Sport Participation

Participation in sport is not just for players, but also includes administrators, coaches, officials, board members, fans, spectators, families, and more. Some of these roles may be paid or volunteer. Major sporting events can be a way to better engage these groups to help increase engagement in sport and strengthen the sector.

Increasing the number of players and volunteers are often seen as key outcomes for events because of the general health and wellbeing benefits that this can have for individuals and the broader community. For more information on these benefits see the Value and Benefits of Sport Evidence Base.

We know that sport, particularly high-performance sport, is one of the most powerful and popular attractions or activities for people to watch/experience either in person or via broadcast. In 2021-22: ²¹

• 53% of Australians (18+) watched a live sporting event
• 23% went to a live sports event
• 14% bought or wore supporter merchandise for an Australian professional team.

In the same year, Australians 18+ who had started or shown interest in a new sport or becoming more physically active said they had been inspired by: ²¹

• watching sport on TV or live (60%)
• an Australian athlete being a good role model (57%)
• Australians succeeding internationally (56%)
• seeing / hearing about Olympic, Paralympic, or Commonwealth Games sports/athletes (56%).

However, engagement alone does not lead to increases in participation.

Challenges

Various reports and research have highlighted that participation legacy outcomes may not meet expectations, especially when there has been limited long term planning, investment, and/or organisational capacity for sports organisations to capitalise on the interest that is generated. ^{22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29}

• For example, if watching or attending the Olympic and Paralympic Games generates 50 new people to try archery in a region, but the club(s) don’t have capacity (facilities, equipment, entry level participation programs, etc.) to accept them, the interest isn’t capitalised on at the time, and then dies away without leading to change/engagement.
• A study after the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games found that: 73% of sports clubs did not believe the Government had done enough to help community sport create a legacy of participation. 42% saw an increase in the number of people joining their club in 2012-13 but a quarter (26%) of them were struggling to meet this demand. 78% of clubs had noticed no change in the number of people volunteering, and 89% reported no change in the number of disabled people joining their club. ²⁴

An additional challenge highlighted in some reports is the lack of agreed and consistent methodology for measuring participation impact. ^{30, 31} Without clear guidelines in this space, it will be difficult for events to demonstrate success and/or to compare the impact of various strategies across different events.

Success stories

Despite the challenges there is evidence that successful events and athletes can have a positive effect on participation, although it may be short-term and there are often different effects observed between different events, sports, demographic groups, and whether participants were already engaged with sport. ^{32, 33, 34, 35}

The likelihood of a successful event legacy is increased through long-term planning, investment and engagement across multiple spheres, an example of a successful event in this case is the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool, UK. ^{36, 41}

• A key legacy goal of the event was to grow netball participation across the whole Netball Family – players, fans, volunteers, coaches and officials. Whether schools, club members, programme participants, fans, coaches, officials or volunteers, each group had their own individual ‘Road to Liverpool’, which was mapped out and developed into specific legacy goals and action plans.
• England Netball ensured clubs were enthused, empowered and equipped to open their doors when interest peaked during the World Cup. Digital assets for use on social media along with practical resources such as welcome emails, guides to effective promotion and top tips to cater for larger numbers were made available freely. In addition, funding was issued to establish 35 new clubs throughout the Biggest Summer of Netball. Each of these received a special Legacy Club logo which they can use for the rest of their history, connecting them back to the Vitality Netball World Cup 2019.
• 160,000 British women were inspired by the event to start playing netball or play netball more while 60% of UK spectators surveyed during the event reported feeling inspired to increase their participation in sport or active recreation as a result of attending the event.
• During the build-up to the World Cup, England Netball conducted extensive research with current and potential volunteers to understand the volunteering network and develop a clearly defined volunteering strategy for the future. 39% of UK spectators were more likely to volunteer in netball as a result of attending the event.

Additional events that have reported positive participation impacts include:

• Hosting the Commonwealth Games has led to increased sports participation in the host city region from 10% of Victorians taking up sports as a result of Melbourne 2006, and a 5% increase in sports participation in Queensland following Gold Coast 2018. ¹¹
• The 2015 Asian Cup (football) saw a 6% increase in Football Federation Australia (FFA) club participants. ¹⁹

The future of participation legacies

Long-term participation impact requires additional resources and planning, pre-, during and post-events to ensure that sports organisations, programs, and facilities are in place to allow prospective players, volunteers, coaches, administrators, fans and more to engage with the sport(s) of their choice easily and successfully. ^{1, 30, 37, 38, 39} Depending on the event planning and partnerships should include the event owners (e.g. the International Olympic and Paralympic Committees), sport organisations and the broader sector, public health agencies, and more. ^{26, 40}

Resources and reading