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1.4–1.5 Factors influencing the popularity of sport in the UK Typeit
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The popularity of sport in the UK is influenced by a multitude of different factors. Let's have a look at examples of the different factors below and how each impacts the popularity of specific sports.
| These act as significant figures who help inspire participation and thus increase the popularity of sports they represent. Examples could include older siblings, parents, coaches, teachers and, most commonly, elite . Aspiring sports performers look up to these different types of people through a defining quality. This could be their sporting prowess, the values they stand for or even their characteristics – such as disability, religion or ethnicity. | |
| The ease of access to a sporting event as an onlooker – either in person or on television – will also play a role in its popularity. Take, for instance, the ability to attend local amateur sporting events for free – such as village or suburban football and rugby matches – and their availability at the elite level on free-to-air television. | |
| Provision of facilities | This influences both spectatorship and participation in sport. The ease of to a sporting event as a participant will influence its popularity. The abundance of football pitches, which are mostly owned by local councils and are, therefore, open to the public to use, means that the popularity of this sport is likely to be greater than for sports which require specialist facilities that are less common or may not be found locally, e.g. tennis. |
| Social acceptability | There are many concerns about sports in which opponents are at a greater risk of contact injuries, such as boxing and rugby. For these reasons, and their strong association with conditions in later life such as early-onset dementia, they are likely to be less popular among people who are aware of and not willing to take the risks. Equally, sports which may be associated with animal , such as horse racing, are also less likely to be popular and are indeed strongly opposed by animal rights activists. |
| Participation | It goes without saying that the more people who participate in a given sport, the greater its popularity is likely to be. A principal reason for this is due to the that is in place, such as local clubs and organised leagues from grassroots level through to elite level. |
| Team and individual | The popularity of different sports may fluctuate in reflection of how well they are faring on a national level. For example, participation rates in in the UK soared during 2012 due to gold-medal-winning performances of athletes such as Sir Bradley Wiggins, Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Jason Kenny and Laura Kenny (née Trott) at the London Olympics. |
| Environment and climate | Regional differences exist in the popularity of different sports, which may reflect historical traditions but may also be due to environmental conditions. For example, although there are now many artificial slopes throughout the UK, the popularity of sports is extremely small compared to their popularity in snowy Scandinavian countries and mountainous regions across the Alpine countries. |
| Sport can be accessed in many different ways - through social media apps on smartphones, on television, and in newspapers and magazines. These sources control the different sports we see and thus, in some way, dictate the popularity of these sports based on the amount of accessible coverage they give to each. For example, the popularity of male sport compared to female sport is fuelled to some extent by the disparity of coverage between the two. |