OVER the last 12 months, soccer has overtaken swimming as the most popular sporting activity among Australian kids, with one in two children aged 6-13 now playing the round ball code. Furthermore, the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Research Young Australians Survey reveal that, for the first time, more girls are now playing soccer than netball.

PHOTO: An article which appears in today’s Geelong Advertiser highlights the popularity of the round ball code amongst young females

Back in June 2014, 50% of Aussie kids (or 1,213,000 children) reported going swimming, ahead of 47% (1,136,000) who said they played soccer. Since then, soccer has gained an extra 108,000 young players, to hit a 50% participation rate (1,244,000); while swimming participation has fallen by 32,000 kids and now sits at 48%.

While more Aussie kids are also taking part in athletics, cricket, netball and Australian Rules football than they were 12 months ago, the increases for these sports are negligible when compared with the boom in soccer participation.

But soccer’s rise is not simply the result of more boys playing it: it is becoming increasingly popular with girls as well. So much so, in fact, that a higher proportion of Australian girls (39%) now play soccer than netball (37%), a sport traditionally associated with girls. 

According to Hugh Amoyal, the Deputy CEO of Roy Morgan Research, despite the fact that the average time spent by Australian children playing sport each week has declined as they spend more time on the internet, “it is encouraging to see that soccer participation has increased so substantially year on year for boys and girls.

“Roy Morgan Research data shows that team sports have a positive effect on the mental health of adults who play them, so it makes sense that children would experience the same benefits,” stated Amoyal.

“The social bonding that comes from being part of a team and the endorphin rush arising from such a physical sport are not limited to any particular age, after all.

“The rise in participation among Australian girls is particularly interesting, with more girls now playing soccer than the traditionally female-oriented sport of netball. Whether this is due to the ‘Matildas effect’, changing Physical Education programs in Australian schools, or a mixture of both is yet to be determined, but it is a step towards a more gender-balanced approach to sport,” concluded the Deputy CEO of Roy Morgan Research, Hugh Amoyal.