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Cricket Australia has released a series of statistics proclaiming that cricket is Australia’s favourite sport.
The game’s governing body is crowing over OzTam TV viewership and sport data that says cricket is the most watched sport on TV.
The statistics show that 9.6 million people watched international cricket for five or more minutes in the past 12 months, and 18.4 million people watching “at least some” international cricket on TV nationally.
The numbers are combined metro and regional data for the past year across free-to-air television.
They seem impressive and kind of too-good-to-be-true.
Cricket is on all-year round now, there is no ‘real’ cricket season and a game goes for longer than any other sport. This certainly caters for racking up more casual viewers who just watch a few overs when it’s on the tube for six hours.
In the same missive, Cricket Australia says these figures follow on from the Australian Cricket Census that showed a record 880,291 participants picked up a bat and ball in 2011-12 “making cricket the number one participation sport in Australia”.
Is this correct?
There’s no doubt that cricket is a hugely popular sport across Australia. It has been for decades, and there’s also no doubt that statistics can be used to explain and prove anything. A bit of spin allows a lot of lee-way.
Recent ABS data reveals that the most popular sports played by Australian children (boys and girls) are: Swimming (17.7%), Soccer (14.3%), Australian rules football (8.1%), Netball (8%), Basketball (7.9%), Tennis (7.4%), Martial arts (5.8%), Gymnastics (4.8%), Cricket (4.7%), Rugby league (3.9%) and Rugby union (2.1%).
That doesn’t make great reading for cricket, but of course participation rates aren’t everything.
Cricket must have a high number of adults playing the game, but which is more important – kids or adults? Cricket also remains largely a game played by males, which is an issue when you are trying to improve overall numbers and the sport’s wider appeal. Every sport is out to attract more female participants and viewers.
According to the fine print of the Australian Cricket Census, more females are now playing cricket. But, interestingly, participation in club cricket was down 3.5% and “A ‘participant’ is defined by the Australian Cricket Census as someone who participates in at least four sessions of a formal cricket program”.
Four sessions sounds like a very small number to count someone as a regular participant.
The fact is, many things make up the consideration of Australia’s favourite sport – participation, TV ratings, attendance, membership, media coverage, sponsorship, player salaries. It is far from a simple analysis.
Cricket’s TV numbers are good, but so are the free-to-air figures for AFL and the pay TV stats for the NRL. The A-League’s numbers are growing off a small base.
The AFL is also top dog in attendance and membership, but both the NRL and A-League are growing in both of these. Cricket Australia has found a winner in Twenty20 – both the internationals and the Big Bash have secured very solid TV ratings.
Australia’s historical and traditional links with cricket remain strong. But the sport is not as diverse as other rivals and is faced with a decision over which formats – four-day, one-day and 20-over – to persist with in the future.
Perhaps a better way is not to argue cricket’s superiority or strength over its rivals, but to celebrate its rich history and Australia’s love of many sports. The simple truth is that there is room for more than one game, one pursuit, in this big brown land.
Follow John on Twitter @johnnyddavidson
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