There is little doubt that Ireland has a universal taste when it comes to sport. Whatever is on and whoever is doing well, we will watch, we will cheer and we will celebrate. It’s not a bad outlook when such a diverse sporting enthusiasm allows us to roll from one season and one star to the next.
This is never better illustrated than in the annual Sports Sentiment Survey carried out by PSG Sponsorship and conducted this month by Ignite Research.
Shane Longs wonderful and perhaps unexpected winning goal against Germany was voted by 27% of us as the most memorable sporting moment of the year. Individual sports will each have had their personal moments, as we covered yesterday in our own 29 memories of the year, but the power of the collective joy of winning against the World Champions and setting sail for a summer of fun at the Euro 2016 finals is the one we hold dearest.
The FAI will also take cheer from the fact that those same Championships are the event we are most looking forward to in the year ahead. 32 per cent named that as the one that would be circled boldest on their calendar, that’s almost twice the anticipation given over to the RBS Six Nations in second place and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio in third.
Completing a hat trick of success for the sport, qualification for those Championships was hailed by 22 per cent as the greatest achievement of the year, just ahead of the Six Nations victory, beating Germany and Katie Taylor winning Gold in Europe.
The timing of the survey, in that rare moment of down time for the GAA means that the All Ireland Championships suffer from an equidistance to the crowning of Champions in September and the buds of fervour that come in spring. The Championships are the fourth most anticipated event of the year.
Rugby had a massive year in the spotlight in 2015 and that is reelected in its high order across a range of the questions asked of 1,000 people in the survey.
The Men’s team won the title for Team of the Year, edging out Martin O’Neill’s side and due in no small measure too the greater affinity we may have for players playing out home week in, week out rather than in the more distant arenas of the Premier League.
The Women’s team have secured their place in our affection and attention as well. They were voted the third most popular team, ahead of Dublin GAA, the Irish Boxing team and others, while their winning the RBS Six Nations back in March made it in as the fifth most memorable moment of the year.
It’s own hat trick is brought up by Paul O’Connell securing the title as Ireland’s most admired athlete. Katie Taylor in second, Tony McCoy in fourth and Rory McIlroy in fifth place would all see equal nodding of heads around the Christmas dinner table and across generations in the next week.
The man who filled third sport though, up from sixth last year is one that would be more divisive. Conor McGregor’s big weekend came mid survey and would likely have featured higher if it had been a week earlier.
He was still voted by eight per cent as the most admired athlete of the year and he does bring an earthy mix of disruption, noise and zip to the sporting debate.
“It was another great year for Irish sport,” said Mick O’Keefe, CEO of PSG speaking at the launch of the survey.
“For a small nation, our sports teams and sports stars continue to have success on the fields of play, in the boxing ring, on the track and elsewhere.”
“Our passion for Gaelic Games remains strong while our international teams are competing with the best. The Sports and Sponsorship Sentiment Index gives us huge insight into the passion Irish people have for sport and their sporting allegiances and preferences and we feel it is a vital piece of thorough research.”
“It is interesting to see the impact Conor McGregor has had was not a flash in the pan,” added Kieran McSweeney, Account Director with PSG Sponsorship.
“Last year he was the country’s sixth Most Admired Sports Star while this year he moves up to third as his popularity and profile continue to rise.”
“It’s also interesting to note that the popularity of the GAA championships are not diminished by the major international events that are coming up in a bumper 2016. The Euros and the Olympics are highly anticipated but the attraction of the GAA championships endures.”
It is the season for awards and Sport for Business will be active via twitter @SportforBusiness later today at the Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards and then tomorrow night backstage at the RTÉ Sport Awards. Join us for the party and become one of our 5,000 followers on twitter.
PSG Sponsorship and Sport for Business will host a special breakfast briefing on the Sport Sentiment Survey, including many of the deeper level of insights into sponsorship and the reaction of consumers to brand association with sport in January. We will also be bringing together those who will be responsible for marketing the biggest events of the year in what promises to be an enlightening morning. Save the date of January 28th in your new diaries and watch out for details coming very soon.
