The Irish Sports Monitor published bi-annualy by Sport Ireland is an important document for analysis of how and where we as a nation play sport.
It is used for planning by Government, by sports and by local authorities to determine the best ways in which sport can be delivered best to different elements of society.
Yesterday’s publication of figures relating to 2015 reveal a very mixed bag of numbers, trends and indicators and we will be looking at them in detail over the next week.
The headline figure of 1.6 million people participating represents a decline since 2013 from 47.2 per cent to 45 per cent. It is still slightly ahead of the number from 2011 so we should not rush to panic and the number of people living a sedentary life and doing no exercise has fallen to its lowest ever level of 12.1%.
The main reason put forward by Sport Ireland CEO John Treacy was the time pressures caused by economic recovery, especially for people climbing the career ladder between the ages of 25 and 34.
The participation of young men in this age group declined from 67.2 per cent to 58 per cent in the past two years.
On the flip side the gender gap between men and women is narrowing quickly, a fact of which we are particularly positive on and will be discussing at our ‘Teaming Up for Women’s Sport’ event on November 30th.
In the same age cohort the number of participants is up from 49 to 53.1 per cent. In the 16-19 and 20-24 cohorts the figures are also up to 75.6 and 60.5 per cent respectively.
There are significant issues which will need to be looked at in greater detail particularly relating to adult participation in team sports.
Gaelic Games, Rugby and Soccer have all seen sharp drops of more than 20 per cent over this short period of time. That would mean an entire front row or full forward line in Rugby and GAA or both full backs on a soccer team.
The trend from team towards individual sport seems to be accelerating which will have implications for facilities into the future as well as emphasis.
Counter to this though sports club membership, tending towards that community and team ethic is rising, especially among younger adults and women and we will consider this in greater detail next week.
Everybody loves a list and the report does highlight once more the top ten sporting activities over the course of the survey of 8,540 respondents interviewed between May 2015 and April 2016.
- (1 in 2013) Exercise 13.7% (12.2% in 2013)
- (3 in 2013) Running 8.2% (8.5% in 2013)
- (2) Swimming 8% (9.4% in 2013)
- (4) Cycling 5.5% (5.9%in 2013)
- (5) Soccer 4.8% (5.9% in 2013)
- (7) GAA 3.2% (4.3% in 2013)
- (6) Dance 3.0% (4.3% in 2013)
- (8) Golf 2.7% (3.3% in 2013)
- (9) Weights 2.3% (2.9%in 2013)
- Yoga 1.5% (1.2% in 2013)
- Pilates 1.4% (1.0% in 2013)
- (10) Rugby 1.1% (1.4% in 2013)
The statistical variance within the smaller numbers can create distortion and many of those within sport we spoke to yesterday were sceptical of the seemingly large drops.
We will look at these numbers as well in greater detail over the course of the next week.
“This report shows that the level of sedentarism continues to decline and the latest figure of 12.1% is the lowest since the Irish Sports Monitor was initiated in 2007,” said John Treacy.
“However we cannot afford to be complacent. Following a number of years where we have seen increasing levels of involvement in sport, the current report has identified a slight decline in participation from 2013 driven primarily by improved economic conditions and associated time pressures on particular groups.”
“Understanding the factors behind this decline is important in allowing us to focus attention on these groups. Sport Ireland will continue its work to increase participation in sport and reduce the level of sedentarism with a range of programmes and initiatives implemented through the National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships.”
The 2015 Irish Sports Monitor published by Sport Ireland contains a number of trends and pointers that will be important in defining the ways in which Government and Local Authorities invest in sport over the coming years. Through this week we will be looking at a number of those trends in greater detail…
Friday: Overview of the 2015 Irish Sports monitor
Tuesday: Question of Age
Thursday: Question of Gender
Friday: Individual or team?
Monday: The Parent Issue
