2023 | Gurgler 2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights

The Gurgler website loves sport, and 2023 is yet another big year of sport around the world, a first Covid-free sporting season for a while. But unlike Covid, one can’t catch all of it, nor do we want to, so we have provided a list of the premium events with our Gurgler 2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights.

It is not a list that features everything you could watch, you may find minimal US Sports action because that is left best to office experts who have the patience to follow a seven game final series or one game of NFL.

And to be honest we’re pretty lazy at The Gurgler to watch everything, or too much mainstream sport. Just a handful of events each month to look forward to.

And, as ever, no rugby union.

So get your diaries or Outlook and plan your work/life excuses in advance for the Gurgler 2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights.

2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights – February 2023

What’s that you say, you’ve already missed January. Well we reply with, have you seen the quality of the Australian Test series and the plethora of Big Bash games.

February however brings some fresh new cricket in the form of the Aussies touring India for four Test matches. Not sure on any follow up meaningless limited overs games, as don’t care. But playing in India is one of Test Cricket’s great battlegrounds, and the four test match series is in a good time slot for most of the cricketing world.

Then there’s the Superbowl, which used to be a great excuse for a long weekend and early morning Monday drinking session. But now with work from home, it is easily factored in without the leave. News bulletins will show 20 seconds of game time and 40 seconds of the half time show, which will be around the total time an average , non regular NFL viewer will be watching before questioning why this game takes so long. Only to return an hour later for the game to be in the same quarter.

2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights – March 2023

The start of the good stuff. NRL is back. Formula 1 is back. And to a lesser degree for a northern Australian, the AFL returns also.

But it is not just any old returning season of NRL, the Redcliffe Dolphins, sorry, the Dolphins become the latest NRL side to join the competition. Coincidentally, the last team to join were the Gold Coast Titans, which wanted to use the Dolphin nickname before Redcliffe told them to bugger off as they planned their own NRL entry. Some laughed, Redcliffe didn’t, and here they are. They play the Sydney Roosters, in the game honoruing the two teams who refuse to name their team after their geographic location, or in honour of Arthur Beetson. Your choice.

Then there’s the F1 season which kicks off under lights in Bahrain. Sad thing for Australian viewers is the night time slot makes it even harder to stay awake on a circuit that is usually pretty dull when French drivers aren’t creating fireballs on lap one. At least there’s a new Australian Oscar Piastri to follow, who will have a first-season excuse if he is as bad as Daniel Ricciardo was in 2022.

And last and least is the AFL season kicking off, for the notherners that is. Elsewhere around Australia the AFL season kicking off will be big news, and for others a welcome addition to the sporting lineup, to ensure that Kayo dominates the family TV screens for the next six months.

2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights – April 2023

April brings Easter, and one of the premium sporting events for early morning slothing – the US Masters. With the famous course stacked with history, stunning scenery and the ghosts of Greg Norman before he turned to nude modelling, it is a must watch for those with a casual interest in golf.

A bit faster pace is the Australian Grand Prix, one of the very few day time Grands Prix to watch in 2023. Even better this year is the addition of the action packed junior formula F2 and F3.

And there’s also the AFL’s attempt at a NRL style Magic Weekend. Except their is in Adelaide and not all at the same ground, and called Gather Round, which has been rightly panned on social media.

2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights – May 2023

An eclectic mix for May ranging from the tight streets of Monte Carlo where it can barely fir in the 20 cars in the field, to the Indy 500 which could probably field 100 cars. 

The NRL do a proper weekend of rugby league at Suncorp Stadium, and like a summer day inside the Arctic Circle, there’s no room for Knights. It will be one of the last good weekends for the NRL, as the State of Origin monster surfaces in May to consume the whole NRL competition. But at least there’s game one to watch.

And for something completely different but the same, two events where people aimlessly chase a round object in a field. One is the Europa League final, which is usually a decent affair with good European football sides, the other is Cheese rolling in the UK.

2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights – June 2023

A few decent football games feature in May, with the FA Cup looking more interesting than usual with a lot of big names out already.

The Canadian Grand Prix is included as it is usually full of action, but the early morning timeslot hurts.

But the premium event is the Ashes series kicking off in the UK, and with both sides in decent form, and Ben Stokes doing Ben Stokes heroics, it should be a huge series to follow, and sleep-watch into the night.

2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights – July 2023

A few different events in July, the Wife Carrying Championships and the Running of the Bulls balance out a big month.

Follow the Netball World Cup for the best chance to see an Australian team win a World Cup of any sport this year. Or the Women’s Football World Cup for Australia’s best chance of a win at a major football event. And our only chance of hosting a Football World Cup ever. As the World Cup will likely become a rich plaything for the wealthy Middle East countries for decades to come, and Australia will never find the billions in bribe dollars to win a bid. The moral of the story is go along to a game or three.

More rugby league as the State of Origin series concludes, and the state competition of the team that will win the series – the Queensland Cup – have their Country Week round, where the entire 7 game round goes to truly rural locations.

There’s almost too much sport. Almost. Watch the Belgian GP before it becomes another race in the USA, or The Open aka British Open for something a lot slower, and in between the Premier League season finishes.

2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights – August 2023

After a big July, August is a bit of a quieter month, a chance to catch your breath before the footy finals of your choice start.

NRL and AFL seasons finish just as England and the UK start up their respective leagues.

2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights – September 2023

The NRL and AFL Final series headline the September sporting highlights, with 2023 seeing the glorious circumstances where the AFL and NRL Grand Finals are on the same weekend, despite being split by month name.

The Ryder Cup is one of Golf’s best contests, and a chance to jump on an anti-USA or anti-Europe bandwagon. Brexit voting Top Gear fans will be struggling which side to hate more.

Talking of Europe, it wouldn’t be September without the European Cricket Championships. If you long to see Denmark, Luxembourg or maybe even Gibraltar play cricket on a synthetic pitch for 10 overs a side, with the commentator unleashing a “Maximo” with every six. We recently talked up why the European Cricket Championships are so great.

2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights – October 2023

October sees the Grand Final for the NRL kicking the month off, which will see whether Penrith can continue their dominance, although with the likely challengers being the Roosters or Eastern Penrith Panthers-Bulldogs, we’ll cheer for a third straight title.

That is then followed the very next weekend by Australia’s greatest day of sloth – the Bathurst 1000. Hours of checking the race order and napping on the lounge with beers awaits.

And the Cricket World Cup starts for those interested. Based on previous years, it will drag out and be way longer than it should. Australia will probably make the final too which helps for interest.

2023 Sporting Calendar Highlights – November/December 2023

We combine the last few months, and we’re sure there’s more to add, so stay tuned for more.

Two big events for F1 with the final race of the season, and the very first race on the Las Vegas streets. Of course this will be a celebrity heavy event, but will probably not feature Micheal Clarke, talking of celebrities.

There’s also the Melbourne Cup on the first Tuesday in November, which is a frustrating day at times, between the inability to pick a winner in the hardest race of the year with the most horses, the constant harassment of sweeps in the office, and the woke few who temporarily say “Nup to the Cup” on Melbourne Cup day, but gladly go to the races for Hen’s parties and friends’ birthdays. Hopefully by the 2023 edition the Reserve Bank of Australia have stopped putting up the interest rates.

The year ends the way it always should, with a big Darts tournament from Ally Pally.