Melbourne: Things To Do For Sports Fans In Spring 2017

One of the best times to travel to Melbourne is in spring as the weather just starts to improve in the Australian city, which means you will have glorious conditions but, at the same time, the temperatures are not hot enough to make you melt. Sports fans will particularly enjoy this time of the year as the schedule tends to hot up with some fantastic international action. If you are a sports fan, looking for best things to do in Spring 2017 Melbourne, here are three sporting events you should look to attend.

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Ashes Cricket – Melbourne Cricket Ground – December 26-30

There are fewer fiercer rivalries, if any, than that between Australia and England in cricket. The latest Ashes series between the two nations returns later this year and Melbourne Cricket Ground is set to host the Boxing Day Test, which is the fourth Test in the series. This stadium is the largest outdoor sports venue in Australia and it is always packed for the Ashes.

World Stadiums via Twitter

England go into this series as the defending champions as they won a memorable series 3-2 in 2015. Australia have a brilliant record on home soil though in the Ashes and will fancy their chances of regaining the famous urn. Steven Smith is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world at the moment and he will lead his side in the latest instalment of this fantastic rivalry.

Melbourne Cup – Flemington Park – November 7

Melbourne hosts one of the richest and most prestigious horse races anywhere in the world in November with the Melbourne Cup. Such is the appeal of the contest, they say the nation stops what it is doing every year to watch it and place a bet. Last year Almandin was successful at odds of $10.

Flemington Park racecourse attracts an average attendance of 120,000; therefore, the atmosphere is electric during the Spring Carnival, which offers so much more than just horse racing. As betting is such a big part of the event, bookmakers regularly run promotions to get the punters in. Even months ahead of the race, there is an extensive Melbourne Cup free bets list that you can take advantage of.

Australian horse Admire Deus is this year’s early $14 favourite for the 2017 Melbourne Cup and is likely to be the most popular selections with punters in November. Good luck if you are having a bet and enjoy the thrill of the 3200m contest.

A League – Melbourne City FC & Melbourne Victory

OptaJason via Twitter

The A League, Australia’s professional soccer league, returns in October, and Melbourne is lucky to have two teams competing in the league. Melbourne Victory finished second in the ladder last season behind Sydney FC and are one of the most successful clubs in Australia with three league championships. If you want to visit a game in the 2017/18 competition, you should be able to catch either City or Victory at home regardless of which game-week it is. The two Melbourne clubs had two of the most prolific strikers in the league last year as Besrat Berisha, the A League’s record scorer, topped the charts with 21 goals to his name for Victory, while City’s Bruno Fornaroli netted on 17 occasions.

With Australian rugby league, golf, tennis and many more events taking place at the back of 2017, Melbourne in spring really is the perfect place to be a sports fan.

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