ATTENDANCE AT SPORTS EVENTS
TRENDS IN SPORTS ATTENDANCE OVER TIME
Comparable data on sports attendance is available for 1995, 1999 and 2002, for persons aged 18 years and over. The top ten sports for all of these years were as presented in table 5.4, although in a different order each year.
The number of Australians aged 18 years and over attending a sports event (excluding motor sports) increased from 5.6 million in 1995 to 6.5 million in 2002. Over this period, there was a large increase in the number of persons attending Australian Rules football (from 1.7 million to 2.5 million) and Rugby Union (from 329,900 to 673,600). Conversely, there was a decrease in the number of persons attending outdoor cricket matches and competitions between 1995 and 2002 (falling from 1.1 million to 866,200).
5.4 ATTENDANCE AT SELECTED SPORTS(a)(b) - 1995, 1999 and 2002 |
|  |
| NUMBER | ATTENDANCE RATE | |
| 1995 | 1999 | 2002 | 1995 | 1999 | 2002 | |
| '000 | '000 | '000 | % | % | % | |
| |
| Australian Rules football | 1 746.9 | 2 330.7 | 2 486.0 | 13.1 | 16.5 | 17.1 | |
| Horse racing | 1 632.2 | 1 698.8 | 1 865.2 | 12.3 | 12.8 | 12.9 | |
| Motor sports(c) | 406.3 | 1 416.0 | 1 473.4 | 3.1 | 10.1 | 10.2 | |
| Rugby League | 1 315.7 | 1 371.9 | 1 464.6 | 9.9 | 9.7 | 10.1 | |
| Cricket (outdoor) | 1 063.9 | 870.7 | 866.2 | 8.0 | 6.2 | 6.0 | |
| Soccer (outdoor) | 503.4 | 563.3 | 801.9 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 5.5 | |
| Rugby Union | 329.9 | 417.8 | 673.6 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 4.6 | |
| Harness racing | 553.3 | 508.4 | 508.3 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 3.5 | |
| Basketball | 576.0 | 461.6 | 434.4 | 4.3 | 3.3 | 3.0 | |
| Tennis | 401.8 | 404.3 | 393.5 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.7 | |
| Total sports (excl. motor sports)(d)(e) | 5 599.3 | 5 964.1 | 6 496.2 | 42.1 | 43.1 | 44.8 | |
| |
| (a) Data relates to persons aged 18 years and over during the 12 months prior to interview in the year shown. |
| (b) Data are presented for the ten main sports attended in 2002. |
| (c) The increase in motor sport attendances needs to be interpreted with caution because a specific question on motor sports attendance was asked in 1999 and 2002. |
| (d) Includes attendance at all sports, not just those listed above. |
| (e) A person attending sports events in a given year will only be counted once in the figure for Total sports, regardless of how many different sports they may have attended. |
| Source: Sports Attendance, Australia, 2002 (cat. no. 4174.0). |
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