Ballarat is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. Ballarat has a population of 119,086, making it the third-largest city in Victoria.
Stawell ( "stall"), is an Australian town in the Wimmera region of Victoria 237 kilometres (147 mi) west-north-west of the state capital, Melbourne. Located within the Shire of Northern Grampians local government area, it is a seat of local government for the shire and its main administrative centre. At the 2021 census, Stawell had a population of 6,220.
Ararat is a town in south-west Victoria, Australia, about 198 kilometres (120 mi) west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills and Cemetery Creek valley between Victoria's Western District and the Wimmera. Its urban population according to 2021 census is 8,500 and services the region of 11,880 residents across the Rural City's boundaries. It is also the home of the 2018/19 GMGA Golf Championship Final.
The Queensland Rugby Football League (QRL) is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission and selects the members of the Queensland rugby league team.
NRL South Australia is a not-for-profit organisation responsible for administering the game of rugby league in the state of South Australia. It was formed on 28 July 1976 and is an affiliated state of the Australian Rugby League Commission.
NRL Victoria is responsible for administering the game of rugby league in the Australian state of Victoria. Victoria is an Affiliated State of the overall Australian governing body the National Rugby League. The VRL commenced in 1952 and has been running each year since.
North Ballarat Football & Netball Club, nicknamed the Roosters, is an Australian rules football and netball club based at Mars Stadium in Ballarat.
Women's Australian rules football, is the female-only form of Australian rules football, generally with some modification to the laws of the game.
AFL Capricornia is an amateur Australian rules football competition played across Central Queensland between the months of March to September, which are typically the cooler months of the Queensland climate. Spanning across three main regions of Central Queensland including: Rockhampton, Gladstone and Livingstone. The league is only mildly popular with rugby league being the much more popular football code in Central Queensland.
Australian rules football in New South Wales is a team sport played and observed in the Australian state. It dates back to the colonial era in 1866, with organised competitions being continuous since the 1880s. Today, it is popular in several regions of the state, including areas near the Victorian and South Australian borders—Riverina, Broken Hill, and South Coast. These areas form part of an Australian cultural divide described as the Barassi Line. To the east of the line, it is known as "AFL", named after the elite Australian Football League competition. AFL NSW/ACT is the main development body, and includes the Australian Capital Territory.
Australian rules football in Victoria is the most watched and second most participated code of football. Australian rules football originated in Melbourne in the late 1850s and grew quickly to dominate the sport, which it continues to. Victoria has more than double the number of players of any other state in Australia accounting for approximately 42% of all Australian players in 2023 and continues to grow strongly. Only Soccer in Victoria has more football participants, though the code's growth in Victoria has made up much ground lost to that code over previous decades such that they have now a similar number of players. The sport is governed by AFL Victoria based in Melbourne. The national governing body, the AFL Commission is also based in Melbourne.
Ballan is a small town in Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballan had a population of 3,392.
Rugby league football has been played and watched by people in the Australian state of Victoria since the early 20th century. While for most of its history there the game's popularity has been marginal due to the dominance of Australian rules football in Victoria, rugby league's popularity has rapidly increased in recent years in the state's capital of Melbourne, due mainly to the introduction of a professional Melbourne-based team in the national competition.
Rugby league in Queensland is the most watched winter sport in the state and the second most participated football code after soccer. Rugby league was introduced in 1908 and within just a few years it surpassed rugby union there to become the most popular football code as players switched to play professionally in the Queensland Rugby League. In the 1920s, Queenslanders began leaving to play professionally in the New South Wales Rugby League which became a more popular competition. However Queensland maintained a strong rugby league culture, with the state continuing to perform well in interstate rugby league. The later advent of the State of Origin series ensured that players would return to represent their state.
The Wimmera Football League is a major Australian rules country league based in Western Victoria, with clubs located in towns in the Wimmera region: the regional centres along the Western Highway from Ararat to Nhill as well as Minyip-Murtoa and Warracknabeal.
The regions of Victoria vary according to the different ways that the Australian state of Victoria is divided into distinct geographic regions. The most commonly used regions are those created by the state government for the purposes of economic development.
Eureka Stadium, known commercially as Mars Stadium, is an oval-shaped sports stadium located in the Eureka Sports Precinct of Wendouree, 2.9 km (1.8 mi) north of the CBD of the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
Bowls Victoria, established in 1880 is the governing body for the sport of bowls in the State of Victoria. In addition to its specific responsibility for governing the sport and the development of the game at all levels, it also has a social objective to enhance existing bowling communities and to position bowls clubs and the sport in the wider community.
Relocation of professional sports teams occurs when a team owner moves a team, generally from one metropolitan area to another, but occasionally between municipalities in the same conurbation. Australia and New Zealand uses a North American-style league franchise system which means the teams are overwhelmingly privately owned and therefore favours relocation practices. Owners who move a team generally do so seeking better profits, facilities, fan support, or a combination of these.
