Susie O’Brien: Why Melbourne will always be the front runner in sport

Sydney is dreaming if they think they can rival the Melbourne Cup. They’ve had a two-year chance to share our sporting greatness, but they don’t come close.

Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia. Picture: Jason Edwards

Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia, and nothing that happens in Sydney will ever change that.

We’ve got the Melbourne Cup – the race that stops a nation. They’ve got a new race called The Big Dance.

Sydney has just announced the $2m event will be held on the same day as the Melbourne Cup, but they are dreaming if they think it’s ever going to rival ours.

As far as we’re concerned, it’s already The Big Dunce.

Melbourne has the race that stops a nation. Sydney has a new race called The Big Dance. Picture: Getty Images

We’ve got Marvel Stadium, Rod Laver, AAMI Park and the mighty MCG, which are all close to the city and public transport.

They’ve got Sydney Olympic Park, the home of toxic fish and a redevelopment that’s nearly a decade away. They’ve also got the SCG which is almost always empty.

The MCG is the biggest stadium in the country which held the biggest crowd – nearly 50,000 people more than the largest Sydney crowd.

Victoria has the Formula One Grand Prix — and many more sporting events. Picture: Getty Images

Sydney has no world-class sporting events while Victoria has the Formula One Grand Prix, the Motorcycle Grand Prix, the Australian Open, the AFL Grand Final, the Bells Beach World Title Surfing event, the BBL and the Boxing Day Test.

Give me Ash Barty and Rafael Nadal over the Rabbitos and the Roosters any day.

In April, we’ll have Lewis Hamilton v Max Verstappen; they’ll have half empty stadiums for the NRL.

Give me Rafael Nadal over the Roosters any day. Picture: Getty Images

Sydney is still dining out on its role as host of the 2000 Olympics more than two decades ago, but we held the first Olympics nearly fifty years earlier.

Sydney has fireworks and the Sydney–Hobart yacht race, where all the contestants leave their shores for another place. Take note, Sydney, all the boats are going in one direction – away from you.

The MCG is the biggest stadium in the country.

In Sydney, teams only turn up when they are winning, but in Melbourne families turn up every week to support football sides that only win a grand final once every 40 years.

We’ve also got the biggest football club – Collingwood – which has more than twice as many members as the Sydney Swans.

Sure, they’ve got nice weather, but we’ve got four seasons in one day and you can’t beat that.

With lockdown, we’ve given the rest of Australia a two-year chance to share some of our sporting greatness, but they still don’t come close.

Even Albo, who is from Sydney, thinks Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia.

Take that, Sydney. We’re much better than you.