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Australian revival may be exaggerated, survey suggests
- Updated: December 8, 2016
Australian cricket has been warned it may not be the grassroots participation powerhouse it thinks it is, via the release of the most comprehensive national survey yet of sport down under.
The Australian Sports Commission’s inaugural AusPlay survey, released on Thursday, contradicted Cricket Australia’s own assertion that the game is the No. 1 participation sport in the country, and by quite a margin. A more accurate description, according to the ASC’s figures, would be to place it in mid-table.
While CA’s own Australian Cricket Census had stated that the game can point to 1.31 million total participants, the ASC survey delivered a far lower tally – 562,669 combined senior and junior club sport participants, placing cricket sixth out of the top 10 sports.
It was well behind soccer’s 1,086,986 club participants, and also returned inferior figures to golf, AFL, netball and tennis. Ironically, the survey’s results were announced in a media event at the SCG on Thursday, with soccer’s top brass trumpeting the outcome. CA’s executive and directors were preoccupied with a board meeting at the game’s Jolimont headquarters.
CA’s own participation figures are weighted to include the school-age Milo Into Cricket and Twenty20 Blast programs, with high female participation and increased engagement by diverse Australian …
