Sports Participation And Health Among Adults In Ireland
Sports Participation And Health Among Adults In Ireland
By TONY FAHEY, RICHARD LAYTE & BRENDA GANNON
The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr John O’Donoghue T.D. will launch this first publication from the Sports Research Centre, a partnership between the Irish Sports Council and the Economic and Social Research Institute, on Tuesday 30 November 2004, at the ESRI, 4 Burlington Road, Dublin 4, at 3.45 p.m..
SPORTS PARTICIPATION AND HEALTH AMONG ADULTS IN IRELAND
by TONY FAHEY, RICHARD LAYTE & BRENDA GANNON
Embargo: Tuesday 30 November, 4.00 p.m.
One in five adults in Ireland take no physical exercise whatever, and only two in five take enough exercise to meet the minimum standards of physical activity recommended by the World Health Organisation. This is the key finding of a study of sports participation and physical exercise among the adult population in Ireland published today (November 30).
The study was commissioned by the Irish Sports Council and undertaken by Economic and Social Research Institute as part of comprehensive programme of research designed to increase understanding of the shape and dynamics of sport in Ireland. Two further reports are due next year, one on children’s participation in sport and another on the economic and social impact of sport.
The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr John O’Donoghue T.D. formally launching the report stated: “The Report is an important contribution to the national debate around sport, physical activity and healthy lifestyles in Ireland today. It confirms my belief that sport has a major role in promoting health for all ages and social groups. The Government has invested €610 million in sport since 1997 and this has value in maintaining and increasing sports participation, and as the reports confirms, makes a contribution to health and wellness”.
The report, based on a national sample of over 3,000 adults (aged 18+) interviewed in July-September 2003, shows that participation in physical activity in Ireland is in line with international experience with 40% of adults participating to a level recommended by the WHO.
The study found that recreational walking is by far the most popular form of leisure-time physical activity among Irish adults – about 60 per cent had taken a walk in the four weeks prior to being interviewed. Apart from walking, the most popular sports that people take part in are golf, soccer, swimming and GAA games for men, and swimming and aerobics for women.
As people age, they either drop out of sports altogether or switch from the high-intensity team games to non-contact, non-team sports such as golf, swimming or aerobics. This reveals that the challenge to sustain participation in sports arises at every stage of a person’s life and presents a different challenge at each stage.
Pat O’Neill, Chairperson of the Irish Sports Council, said at the launch: “The Irish Sports Council is committed to a research programme that will inform our policy development into the future. This paper is significant because it gives us essential baseline data on adult participation in sport, which will inform our decisions on how best to tackle the very significant challenges that lie ahead.”
Brian Mullins, who is a member of the Irish Sports Council and the Research Steering Group said: “The Report makes clear the scale of the challenge facing agencies who wish to see sport making a contribution to the health of individuals and communities in Ireland. There is a long way to go in attracting the sedentary population to physical activity and another challenge in retaining in sport those who are already active”.
The major reasons that people give for non-participation in sport have to do with the lack of interest, willingness or time on their part. Lack of sports facilities or other impediments arising on the supply side of the sports system hardly feature at all in their stated reasons for not participating. The provision of sports facilities serves a purpose in raising standards in sport but is unlikely to raise public participation in sport to any great degree.
The study recommends that policy on the use of sport to promote physical activity in the population should devote greater attention to middle aged and older people, among whom levels of inactivity are particularly high.
John Treacy, Chief Executive, Irish Sports Council, said: “The Report is an essential contribution to the policy debate in Irish sport. Our programmes are targeted at the sports community. The message from the Report is that we will have to look outside that community if we are to make a serious impact on participation levels, such as the Sport for Older People and Women in Sport initiatives which have been funded by the Government in recent times”.