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Crowded House?

Attendance levels on the rise again, says Irish Sports Council

No prizes for guessing what the country’s most popular spectator sport is.

OVER ONE IN six Irish people attend a sporting event on a regular basis, according to the latest figures released by the Irish Sports Council and the ESRI this morning.

The third annual report of the Irish Sports Monitor (2009) shows that 17% of respondents had attended a sporting fixture of some description in the previous seven days, a rise of 2% on the 2008 figure.

The Abbotstown and Croke Park bigwigs won’t exactly be rubbing their hands in delight though. This morning’s numbers account for individual and team sports at any level, including underage games, the majority of which are attended by parents and relatives for free in local parks.

And it seems that spectator sport is still very much a man’s world, with the bounceback in attendance levels largely attributed to a rise in the number of males at team sports. While 23.1% of men surveyed had recently been at a game, the same held true for only 11.2% of women, a slight increase on the 2008 figure.

If it’s their own flesh and blood in action, however, it seems that Ireland’s female population is as mad about sports as the lads. Women with children under the age of 18 are more than twice as likely to go to a sport than those without children.

This morning’s report will also provide some solace for the GAA community at both grassroots and national level, with Gaelic football remaining the country’s most popular sport, claiming 6.1% of the report’s sample, an increase of 1.6%. Hurling attendances have dropped by over a third however, from 3.9% in 2008 to 2.5% in 2009.

Soccer and rugby both saw rises in spectators numbers, with 5.5% of respondents attending a soccer game and 1.4% going to rugby.

Meanwhile, the report’s other headline figures show an increase in Irish people’s levels of physical activity, with 33.5% of adults actively participating in sport and 60.5% walking regularly.

Welcoming this morning’s announcement, John Treacy, Chief Executive of the Irish Sports Council said: “The Irish Sports Council is pleased that the Monitor records an increase in participation in 2009 especially as the previous report demonstrated the impact of the recession on sport.”

The drop in sedentarism is particularly noteworthy and very important from a health viewpoint.

Read the Irish Sports Monitor 2009 report in full here >

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