Adult Participation In Sport Continues To Rise According To Latest Irish Sports Monitor Report
Key Finding
- Increase in sporting participation from 45% in 2011 to 47% in the first half of 2013
- Personal exercise remains the most popular sporting activity, with running seeing a notable increase in participation (from 6% to 9%) particularly among younger females who appear to be graduating from recreational walking to running as a key means of exercise
- Recreational walking remains the most popular activity, with 65% having participated in this in the previous seven days
- Individual sporting activities such as exercise, swimming, running and cycling continue to dominate adult sporting participation
- 32% of adults are meeting the National Physical Activity Guidelines up from 30% in 2011 while the proportion that are sedentary has declined from 13% to 12%
- Initial results suggest slight declines in volunteering, club membership and attendance at events
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The report was officially launched by Minister of State for Tourism & Sport Michael Ring. Speaking at the launch in Mayo he said: "The growing participation in sport is great news, especially for all the people and organisations who work hard to get more people involved. The report shows that Government investment in sport is boosting sporting activity, and hopefully producing a healthier society".
John Treacy, Chief Executive of the Irish Sports Council: "I am delighted that sport is continuing to play a key role in contributing to keeping the nation active. From the perspective of public health it is great to see an increase in the numbers of adults meeting the National Physical Activity Guidelines and a decline in the numbers of sedentary adults. These changes are in no small part a testimony to the work of the many sporting organisations including LSPs who continue to direct and focus their efforts towards inactive groups. The challenge now is to maintain the good work and keep Ireland active"
The Irish Sports Monitor (ISM) is a survey of participation in sport and physical exercise in Ireland, which began in 2007 and continued throughout 2008, 2009 and 2011. There was a gap in 2010 when there was a competitive process to agree the provider of the ISM to the Council. Based on regular interviews with adults aged 16 and over, the ISM is primarily designed to track levels of participation in sport and recreational exercise, both for the population as a whole and various subpopulations of interest. To achieve sufficient accuracy, it employs large annual samples: 5,001 for the first half of 2013 and 4,166 for the same period in 2011.