Love him or loathe him you cannot ignore him and Conor McGregor has emerged as the nations favourite sporting star in a poll of the general public.
‘The Notorious’ edged out Katie Taylor who was in the pro boxing spotlight at the time of the survey conducted over the past two weeks with the O’Donovan Brothers coming in third as sporting stars, with precisely half the appeal of McGregor.
McGregor’s appeal in the youth segment is massive with one in three among 18-34 year olds calling him out as their favourite star. His overall popularity falls back to 16% overall but if the world belongs to the young then the older among us have been given strong notice that this is the future, or at least one vision of it.
The UFC Double Champion’s rise through the list of ‘Most Admired’ Irish sports stars has been as meteoric as his rise to the top of his sport having debuted in 2014 in sixth place (4%) before moving to third position last year with 8% behind Paul O’Connell and Katie Taylor respectively.
When you consider this was an Olympic year and the year in which Ireland participated in a major soccer championship, it makes the result even more impactful.
The O’Donovan’s are more traditional and they did win through in the Most Memorable Sporting Moment with their ‘pull like a dog’ reaction to winning the Olympic Silver in Rio in the Double Sculls race.
In a team context The Irish Rugby Team won the accolade as team of the year for the third consecutive time while victory over the All Blacks in Chicago was voted the Greatest Sporting Achievement of 2016.
The O’Donovan’s and McGregor topped Ireland’s win over Italy at the Euro’s and Dundalk FC’s European adventure as the other top five achievements with Dublin GAA having to settle for fifth spot in the Team of the Year category despite back to back All Ireland’s
The results are drawn from the annual PSG Sport and Sponsorship Sentiment Index for 2016, a detailed look at how the Irish people view sport and the brands that back them.
Sport for Business Members and a limited number of guests will be able to partake a deep dive into these findings by joining us in Dublin for ‘The 2017 Sporting Year Ahead’ on Friday January 20th.
We will be networking with our peers, sharing breakfast and looking together at the biggest events, the marketing trends and essence of what sport will produce over the next twelve months.
Reserve your place for The 2017 Sporting Year Ahead today
Despite failing to secure back to back wins against the All Blacks in the return leg of the Chicago fixture, the Ireland rugby team’s victories over South Africa, Australia and New Zealand this year were enough to see them named Team of the Year for 2016 with a massive 31% of the vote, an accolade they also collected in 2014 and 2015, proving the rude health of rugby in Ireland.
In second place with 15% of the vote, Dundalk F.C. proved their class by combining their European run with winning the Airtricity League for the third year running and becoming the highest ranked League of Ireland team since this survey began.
Martin O’Neill’s Republic of Ireland team, who qualified for the last 16 in Euro 2016, secured third position with 11% of the vote. Connacht’s tremendous run and Guinness Pro 12 success pushed them into fourth place on 9% followed by the double winning Dublin footballers (8%) and Tipperary hurlers (7%).
It is always difficult to compare the achievements of GAA teams whose success tends to be most celebrated locally with teams that compete on an international stage. In addition, when the statistics are regionalised, Dublin’s Gaelic Football successes were more appreciated in the capital than elsewhere and unsurprisingly 28% of those in Connacht voted their rugby team the team of the year.
The combined vote for GAA teams is 25%, equating to second in the list, with this year’s championship winners Dublin, Tipperary, Cork ladies football and Kilkenny camogie all scoring highly despite this being a year when substantial sporting focus was on the international stage. This is still good news from a GAA perspective and both the ladies Football and Camogie All-Ireland winners polled well.
The Nation’s Favourite Sport
Once again Soccer, Rugby and Gaelic Games (Football, Ladies Football, Camogie and Hurling) fight it out for top spot as the Nation’s Favourite Sport.
Soccer, which is three times as popular with men as women, retains its top position (21%) ahead of Rugby, the preferred sport of Irish women, and Gaelic Games which are once again tied with 17% apiece.
Soccer’s appeal is the same as last year after a peak of 24% in 2014, the year of the Brazil World Cup. Rugby and Gaelic Games have edged up slightly on last year with Tennis and Swimming maintaining their place as the public’s fourth and fifth favourite sports.
Most Memorable Sporting Moment
Their performance on the water in Rio may have landed them an Olympic silver medal, but it was the O’Donovan brother’s famous RTÉ interview, when they revealed their diet of “steak and spuds” and strategy to “pull like a dog”, that will last long in the memory of the nation and was voted The Most Memorable Sporting Moment of 2016 on 23%. Other memorable moments included Robbie Brady’s header in the 84th minute to secure victory against Italy at the Euro 2016 competition placing third on 14%.
Looking ahead to 2017
With the excitement of the Euro’s and Olympics behind us order has been restored and, building on the Ireland rugby team’s recent successes, the Six Nations is the Sporting Event Ireland is Most Looking Forward to in 2017 (26%) followed by the ever popular GAA Championships (19%), the FIFA World Cup Qualifers (18%), 2017 Lions tour to New Zealand (6%) and Cheltenham Festival (6%).
The GAA Championships have bounced back from only 13% calling them out as their most anticipated events of 2016, a reflection of the ebb and flow of the sporting calendar across different cycles of global sporting events.
“2016 was full of sporting highs which brought those of us watching on the sidelines and on our screens so much excitement and joy, not to mention several nail biting moments” said Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan welcoming the publication of the PSG Sponsorship research.
“Sport is part of the fabric of our nation and this research underlines how important it is to nurture the development of sport at every level, from widening participation to supporting our high performance athletes to ensuring we have strong and representative boards driving the sports agenda”
“This was a vintage year for Irish sport with memorable victories on the international stage for our rugby, soccer, golfing and Olympic and Paralympic heroes,” added Mick O’Keeffe, CEO of PSG Communications.
“The general public was spoilt for choice in this year’s survey and I expect the findings to once again lead to healthy debate.”
“It was also a breakthrough year for Connacht Rugby and Dundalk’s achievements are unrivalled in Irish soccer history. When you factor in Tipp’s brilliant success, the all-conquering Cork ladies and possibly the greatest Dublin football team of all time, then it is fair to say 2016 was a very special year.”
“Conor McGregor really is the story of the 2016 research and he has propelled himself into the psyche of the Irish public, especially with the younger 18-34 year-old demographic. The O’Donovan brothers were relatively unknown heading into Rio 2016 but are now household names and extremely popular.
“There is undoubtedly seasonal bias and major successes that happen earlier in the year tend to drift from people’s consciousness as the end of year approaches. There were so many sporting moments and highs and lows from Robbie Brady’s winner versus Italy to Munster Rugby’s emotional tribute to Anthony Foley but more than anything, this year’s research illustrates that as a nation, we are obsessed with sport and blessed with our sports teams and sports stars.”
About the Sports Sentiment Index
The Sports Sentiment Index was carried out by PSG Sponsorship in conjunction with leading research agency Ignite Research. The research was carried out among a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 18 to 65, with quotas imposed on gender, region, age and social class. The research was carried out between December 9th and 14th.
