clubs in Down Under. During the short time of the foundation – the A-League has been existing for twelve years – totally 13 teams have competed in there.
The Bundesliga consists of 18 clubs. In comparison to Australia in Germany every club has got the opportunity to get promoted into the Bundesliga. During the years of existing already more than 50 different clubs have played there. By the way there are more than 27.000 registered soccer clubs in my home country.
At the top league in Germany the rules determine that at least the 17th and 18th have to relegate into the lower 2nd Bundesliga therefore the 1st and 2nd from this league promote into the Bundesliga. The 16th of the Bundesliga has to play two relegation matches against the 3rd of the 2nd Bundesliga. The winner of these games is allowed to play at the top league during the next season. Since this rule was re – implemented in 2009 the first-league club won six times and the second-league two times.
But the fact that there is no promotion or relegation in the Australian top league might be the biggest difference between the German and the Aussie league system.

Another focus is the comparison of the most successful soccer clubs from both countries. For that let us take a look at two clubs from each country. 
For Germany I chose the top two of our so called Ewige-Bundesligatabelle – a table where every soccer club ever played in the Bundesliga is recorded with his number of wins, draws, losses and goal difference – Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. For Australia I decided for the Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers  (Sydney FC-fans and Melbourne City-fans can blame me for that decision).  It is a little bit difficult to compare the German clubs to Australian ones ’cause the A-League has just existed for a very short time – while the Bundesliga has worked for over 50 years. But let’s give it a try.
Firstly we should clarify how long these teams were played in the top league of their countries. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund were played in the Bundesliga for more than 50 years while Melbourne Victory competed in the A-League since 2005 and the Western Sydney Wanderers since 2012.  Bayern Munich won the league championship for more than 25 times, Borussia Dortmund for eight times. Melbourne Victory is – beside Brisbane Roar – the team who won the A-League most with three titles, the Western Sydney Wanderers  one time. But these numbers don’t tell so much. And you shouldn’t forget that the German soccer clubs have got a longer history than the Australian ones.
If you are taking a look at the international titles you see the reason why I decided for the the Western City Wanderers. They are the only club in the A-League who won the AFC-Final. In the international world ranking they are also the best Australian soccer club on rank 566 while Melbourne Victory is at the 614th rank place. In comparison to that both German soccer clubs are in the top ten as Bayern Munich is on the 2nd rank and Borussia Dortmund on rank place nine.  

At last but not least my personal opinion about the future “soccer situation” of soccer in Australia is promising. It’s even getting more and more popular and is able to encourage more supporters then before. And who knows?
Maybe Australia will become one of the next international leading soccer countries during the following years. Asia, and especially China, is already on the way up to a new soccer power in the world. Therefore I support the view of Tim Cahill who said: “It’s a massive compliment to me to be known in Asia because Asia is the way forward in football, along with the Middle East. I believe that strongly.“

 

So long!

 

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International business

 

To bridge the time gap until the next sport post I decided to write a little bit about famous Australian sportsmen.
Australia became a part of the international sport business which should not be underestimated. You just have to take a look at the achievements of the different Aussie national teams. For instance: Australia’s most successful Olympic event is the Men’s 1500m Freestyle. The country has won this sport event eight times which is the most by any country.

One of the popular Aussie swimmers is Leisel Jones. She won nine Olympic medals – the most won by any Australian. She also became the first swimmer of her country who compete at four Olympic games. In 2005 and the following 2006 she got the award “World swimmer of the year“.

 

Let’s continue with a sport which will become one of the most popular sport categories during the next few years: soccer.

After the Socceroos took part at the FIFA World Cup two years ago this kind of sport finally has been developing to one of the most important disciplines in Australia.
Nearly every Aussie connects Tim Cahill with soccer. And this comes as no surprise. Cahill is probably the most popular soccer player across Australia. He is the best example of breaking-records actions. He is one of just seven players worldwide who scored at least one goal in the last three world championships. During the last World Cup one of the freeways constructed in Australia was named Tim Cahill freeway as an honour to this awesome soccer man.
He is also a part of the Greatest ever Australian team.

 

But not just men are successful at soccer. So let’s take a further look at a very talented sporty woman. Therefore we should focus on Lisa Marie de Vanna. She is considered as one of the greatest female soccer players in the world. In 2007 she was nominated for the FIFA World Player of the year and get rewarded as the Western Australian Sportswoman of the year.  De Vanna has been being the captain of the Matildas since 2015 and is going to be the best female scorer in Australia.

You  might already noticed my passion for soccer. That could be based on my home country. Soccer is the most popular sport in Germany. We have lots of international players in our best clubs even from Australia for example Matthew Leckie as a player from FC Ingolstadt. 

So don’t let us beat around the bush – for the last but not least let us get straight to the most popular sport in Australia. You don’t need to have a guess what kind of sport it is: football. You just have to take a look at the success of AFL players. Or at the media review of the grand final last month to remark the popularity.

By the way my host family told me that football does not automatically mean football here in Down Under. In some states it is called footy, in other ones there is no really differentiation between football and soccer as it is used as a synonym. For me as a German guy there is a clear difference between these two sports. Even in my country we’ve got a few football clubs – but it’s nothing to compare with Australia. And it does not share this recognition like here.

But let’s come back to the topic.

 

Probably the best Aussie football player is Leigh Matthews. He is officially recognised as the most successful player in the 20th century. Matthews is one of only three Australian rules footballers recognised as a Legend of Australian Sport in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. The highest award an Aussie rules player can get nominated for is named after him – it is the Leigh Matthews Trophy. After his time as an active player – during which he got nominated for the AFL team of the century – Matthews became one of the most successful AFL coaches of all time.

 

These are just a few examples of famous Australian sportsmen. There would be more than enough to enumerate but that would exceed this space here. But it might be an opportunity to continue this list of popular Aussie sportsmen during the following time. 

See you and keep a stiff upper lip!

 

 

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How was your weekend?

Me and some friends visited a fantastic sport event in Sydney –  an exciting fundraising match. On October 22nd the 9th Dragon Abreast Festival took place at Darling Harbour. This kind of feast has been taking place in spring each year since it started in 2007. It is a competition where at least two dragon boat-teams have to give their best to win the single contest.

I went there ’cause I never saw a dragon boat race before. The information about the festival were written down on an event website. And my idea was: “Well if I’m around anyway I can visit adventures like this.” When I arrived at the location it started to rain. Therefore my respect for all the participants and volunteers who braved the elements and did not stop their work. And trust me it was amazing to watch more than 30 teams which took part at this competition even under this circumstances.
The entire underlying idea of that festival is to take people aware of breast cancer. During 2016 just here in Australia already more than 15500 women got the diagnosis that they suffer from this disease. Even if there is a chance to survive it there are above 3000 women who died in cause of this sickness for the last few months. The Dragon Abreast Festival – which is part of the Dragon Abreast Australia – wants to support the researches of medicines to defeat breast cancer and to help breast cancer survivors to get back into a normal life. For this all the teams of the festival donated an optional amount of money. All in all they collect over $100.000.

Even as a spectator you felt the motivation of the teams to become the best in categories like Fastest Female Team or Best Dressed Team.  Even the team with the “most generous” time won a prize – the Wooden Paddle Award. As it was a very successful event it will be continued in 2017 – when the Dragon Abreast Festival will celebrate its 10th birthday.

Good luck and much success furthermore for that awesome way of fundraising!

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