Victorian participation in organised sport

Spanning 8 years, this annual research project is a partnership between VicHealth, Sport and Recreation Victoria, Victoria University, Federation University, and 13 Victorian state sporting associations. You can access all the reports below.

Sport participation in Victoria 2015-2022

The 2022 research summary   looks at how the organised sport participation has evolved over an 8-year period with a special focus on the impact of COVID-19 and the recovery of participation in sport.
The research reveals data from 10 popular sports and compares   participation rates across age, sex and region between 2015-2022.

Sports surveyed:

• Australian rules football
• Basketball
• Cricket
• football (soccer)
• Gymnastics
• Hockey
• Netball
• Sailing
• Swimming
• Tennis.

TL:DR - the important bits

• 2022 represents the highest year of overall participation in sport in Victoria, since the Sport Participation Research Project commenced in 2015.
• Participation in community sport rose by over 119,229 participants, after being significantly impacted by COVID-19 restrictions in 2020.
• The sport participation rate across all ages is higher for males than females.
• The research calls for a continued strategic focus on engaging, retaining and re-engaging women and girls in playing sport.

Quick stats

• The total participation numbers and participation rate (of the Victorian population) across the sports in 2022 were: 924,235/14.1% of total population.
• Sport participation is highest among children and adolescents 10–14 years (57%) and drops significantly during late adolescence (15-19 years, 32%).
• Sport participation rates (across all ages) are higher for males (19%) than females (10%) in Victoria.
• Sport participation rates are higher in regional Victoria (17%) compared to metropolitan Melbourne (13%).
• Metropolitan-growth areas have considerably lower sport participation rates (10%) compared to all other regions.

Recommendations

• Creating focused strategic policy development to retain and re-engage children and youth in sport.
• There is a need to focus on policy, investment, strategy, programs, and research for children and youth, and hear from them directly.

More resources

• Getting more women active: Sign up as a This Girl Can Vic supporter to access resources to make your services safe and inclusive
• Doing Sport Differently resources can help you in designing alternative ways to make sort engaging for everybody

Previous research