Professional Sport in Australia and New Zealand: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Both countries also have successful elite athlete development systems that provide playing talent not only for domestic competitions, but also for overseas professional sports as diverse as English Premier League Football, Rugby League, Rugby Union and County Cricket in the UK, the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the Womens' National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League. Athletes from Australia and New Zealand also feature prominently in the world Top 100 for professional sports tours as diverse as tennis (e.g., Lleyton Hewitt and Alicia Molik), golf (e.g., Karrie Webb, Michael Campbell, and Adam Scott), surfing (e.g., Layne Beachley, Joel Parkinson, Chelsea Georgeson, Luke Egan) and motor racing (e.g., Mark Webber).