A golden decade on home soil looms for Australian sport – let’s not waste it

Blink and you might miss it – the latest international sporting event heading to these shores. Such is the rate at which major tournaments are being announced, it is hard to stay up to date. This week not one but two major tournaments were confirmed, with rugby union’s governing body officially rubber stamping Australia as host of the 2027 men’s World Cup and 2029 women’s World Cup. These are just the latest additions to what is shaping up as a golden decade on the Australian sporting calendar.

In August, Australian and American swimmers will face off in the “duel in the pool” in Sydney – the return of an event that saw its heyday in the 2000s. In September, Australia will host the UCI Road World Championships, with the world’s best cyclists racing on the scenic roads around Wollongong. At the same time, Sydney is set to host the basketball women’s World Cup. Soon after the men’s cricket T20 World Cup will begin, after a two-year pandemic-induced postponement.

These three major events are just the beginning. The Fifa Women’s World Cup in mid-2023, co-hosted with New Zealand, will be the biggest international sporting event of the year. It will build on a hugely successful last edition in France in 2019 and cement the Matildas’ status as one of the country’s favourite national teams.

Then comes the Commonwealth Games in 2026, spread across regional Victoria, the Netball World Cup in 2027 in Sydney, the two Rugby World Cups, and a host of other major events (including world championships for BMX and canoe slalom, and the British and Irish Lions Tour). No doubt more will be added. It all builds towards the main event: the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, in Queensland, the third time in history that Australia has hosted the