2020 Research

This summary outlines key findings and insights from the 6th year of VicHealth and Sport and Recreation Victoria’s joint research into organised community sport participation in Victoria across 12 popular sports including Australian football, basketball, bowls*, cricket, football (soccer), golf*, gymnastics, hockey, netball, sailing, swimming and tennis.  

The report illustrates participation across age, sex and location in 2020 and compares this with participation in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. 

Download: Sport Participation in Victoria 2015-2020 - Research Summary* (PDF, 6 MB)

*Please note: bowls and golf did not provide data for 2020 and are not included in this summary. 

Key findings from 2020 results: 

• Overall sport participation decreased by 27% from 2019 to 2020, which saw a greater drop in females (29%) than males (25%). 
• The decrease in participation was most significant amongst children and young people. For all children and youth (4-19 years) there was a loss of 175, 708 participants from 2019 to 2020. 
• The 4-year-old age group saw the greatest decrease in participation for both males (75%) and females (60%), despite this age group seeing the largest growth in 2019. 
• Despite a greater decrease in participation in regional Victoria than Metropolitan Melbourne, regional Victoria had a greater overall participation rate of 11% compared to 9% in Metropolitan Melbourne. 
• Participation of winter sports were significantly more impacted than summer sports due to the timing of COVID restrictions.