10 January 2001 Seeking to improve sport in Melbourne is like trying to better Essendon as a football team or Australia's recent record in Test cricket. Our many cups are already full to overflowing, yet dynamic and imaginative people are seeking constantly to improve the spoils.
Competitiveness is the way of sport.
Melbourne's claim to be the sports capital of Australia is not idle, even if the distinctions between sports, sporting and sportsmanlike are now starker than ever. Melbourne was the birthplace of Test cricket and Australian rules football. It is home to the biggest football match, cricket match and horse race of the year, home also to one of the four Grand Slam tennis events, home of car and motorcycle Grand Prix and periodically home to important golf tournaments. It has a strong history in soccer and basketball, and a strong future in rugby. It had an Olympic Games 40 years before Sydney, and will soon have a Commonwealth Games, too.