Where does Australian motor sport rate?

storyline · 12 Jan 2006, 01:18 (Ref:1499616)

Accoridng to an article in todays Herald-Sun the ranking of Australia's favourite sports are:

1. AFL
=2. Swimming
=2. Tennis
4. Cricket
5. Rugby League
6. Soccer
7. Rugby Union
8. Motor racing
9. Golf

As for Bathurst being 'very' popular, the survey gave the 'most important events' as:

1. AFL Grand Final
2. Melbourne Cup
3. Australian Open Tennis

No Bathurst, Adelaide or Grand Prix in cooee.

TSR · 12 Jan 2006, 01:55 (Ref:1499623)

Yes I herd the survey on the radio this mornning and thought that all the wind that Aussie Bernie and his king team of PR spin goes on with well is the PR all just hot air, was it not only two years ago that AB was saying that v8$upercars were the thrid most popular sport in OZ and going to grow further up the ladder, well going by this morning survey has motosport gone backwards.

TSR · 12 Jan 2006, 01:57 (Ref:1499624)

Quote:

Originally Posted by storyline

Accoridng to an article in todays Herald-Sun the ranking of Australia's favourite sports are:

1. AFL
=2. Swimming
=2. Tennis
4. Cricket
5. Rugby League
6. Soccer
7. Rugby Union
8. Motor racing
9. Golf

As for Bathurst being 'very' popular, the survey gave the 'most important events' as:

1. AFL Grand Final
2. Melbourne Cup
3. Australian Open Tennis

No Bathurst, Adelaide or Grand Prix in cooee.

On the midday SKYNEWS they said that Rugby League tied in third place with cricket and swimming was 2nd with the areial pinpon home in 1st.

ahabthearab · 12 Jan 2006, 02:00 (Ref:1499626)

This is a Melbourne newspaper right?
The three most important events were all played in Melbourne
by Herald sun readers assume

no suprises then

dsg · 12 Jan 2006, 02:10 (Ref:1499628)

I wouldn't have thought swimming or tennis was that popular. I would put tennis at about 4 or 5 and swimming down to 8 or 9.

Is there any great interest in swimming other than at the Olympic or commonwealth games? Even if there were some doubt, following the Ashes test it would definitely be lower than cricket. I know tennis has a strong following but I believe cricket and rugby league would have a stronger following in Australia.

Realistically I think motor sport sits somewhere between 5 and 7, with the Australian GP and Bathurst within the top 10 individual events.

Average Punter · 12 Jan 2006, 02:16 (Ref:1499629)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahabthearab

This is a Melbourne newspaper right?
...no suprises then

Spot on ahab (and welcome to the boards...)

The same paper that can find enough useless AFL gossip to fill four pages.
In January!!!!

To be honest, I'm wrapped to think that "our" sport is even in the top ten considering how much press it gets...

storyline · 12 Jan 2006, 03:36 (Ref:1499636)

Why is it that some people want to deride everything they hear about simply because they haven't got a clue?

Here's the link for the Sweeney Sports Report http://www.sweeneyresearch.com.au/sports_sreport.asp who do this report bi-annually and are well respected by ALL sports around the country for getting it right.

Swimming - think I said before to someone - some people need to get out and have a look at the support these sports they question get from the general public - they are a lot more popular than some realise.

Chucky · 12 Jan 2006, 03:36 (Ref:1499637)

It's a very amibiguous question though. It should be finished with an action i.e. favourite sport to watch/attend/play, etc.

You get very different answers in each of those cases.

storyline · 12 Jan 2006, 03:40 (Ref:1499638)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsg

Realistically I think motor sport sits somewhere between 5 and 7, with the Australian GP and Bathurst within the top 10 individual events.

But what do you base this on? Your own personal feelings?

The AGP would rate well above Bathurst just on sheer attendance figures. When TV is added to the mix Bathurst simply wouldn't cut it.

storyline · 12 Jan 2006, 03:42 (Ref:1499639)

I trimmed part of the article (to appease the mods here) but para 3 is actually worded this way:

Quote:

The biannual Sweeney Sports Report, released in summer and winter, found AFL reached a new peak of popularity in 2005 with 59% of all Australians taking an interest in the game

JABWOA · 12 Jan 2006, 04:02 (Ref:1499643)

It all depends on what basis the polled stats take.
If it's TV viewing, then Motorsport is third/fourth (after AFL, cricket)
If it's active participation (i.e. going out and doing it yourself) then Motorsport will be towards the bottom
If it's viewing live/betting then about 5th I would guessimate.
That's the fun with numbers!!

storyline · 12 Jan 2006, 04:10 (Ref:1499645)

Don't agree with your 'TV viewing' - figures from the past 2-3 years certainly show individual events appear high when they are on live - but overall the total viewing numbers still rate motorsport in the lower portion of a top ten.

johnh875 · 12 Jan 2006, 05:31 (Ref:1499650)

Don't forget that in recent years big swimming championships have been shown in prime evening slots - that is a very concrete indication of its popularity

dsg · 12 Jan 2006, 05:51 (Ref:1499652)

Quote:

Originally Posted by storyline

But what do you base this on? Your own personal feelings?

The AGP would rate well above Bathurst just on sheer attendance figures. When TV is added to the mix Bathurst simply wouldn't cut it.

These are very much my own feelings and I could be way off the mark.

dsg · 12 Jan 2006, 06:04 (Ref:1499656)

I had a look at the Sweeny website and the survey has a sample of 1000 people from all states with an equal number of each sex and each age bracket. The survey covers participation, attendance, television viewing, radio listening and newspaper readership.

The main function of the survey is to determine sponsorship penetration/awareness. I believe the survey was conducted shortly after the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

It is most certainly not a survey of Australia's favourite sport. Despite what the newspapers are saying.

storyline · 12 Jan 2006, 06:39 (Ref:1499663)

Statistically 1000 people is accepted as being a good sample to produce meaningful results - this applies not just to this type of survey but almost any survey that is done. Provided the respondents are random the results are accepted by all that use them as being representative.

TV ratings are done in exactly the same manner with similar numbers in each city.

peckstar · 12 Jan 2006, 08:17 (Ref:1499690)

but they mean nothing. they are just a random statistic accross very view of a the population. every time we have an election they poll people about two things ALP or Liberal. the result, they never get it right and it always changes.

Surveys mean little when it is so small

pete55 · 12 Jan 2006, 08:44 (Ref:1499704)

If you go out into your community and ask the same questions you would probably end up with the same result or very close to it (overall). Certain states may differ a little bit.

Robert Ryan · 12 Jan 2006, 09:06 (Ref:1499716)

I think if you asked the same questions in different states, you would get differing replies. Also the answers are confusing regarding participation and viewing.
I guess another "pollster" organisation would come up with something different..just like politics.

storyline · 12 Jan 2006, 10:13 (Ref:1499757)

Robert - that's obviously your opinion - this group, however, has been doing this survey now for some years and has a damn good reputation for them, well respected by all variations of sport.

Of course if you and any others here feel they are wrong - go out and using accepted polling methods to ensure randomisation of the data, why don't you go and produce your own stats?

Better still - why not get a motorsport question on this years census paper?

Rombles1 · 12 Jan 2006, 10:45 (Ref:1499783)

Quote:

Originally Posted by storyline

But what do you base this on? Your own personal feelings?

The AGP would rate well above Bathurst just on sheer attendance figures. When TV is added to the mix Bathurst simply wouldn't cut it.

Clipsal 500 would have to be in there somewhere in the attendance stakes, though.....

Robert Ryan · 12 Jan 2006, 10:47 (Ref:1499786)

storyline, I have worked with "pollsters" before...you need others to do similar surveys to get a trend. Like the sometime contrary polls you get in politics. Several surveys would show you a trend over time. One off "snap shots" do not.

storyline · 12 Jan 2006, 10:59 (Ref:1499794)

Considering they do one of these surveys every summer and winter I think they know what they are doing.

Robert Ryan · 12 Jan 2006, 11:09 (Ref:1499799)

Storyline...Not really ,polls need to be Statistical Trends. over time.. I do not share your optimism for polling organisation seeing I have had to deal with one.
This is from the ABS for 2002.
12.31 ATTENDANCE(a) AT SELECTED SPORTING EVENTS - 2002

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number Attendance
rate(b)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Males Females Persons Males Females Persons
’000 ’000 ’000 % % %

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Australian Rules football 1,503.9 982.0 2,486.0 21.0 13.4 17.1
Horse racing 1,062.6 802.6 1,865.2 14.8 11.0 12.9
Motor sports 993.3 480.1 1,473.4 13.8 6.6 10.2
Rugby League 951.4 513.2 1,464.6 13.3 7.0 10.1
Cricket (outdoor) 635.2 231.0 866.2 8.9 3.2 6.0
Soccer (outdoor) 519.3 282.6 801.9 7.2 3.9 5.5
Rugby Union 469.7 203.9 673.6 6.5 2.8 4.6
Harness racing 318.9 189.4 508.3 4.4 2.6 3.5
Basketball 226.0 208.4 434.4 3.1 2.8 3.0
Tennis 192.5 201.0 393.5 2.7 2.7 2.7
Dog racing 150.7 81.6 232.3 2.1 1.1 1.6
Netball 66.9 152.8 219.7 0.9 2.1 1.5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(a) Attendance at least once in the 12 months
You can customize your own graph from their website.. using a datacube. The above is something I quickly found on the site.

Rombles1 · 12 Jan 2006, 11:16 (Ref:1499810)

What are you guys actually arguing about? The validity of the survey, or the results, or who has the biggest ***? Robert, are you suggesting that Motorsport should be the most popular sport in the country? Ain't gonna happen. And Storytime, are you suggesting that you can post stuff like this and not have people argue with you? Ain't gonna happen.

Motorsport is not, and is not likely to become, the most popular sport in Australia. (Much as I would like to one day be proved wrong - if we can get you two to agree on what constitutes as "proof"). If you surveyed 1000 people here on 10/10ths, and Motorsport didn't come out on top there is something wrong. But we here are not representative of the general public, that which makes up the whole of "Australia" (And a few other irrelevant countries). We are motorsport fans, some of us maniacally so. No problem with that. But not everyone shares that love. These people we may consider fools, but Australia proves every time we elect another politician that most of us ARE fools. Apart from Motorsport, my other love is bad movies, specifically zombie movies. I understand and accept that most people don't share my fascination. But I aint gonna change my love just because you aren't interested in it. Live with it. Ditto the rest of the world and our love of motorsport.

I think what you might be getting mixed up is "most popular" and "best". These are two clearly different things. Motorsport is the BEST sport in Australia (those who don't agree are fools, as above!) but it is not the MOST POPULAR (Because most of those surveyed are fools, as above!).

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