page_title: Riverina
section_title: Sports
hierarchical_section_title: Riverina / Sports
caption_attribution_description: English: en:Evonne Goolagong Park in en:Barellan, New South Wales
context_page_description: The Riverina
  is an agricultural region of South-Western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on the south by the state of Victoria and on the east by the Great Dividing Range, the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the Murray and Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west.
  Home to Aboriginal groups for over 40,000 years, the Riverina was originally colonised by Europeans in the mid-19th century as a pastoral region providing beef and wool to markets in Australia and beyond. In the 20th century, the development of major irrigation areas in the Murray and Murrumbidgee valleys has led to the introduction of crops such as rice and wine grapes. The Riverina has strong cultural ties to Victoria, and the region was the source of much of the impetus behind the federation of Australian colonies.
context_section_description: The Riverina is well known for the quality and range of its sports activity and many famous sportsmen and women have hailed from the Riverina. These include:
  Tennis champions Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong Cawley
  Cricketers Mark Taylor, Geoff Lawson and Michael Slater
  Rugby league players Peter Sterling and Laurie Daley and the Mortimer brothers: Chris Mortimer, Peter Mortimer and Steve Mortimer
  Australian rules footballers Haydn Bunton Senior, Paul Kelly, Brett Kirk, Shane Crawford and Wayne Carey
  Soccer players Archie Thompson and Joshua Kennedy.
  Jockeys Arthur "Scobie" Breasley and Roy Higgins.
  Basketball great Lauren Jackson.
  The "Wagga Effect" is a term that has been used frequently in the Australian media to describe the disproportionately large number of elite sportsmen and women that originate from the town. It is speculated that the phenomenon may arise in rural areas where the population is large enough to sustain the presence of a large number of sporting codes, but small enough to ensure that talented individuals are exposed to adult-level competition at an earlier age.
  Unusually for New South Wales, Australian rules football is quite popular as the Riverina is south of the Barassi Line, and there are many clubs and leagues in the district, including the Riverina Football League, Farrer Football League, Hume Football League, Northern Riverina Football League and Coreen & District Football League. In addition, many clubs along the border play in Victorian leagues such as the Ovens & Murray Football League, Murray Football League, Picola & District Football League and the Golden Rivers Football League.
  In the northern part of the Riverina, Rugby league and Rugby Union are both strong. Rugby League competitions in the district include Group 9, Group 17 and Group 20 Rugby League. Teams from Corowa and Finley play in the Goulburn Murray Rugby League. Rugby Union in the district is run by the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union, with clubs from Albury, Wagga Wagga, Cootamundra, Temora and Hay competing in the Southern Inland Rugby Union.
  Other popular sports in the Riverina include cycling, bowls, cricket, netball, tennis and horse racing. The Riverina is home to many racecourses and picnic race meetings are held regularly at places such as Corowa, Berrigan, Carrathool, Tumut and Lockhart.
caption: Evonne Goolagong Park in Barellan, the home town of the dual Wimbledon champion.
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