04/04/2008 Note: Additional Data Cubes released to provide supplementary state data to that previously released in Involvement in Organised Sport and Physical Activity, Australia, April 2007 on 19 December 2007. These data cubes present results for individual states and territories.
NOTES
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION
This publication presents results from the Survey of Involvement in Organised Sport and Physical Activity conducted in April 2007. It presents information on the number of persons aged 15 years and over who were involved in organised sport and organised physical activity over a 12 month period.
ABOUT THIS SURVEY
The 2007 Survey of Involvement in Sport and Physical Activity was conducted throughout Australia as part of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Monthly Population Survey (MPS).
It provides details on players and participants in organised sport and physical activity and for persons involved in non-playing roles during the 12 months prior to interview in April 2007. A description of the characteristics of each group is provided, as well as information about whether any payment was received and the amount of time spent on each type of involvement. Further information is provided about the types of non-playing roles undertaken, whether a course or qualification had been completed for these roles, and whether any involvement was with school or junior sport. For non-playing roles, comparisons are also presented using data from the 1997, 2001 and 2004 Involvement in Sport surveys.
Differences between data items highlighted in the Summary of Findings are statistically significant. See Technical Note (paragraph 11) for further details.
ROUNDING
As estimates have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.
INQUIRIES
For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.
SUMMARY COMMENTARY
INTRODUCTION
Persons who are involved in organised sport and physical activity can be players, or be involved in non-playing roles. Non-playing roles include coach, instructor or teacher; referee or umpire; committee member or administrator; scorer or timekeeper; medical support; or other role. A person can be involved in more than one kind of sport or physical activity and in more than one role.
In the 12 months prior to April 2007, an estimated 4.5 million persons aged 15 years and over reported that they were involved in organised sport and physical activity. This represents 27% of all persons aged 15 years and over. Persons involved in organised sport and physical activity included 3.8 million players (23% of persons aged 15 years and over), as well as 1.6 million persons involved in non-playing roles (10%). Of the 1.6 million persons with a non-playing role, 61% also had a playing role (Table 1).
CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONS INVOLVED
Sex
Males were more likely to be involved in organised sport and physical activity than females (30% of males compared to 24% of females). Males had higher participation rates both as players (26%) and non-players (11%) than females (20% as players, 9% as non-players) (Table 1).
Age
Persons aged 15-24 years old had the highest participation rate (39%), while the lowest participation rate was for persons aged 65 and over (18%) (Table 1).
PLAYING, NON-PLAYING AND TOTAL INVOLVEMENT RATES, By age
Country of birth
The highest rate of involvement was for persons born in Australia (31%), followed by persons born in the main English speaking countries (see Glossary for definition) at 26% and persons born in other countries at 13% (Table 1).
Area of usual residence
The participation rate for persons residing in the six state capital cities (26%) was lower than for the rest of Australia (30%) (Table 1).
Labour force status
Persons who were employed in the week prior to interview were the most likely to be involved in organised sport and physical activity, at 32% (3.3 million persons). Unemployed persons had a participation rate of 25% (120,900 persons), and the lowest participation rate was for persons not in the labour force, at 20% (1.1 million persons) (Table 1).
INVOLVEMENT IN NON-PLAYING ROLES
Of the 1.6 million persons with non-playing involvement
- 60% had one non-playing role
- 25% had two non-playing roles
- 15% had three or more non-playing roles (Table 3).
PARTICIPATION IN NON-PLAYING ROLES, By type of involvement and sex
Non-playing roles associated with school and junior sport
Of the 1.6 million persons involved in non-playing roles, 904,400 (56%) were associated with school or junior sport for at least some of their non-playing involvement. Persons involved as a coach, instructor or teacher were the most likely to be associated with school or junior sport (72%). The rate of involvement in school or junior sport was higher for females (60%) compared with males (52%) (Table 10).
Qualifications for non-playing roles
Just over one third (38% or 609,700) of all persons involved in non-playing roles reported that they had completed a course or qualification relevant to their role. The highest proportion of persons with qualifications appropriate to their involvement were in a medical support role. Of the 178,200 persons involved in this role, 87% were qualified (Table 9).
Comparison of 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2007 data
In 1997, 2001 and 2004 similar surveys were conducted by the ABS. Due to some differences in the questions asked and survey methodologies, caution should be exercised when making comparisons between the surveys, however, some comparisons can be made for persons in non-playing roles. For information about the differences between the surveys, see paragraphs 14 to 22 of the Explanatory Notes.
Overall, the proportion of persons aged 15 years and over involved in sport in a non-playing capacity was at a similar level in 2001, 2004 and 2007 (around 10%), however, the rate was slightly higher in 1997 at 12%. The participation rate was higher for males than females in each survey year (Table 11).
Between 2004 and 2007, the percentage of females involved in non-playing roles increased from 8.1% to 8.9%. For the same period, the percentage of males involved in non-playing roles remained steady at 11.0% (Table 11).
PARTICIPATION IN NON-PLAYING ROLES - 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2007
The participation rate for persons aged 45-54 increased to 14% in 2007, from 12% in 2004 (Table 11).
PAYMENT FOR INVOLVEMENT
Of the 4.5 million persons involved in organised sport and physical activity, 8% (348,700 persons) received some type of payment for their involvement (Table 5).
TIME INVOLVED
In the year to April 2007, 43% of persons involved in playing sport were involved for between 40 and 52 weeks (Table 7).
Half (50%) of the playing involvements were for a period of 3 to 9 hours per week on average. A further 40% averaged less than 3 hours per week (Table 8).
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