Did you fill out your census form last night. You should have and the enumerators, there’s a word that comes around only once every five years, will be knocking on doors from this evening to start the process of collation, analysis and publication.
We’ve been doing a census in Ireland for nearly 200 years and it’s an important part of how we as a society see ourselves as we are today and plan for how we are likely to be in the future.
It is in that area though that the business of sport and of physical activity has been left high and dry.
I filled out the form for the six people that were in my house tonight. The state now knows their religious leanings, their commuting habits, whether we have a PC in the house and whether any of us have either lived outside the state or speak Irish in the home.
There is nothing wrong at all with knowing these things though the religion question is perhaps only there these days to enable mock outrage from those who are aggressive atheists and feel it has no place in modern society.
At no point though were we asked how much physical activity we undertake, how many games we play, how much of our time goes towards community based activities that are the bedrock on which we as a community actually exist.
This is a once in five year opportunity for us to tell the story of our lives. It took perhaps 30 minutes to rattle through the questions last night. There was no searching for numbers or references like is normal with most forms.
It was not a taxing job and there was room for more information to be got.
We have research that indicates our physical activity patterns but it is based on a small subset of the population, and is only related to those over 16.
This was a chance to have all the correlations between family, school and community tied together to paint a real picture of what we do, how we move, and how the apparatus of the state we have built for ourselves matches up to that.
Data is the lifeblood on which decisions are made. This is still, despite it’s traditional heritage, the biggest and best form of data collection in the state.
When published early next year though it will be of little use to those who are implementing the National Physical Activity Plan, or helping to bring preventative healthcare to the fore in order to save money on reactive treatment.
Physical activity is the best weapon we have to counter physical and mental illness challenges that are the biggest threat to a well functioning and content society.
It should have taken higher order in the planning of the census. We can only urge that when we gather again in five years time to take the next snapshot of our national makeup that there will be a broader remit than the colour of our skin and the God we might or might not pray to.
