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Rugby gets less popular. Gym moreso.


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So research company Nielsen has been conducting regular polls about life in New Zealand, and they've just released results showing how our sporting interests have changed over the last 5 years...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11616549

 

34% say our main sporting interest is rugby union. That's down 17% from 2010.

26% say going to the gym is our main sport. And that means it's increased by 24% in the last five years.

 

Yeah... I knew the weights area was getting stupidly busy... :-p

 

 

Interesting that rugby has declined in popularity, even on the back of another World Cup win. What do you think - are we just over it now?

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I love my rugby. in the  media its getting attention for the wrong reasons. With the spate of concussions, and the on going problems related to dementia decades later  it is definitely a concern. Parents of young kids possibly don't want young johnny to get hurt you see. You got the other code in Rugby League, and when say the warriors are doing well, and the Blues are shyte well there you go.  NZ population has increased but in coming immigrants probably don't/ or not interested in the game fair enough too. Interest and new registrations would`ve peaked after the last world cup, possibly parents are too busy for trainings up to 3x  a week. Some parents i know of  travelling too far just for 1 hour training and Saturday games.

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Yeah, really interesting results. 

 

10 hours ago, FellowshipOfTheRon said:

im no expert but seems to me the question they asked is way too open ended... what is the implication, that this is sports people are interested in participating in or spectating? what were the controlled variables?

 

I imagine the question was a part of a much larger survey but the open endedness... The only problem I could possibly see with that is if people give different answers for one group (which makes it difficult to code and analyse the data). Sometimes an open ended question is a good thing for surveys but for this purpose? I'd say, for accuracy's sake they had just broad categories which people were classifying their interest into. 

 

I'd imagine that is the implication they're after and in social sciences... with something like this you typically don't need a control group but some point of comparison (2010 survey). It entirely depends on the purpose of the survey.

 

Nielsen group have a good rep so I'm imagining they did all the appropriate tests to state 'yes, there was actually a change. It wasn't attributable to some change in surveying methods etc.'. You would typically see 'control groups' in hard sciences rather than the soft. What would you suggest as a control group though, if you don't mind me asking? 

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From your post (and your username), I'm picking you're in a related field, @Inaccuraccy?

 

FYI: Here's the full Nielsen press release...

http://www.nielsen.com/nz/en/insights/news/2016/the-rules-for-marketers-engaging-with-new-zealand-sports-fans.html

 

Quote

New Zealanders have moved away from some traditional team and individual sports towards a personal focus on health and wellbeing. Walking now occupies the number one sports and active recreation spot having seen +29% growth since 2010. Rugby Union is now in second place, -17% since 2010 and camping/tramping third, increasing by 13%. Cycling, going to the gym and running have all seen growth in interest. Soccer is the big winner in traditional sports with 18% growth in the last five years. Rugby league has seen the sharpest decline (-22%). Car racing and netball have also declined and now are no longer ranked in the top 10.

 

I'd be interested to know more about what constitutes "walking" - it's the most popular activity of the lot, but also the vaguest. Is walking to work included? Walking to the corner dairy? Or is it a specific recreational walk? And when does walking become tramping - because tramping gets its own category!

 

Interesting that so many are individual sports though - in fact only 3 of the top 10 are team sports. Is that a reflection of our time-poor society? Just as we like video on demand because we can have it at a time that suits us, maybe we also like sport on demand...

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