Sports run in the family…

Purely by chance, today’s news includes two separate instances of immediate family members playing professional sports together. So, I was curious and did a little more research. Below is the coolest example I could find.

Ken Griffey Sr. and his son, Ken Griffey Jr., played two baseball seasons together for the Seattle Mariners in the MLB – the U.S. men’s professional baseball league. The Griffey’s made history as the first father-son duo to play in the MLB together, but it doesn’t end there. Griffey Sr. and Griffey Jr. became the first father-son duo to hit back-to-back home runs on 14 September 1990.

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Stat of the day

16

The number of brother-sister pairings that will have represented Australia together in the same sport at the same Olympics when golfers Minjee Lee and Min Woo Lee play in Paris next month. The pair were officially selected this morning as part of the four-player Australian Olympic Golf team that also includes Jason Day and Hannah Green.

Quote of the day

“I just won two club championships, not even senior, two regular club championships. To do that you have to be quite smart and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way. He doesn't do it, he can't hit the ball 50 yards.”
Donald Trump’s sledge against U.S. President Joe Biden’s golf game during the Presidential debate which took place today. Biden responded by claiming that his golf handicap was six while he was serving as vice president. 

Random fact of the day

The largest-ever attendance for a women’s sporting event was 92,003 fans for a college volleyball match on 30 August 2023 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. The match was played between Nebraska and Omaha. Nebraska won the match.

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In case you missed it…

🚴‍♂️ The Tour de France, the world’s toughest bicycle race, begins in Florence, Italy this weekend. The race will cover 3,498km over 21 days. The race will conclude with an individual time trial on 21 July in Nice, France. Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, a two-time winner, is the favourite to win. 

⚽ The third round of the World Cup qualifying draw will see Australia face Japan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China, and Indonesia on their road to the 2026 World Cup. Australia will have to finish in the top two to automatically qualify. The Socceroos first match will be against Bahrain on 5 September.

🏃🏽‍♀️Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah will not be in Paris to defend her Olympic titles in the 100m and 200m after she withdrew from the Jamaican trials due to an achilles injury. Thompson-Herah was the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic 100m and 200m titles.

⚽ The Euros Round of 16 begins on Sunday morning (AEST). Switzerland and Italy will kick off the second stage of the tournament where teams will be playing for a spot in the quarter-finals. You can watch the Euros on Optus Sport.

🏏 India beat England by 68 runs in the T20 World Cup overnight, securing a spot in the final against South Africa. India has not won the T20 World Cup in 13 years while South Africa has never won.  You can watch the final on Amazon Prime at 12:30 am on Sunday (AEST).

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The 2024 NBA draft finished this morning. Here’s what is making headlines from the second round.

Bronny James to the Lakers

Bronny James, 19, the eldest son of LeBron James, was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers at pick No. 55 this morning. LeBron, 39, is the league’s all-time score leader and has played at the Lakers since 2018. 

If Bronny and Lebron take to the court together next season they will be the first father-son duo ever to play at the same time in the NBA. 

Johnny Furphy

19-year-old Johnny Furphy, who grew up in Victoria, was picked 35th overall by the Indiana Pacers. At the Pacers, he will join a strong roster that includes 2x NBA All-Star Tyrese Haliburton and 2019 NBA Champion Pascal Siakam.

Furphy is a product of the Maribyrnong Sports Academy. He will join the NBA after just one season of college basketball at the Kansas Jayhawks.

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Queensland won the historic Women’s State of Origin decider in Townsville last night 22-6. 

The victory marks the fourth series that Queensland has won in the past five years. 

How it happened

Queensland five-eighth Tarryn Aiken set up two tries in the first half, scored by Evania Pelite and Julia Robinson, to help the Maroons jump out to a 14-0 lead. The Sky Blues struggled in the wet conditions, making 11 errors in the first half.

Queensland kicked a penalty goal early in the second half to extend their lead to 16-0. With ten minutes to go, NSW were finally able to get off the mark following an 80-metre intercept try from winger Jaime Chapman.

The Maroons’ Tazmin Rapana then scored a late try to seal the win for Queensland.

Player of the series

Maroons forward Shannon Mato was awarded the 2024 Nellie Doherty medal, an award that recognises the player of the series. She is the seventh recipient of the medal. Earlier in the series, Mato was named the player of the match for her role in Queensland’s Game II victory.

Queensland’s Evania Pelite was named the Game III player of the match.

Mato said: "To my family, I love you. To my brother, this is for you bro, I love you. I couldn't have got this without my teammates, they did literally everything for me."

What they said

Blues coach Kylie Hilder told Channel 9: “Queensland were a much better team than us tonight, that’s what I put it down to. They [NSW] were trying hard, but we were just making silly mistakes [and] I know this team’s better than what they just presented.”

NRLW Season

Players from both teams will now prepare for the NRLW season which begins on 25 July. 

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6 months on, how has the FIFA Women's World Cup changed Australian sport?

Whether you were gathered around a mate’s TV, or watching the game on the big screen at your local pub, it felt like almost every Australian tuned in to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup – in fact, the Matildas’ match against England became the most watched TV program of the year, reaching 11.15 million Australians nationally!

Research from Dr Jordan Bakhsh at Deakin University set out to measure the impact of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The key finding: Australians in all capital cities (except Adelaide and Perth) were more interested in hosting the event - or similar events - in the future and were more interested in women’s sport than they were pre-tournament (except Adelaide).

Dr Bakhsh observed that, in order to build a sense of unity across the country for future multi-city sporting events, like the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, all Australian cities should be considered - not just the traditional “big ones” of Sydney and Melbourne.

Wherever the action, one thing is for sure - we’re going to see more women’s football in Australia for decades to come. We don’t have to wait decades for the next Tillies game, though - they’ll be back in action on 26 July when they face Germany in their first Olympic match in Paris!

Think Beyond The Field. Study sport at Deakin.

Looking back…

Looking forward…(All times are AEST)

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