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SURVEY OF INVOLVEMENT IN ORGANISED SPORT AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

The Survey of Involvement in Organised Sport and Physical Activity enables estimates to be made of the number of persons who were involved in either a playing role, or in a non-playing role such as coach, umpire or administrator.

The 2004 survey found that there were 1.5 million persons (9.6% of all persons aged 15 years and over) involved in at least one non-playing role in organised sport and physical activity during the 12 months ended April 2004. Almost a third (32.8%) of these people were involved in more than one non-playing role. In total, there were 2.2 million non-playing involvements among the 1.5 million persons.

There were 594,500 persons involved as a Coach, instructor or teacher; 574,400 as a Committee member or administrator; and 335,400 as a Referee or umpire. Males had a significantly higher involvement rate than females in each of these roles - 4.7% compared with 2.9% for Coach, instructor or teacher; 4.3% compared with 3.1% for Committee member or administrator; and 2.5% compared with 1.8% for Referee or umpire.

Of the 1.5 million persons with some non-playing involvement, 53.7% (803,900) were associated with school or junior sport and 33.6% (503,200) had completed a course or qualification relevant to their role.

7.9 TYPE OF INVOLVEMENT IN ORGANISED SPORT AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY(a), By sex - 2004
		MALES		FEMALES		PERSONS
		Total involvements	Involvement rate(b)	Total involvements	Involvement rate(b)	Total involvements	Involvement rate(b)
		'000	%	'000	%	'000	%
Playing		2 075.7	26.9	1 592.5	20.0	3 668.2	23.4
Non-playing roles		-	-	-	-	-
	Coach, instructor, teacher	365.1	4.7	229.4	2.9	594.5	3.8
	Referee or umpire	194.2	2.5	141.2	1.8	335.4	2.1
	Committee member or administrator	328.6	4.3	245.8	3.1	574.4	3.7
	Scorer or timekeeper	242.4	3.1	270.6	3.4	513.0	3.3
	Medical support	57.9	0.8	46.6	0.6	104.5	0.7
	Other involvement	67.2	0.9	60.7	0.8	127.9	0.8
	Total non-playing involvements(c)	1 255.3	. .	994.3	. .	2 249.6	. .
Total involvements(c)		3 331.0	. .	2 586.8	. .	5 917.8	. .
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Relates to involvement by persons aged 15 years and over in organised sport and physical activity during a 12-month period prior to April 2004.
(b) The number of persons involved expressed as a percentage of the population in the same group.
(c) Total involvements is greater than the number of persons involved because one individual can be active in more than one area (e.g. coaching, umpiring and scoring).
Source: Involvement in Organised Sport and Physical Activity, Australia, April 2004 (cat no. 6285.0).

Of the 2.2 million non-playing involvements, 11.9% (267,100) resulted in some payment to the person involved. By comparison, 2.4% (87,700) of the 3.7 million players received some payment for their playing role. Those who were paid for their involvement were likely to spend more time in the role. For non-playing roles, 35.3% of paid involvements were for 40-52 weeks of the year. However, the vast majority of paid non-playing involvements were part time, with 90% being for less than 20 hours per week during the weeks of involvement.

Of the 2.0 million unpaid (volunteer) involvements in non-playing roles, 25.2% (499,800) were for 40-52 weeks of the year, while 39.6% (784,700) were for 1-13 weeks. The majority of unpaid non-playing involvements - 60.2% or 1.2 million - were for less than 3 hours per week during the weeks of involvement. Only 1.0% (19,700) of unpaid non-playing involvements were for 20 hours or more per week.

There was some variation in the amount of time involved across the non-playing roles. For example, 41.7% of Committee members or administrators were involved for 40-52 weeks of the year, whereas only 18.8% of Referees or umpires and 15.4% of Scorers or timekeepers were involved for this length of time.

7.10 TYPE OF INVOLVEMENT, By number of weeks and number of hours per week - 2004
		UNPAID INVOLVEMENTS			PAID INVOLVEMENTS
		Playing	Non-playing roles	Total unpaid involvements	Playing	Non-playing roles	Total paid involvements
		'000	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000
Number of weeks
	1-13 weeks	820.2	784.7	1 604.9	14.3	77.5	91.9
	14-26 weeks	847.2	527.6	1 374.8	24.9	71.2	96.1
	27-39 weeks	395.3	170.5	565.8	16.1	24.0	40.1
	40-52 weeks	1 517.8	499.8	2 017.6	32.3	94.3	126.7
Number of hours per week		-		-	-	-
	Less than 3 hours	1 361.0	1 193.9	2 554.9	*7.9	99.9	107.8
	3-9 hours	1 917.5	669.7	2 587.2	47.7	99.0	146.7
	10-19 hours	257.7	99.3	357.0	23.8	40.9	64.7
	20 hours or more	44.3	19.7	64.0	*8.3	27.2	35.5
Total involvements		3 580.5	1 982.6	5 563.0	87.7	267.1	354.8
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
Source: ABS data available on request, Involvement in Organised Sport and Physical Activity, April 2004.

A comparison of involvement rates over time can be made for the three non-playing roles of Coach, instructor or teacher; Referee or umpire; and Committee member or administrator. Between 1993 and 1997, there was no significant change in the involvement rate for the role of Referee or umpire, but the increases for the roles of Coach, instructor or teacher (from 3.9% to 4.4%) and Committee member or administrator (from 4.6% to 5.1%) were significant. These rises in involvement rate were followed by significant falls for each of the three roles between 1997 and 2001. For Coaches, instructors and teachers the rate fell to 3.7%, while the fall was to 2.3% for Referees and umpires, and 4.0% for Committee members and administrators. In 2004 the involvement rate was 3.8% for Coaches, instructors and teachers; 2.1% for Referees and umpires; and 3.7% for Committee members and administrators. However, the differences from the corresponding rates for 2001 were not statistically significant.

7.11 INVOLVEMENT IN NON-PLAYING ROLES, By year