ATTENDANCE BY THE GENERAL ADULT POPULATION

Characteristics of persons attending

Data collected in the MPHS survey showed that 7.1 million or 44% of Australians aged 15 years and over attended at least one sports event during the 12 months prior to interview in 2005-06. More males (4.1 million or 52%) attended than females (3.0 million or 37%).

The attendance rate at sports events was highest for persons aged 15-24 years and declined across the age groups. Attendance rates varied among the states and territories, ranging from 42% in New South Wales to 50% in the Northern Territory (includes mainly urban areas only).

The attendance rate at sports events was higher for persons employed full-time (56%) than persons employed part-time (48%), unemployed persons (43%) or persons not in the labour force (27%).

5.1 ADULT ATTENDANCE AT SPORTS EVENTS(a), Characteristics of attendants - 2005-06
		NUMBER			ATTENDANCE RATE
		Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females	Persons
		'000	'000	'000	%	%	%
AGE
	15-17	242.0	204.6	446.6	60.8	48.7	54.6
	18-24	611.5	492.2	1 103.7	60.9	52.6	56.9
	25-34	857.6	621.8	1 479.4	62.1	44.5	53.2
	35-44	813.7	577.8	1 391.5	55.7	38.6	47.0
	45-54	704.8	538.9	1 243.7	51.3	38.3	44.7
	55-64	529.1	326.7	885.8	47.7	29.5	38.6
	65 and over	339.0	236.9	575.9	29.2	17.5	22.9
STATE OR TERRITORY
	New South Wales	1 310.0	949.3	2 259.4	49.6	34.9	42.1
	Victoria	1 057.6	766.9	1 824.5	53.6	37.3	45.3
	Queensland	769.7	574.8	1 344.5	50.4	37.0	43.6
	South Australia	342.4	252.2	594.6	56.8	40.5	48.5
	Western Australia	410.1	307.2	717.2	53.0	39.0	46.0
	Tasmania	102.2	78.7	180.9	54.6	40.3	47.3
	Northern Territory(b)	31.7	23.3	55.0	56.0	42.7	49.5
	Australian Capital Territory	74.1	46.6	120.6	60.1	35.7	47.6
REGION
	Capital cities(c)	2 517.8	1 820.8	4 338.5	51.0	35.6	43.2
	Rest of Australia(d)	1 580.0	1 178.1	2 758.2	53.5	39.2	46.3
LABOUR FORCE STATUS
	Employed	3 305.9	2 074.6	5 380.5	59.9	46.3	53.8
	Full-time	2 900.3	1 105.9	4 006.2	60.9	46.3	56.0
	Part-time	405.7	968.7	1 374.4	53.4	46.2	48.1
	Unemployed	144.2	90.7	234.9	50.9	34.3	42.9
	Not in the labour force	647.7	833.6	1 481.3	31.1	24.7	27.2
Total		4 097.8	2 998.9	7 096.7	51.9	36.9	44.3
(a) Relates to persons aged 15 years and over during the 12 months to interview.
(b) Refers to mainly urban areas i.e. excludes persons living in very remote parts of the NT.
(c) Comprises the six state capital city statistical divisions.
(d) Includes all of ACT and NT.
Source: Sports Attendance, Australia, 2005-06 (cat. no. 4174.0).

Attendance at selected sports

In 2005-06 Australian Rules football was the sport most attended by both males (1.5 million or 19%) and females (1.0 million or 13%) aged 15 years and over. Eight of the top ten sports with the highest attendance rates were the same for males and females (see Table 5.2). For all sports, the attendance rate for females was consistently lower than that for males.

The second most highly attended sport overall was Horse racing, with 1.1 million males (14%) and 912,200 females (11%) attending. Motor sports was attended by almost twice as many males (1 million or 13%) as females (462,100 or 5.7%). Rugby League was attended by 943,800 males (12%) and 542,600 females (6.7%).

5.2 ADULT ATTENDANCE AT SELECTED SPORTS EVENTS(a) - 2005-06
		Number	Attendance rate
		'000	%
MALES
	Australian Rules football	1 515.5	19.2
	Horse racing	1 091.5	14.8
	Motor sports	1 023.1	13.0
	Rugby League	943.8	12.0
	Cricket (outdoor)	547.5	6.9
	Rugby Union	449.6	5.7
	Soccer (outdoor)	348.6	4.4
	Harness racing	253.7	3.2
	Dog racing	139.7	1.8
	Basketball	132.6	1.7
FEMALES
	Australian Rules football	1 011.3	12.5
	Horse racing	912.2	11.2
	Rugby League	542.6	6.7
	Motor sports	462.1	5.7
	Rugby Union	232.4	2.9
	Soccer (outdoor)	212.2	2.6
	Harness racing	190.5	2.3
	Cricket (outdoor)	183.2	2.3
	Tennis	163.5	2.0
	Netball	130.8	1.6
(a) Relates to persons aged 15 years and over during the 12 months prior to interview.
Source: Sports Attendance, Australia, 2005-06 (cat. no. 4174.0).

Trends in sports attendance

Comparable data on sports attendance are available for 1999 and 2005-06, for persons aged 18 years and over. The top ten sports for all of these years are presented in Table 5.3.

The number of Australians aged 18 years and over attending a sports event increased from 6.0 million in 1999 to 6.1 million in 2005-06. Over this period, there was an increase in the number of persons attending Horse racing (from 1.7 million to 1.9 million) and Rugby Union (from 329,900 to 648,200). Conversely, there was a decrease in the number of persons attending Outdoor cricket matches between 1999 and 2005-06 (falling from 870,700 to 694,300). Attendance at Tennis and Basketball also fell during this period from 404,300 to 246,600 and from 461,600 to 206,800 respectively.

5.3 ADULT ATTENDANCE AT SELECTED SPORTS EVENTS(a)(b) - 1999 and 2005-06
	Number		Attendance rate
	1999	2005-06	1999	2005-06
	'000	'000	%	%
Australian Rules football	2 330.7	2 364.0	16.5	15.6
Horse racing	1 698.8	1 949.8	12.1	12.8
Rugby League	1 371.9	1 362.0	9.7	9.0
Motor sports	1 416.0	1 356.5	10.1	8.9
Cricket (outdoor)	870.7	694.3	6.2	4.6
Rugby Union	417.8	648.2	3.0	4.3
Soccer (outdoor)	563.3	516.4	4.0	3.4
Harness racing	508.4	431.5	3.6	2.8
Tennis	404.3	246.6	2.9	1.6
Basketball	461.6	206.8	3.3	1.4
'Total sports(c)(d)	5 964.1	6 058.5	42.3	39.9
(a) Data relates to persons aged 18 years and over during the 12 months prior to interview in the year shown for comparative purposes.
(b) Data are presented for the ten main sports attended in 2005-06.
(c) Includes attendance at all sports, not just those listed above (excluding motor sports).
(d) 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, 2005-06 (cat. no. 4174.0).

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