Public hungry for more success
SubscribeMatthew Crawcour 27 February 2001
THE BRITISH public enjoyed the success at the Sydney Olympics and is hungry for more. That was one of the major headlines to appear from a survey recently conducted by UK Sport.
The survey shows that Olympic sports have grown in popularity at the expense of major spectator sports such as football, rugby and cricket.
The survey, conducted by BMRB International on behalf of UK Sport, tracked the public's opinion on sport and sport funding over the year 2000, by taking soundings in February and December. The results make good reading for sports such as Athletics and Swimming, which are currently ranked 2 and 3 respectively, in the league of sports in which people across the UK would like to see us being successful at internationally.
WHEN UK Sport initially tested the water in February 2000, 29% of the British public wanted to see its football teams on top of the world. By December, this figure had fallen to under 17%, whilst athletics rose from 13% to 16% over the same period.
In total, five Olympic sports made the top 10 and, interestingly, the sport of swimming shot four places up the table to lie third, after returning from Sydney without any medals.
The top ten* were:
Position/Sport/% 'Vote' 1 Football 16.8 2 Athletics 16.0 3 Swimming 7.4 4 Cricket 6.5 5 Tennis 5.5 6 Rugby Union 4.3 7 Boxing 3.9 8 Gymnastics 3.2 9 Golf 2.3 10 Cycling 2.1
*Respondent's were asked the question: 'Which sports, if any, would you MOST like to see sportsmen and women from Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish competitors and teams, be successful at during international competition?'.
