Best-of list · Sports Bars
Cheers Bar and Fortune of War lead six ranked Sydney pubs for watching the game, from CBD sports rooms to heritage Rocks hotels showing NRL and rugby.
The short answer
6 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
Sydney watches more codes than almost any city. A single weekend can run NRL on Friday night, Super Rugby and AFL on Saturday, the A-League after dark, and a State of Origin night that empties every other venue in town. Add the early-morning Premier League and the screens never go cold.
This shortlist runs the six bars that hold live profiles on barsforKings, each one a real Sydney room our editors rate for live sport. The pick spans a CBD sports bar, the city's oldest pub, and the heritage hotels that pour through a footy weekend.
We ranked on the game day basics from our game day method: whether the sound goes on for the right code, the crowd, and how the room handles a packed Origin or grand final night. Every venue here links straight to its full profile.
The CBD holds the longer-hours rooms, which matters for early Premier League starts that land overnight in Sydney. The Rocks and the eastern beaches add the heritage pub options for NRL, AFL and rugby. For State of Origin, a Bledisloe night, or a grand final, book ahead, since the best rooms fill days in advance.
These two sit in the heart of the city and read in our Sydney guide as dependable sports rooms, the bar as the focal point rather than the music.
How we picked
Every bar here holds a live profile on barsforKings and was checked against its own current listing before publishing. We ranked on the game day basics: whether the sound goes to the room, the crowd, and how the room handles a packed code weekend. We did not pad the list, and we left off venues we could not verify as showing live sport.
For the wider picture, our Sydney sports bars guide, the Sydney bar guide, and the sports bars near me hub go wider. Sport guides: rugby, Premier League, watching the game worldwide. Last reviewed May 28, 2026 .
Sports bar specialist for barsforKings. Covers game day rooms across Europe, Asia, and the US.
Keep reading
Last reviewed 2026-05-28 · The editors recheck hours and closures against current local coverage.