It’s sometimes said that men have only one thing on their minds and research published this morning proves that to be the case. The one thing is of course sport with 71 per cent watching up to four sports events a week on television.
Soccer came out on top in the TV stakes as part of ‘A slice of Ireland’ research among over 3,000 men by Maximum Media the publishers of Joe.ie
46 per cent said it was their main sport to watch on TV, ahead of 20 per cent for rugby, 13 per cent for Hurling, 8 per cent for gaelic football and 6 per cent for MMA.
47 per cent put soccer number one as well when it came to playing, ahead of Gaelic Football on 12 per cent, Rugby and Hurling on 10 per cent each and Golf on 6 per cent
When asked their favourite sport however the biggest winner was rugby with 29 per cent ahead of soccer on 15 per cent.
The survey also touched on allegiance to soccer clubs with 80 per cent supporting an English club and 40 having an SSE Airtricity Premier League Club they called their own.
Man United on 35 percent topped the English list ahead of Liverpool on 28 per cent and Arsenal on 9 per cent.
At home it was Cork City leading the way with 13 per cent followed by Shamrock Rovers on 9 per cent, Sligo Rovers and Dundalk on 6 per cent each.
“We know we are a nation of sports lovers but this research clearly shows how much Irish men love sport in terms of both participating and watching it on a regular basis,” said Evan Fanning, editor of SportsJOE.ie.
“And when we put these together with the viewing and social media habits of the Irish man we can clearly see the massive and decisive role sport plays in a shared conversation throughout the county.”
