The Economics of Sport
  • Sports Economics
  • About
  • Workshop
  • Selected Publications
  • Book Reviews
  • A Primer on Gaelic Games
  • Upcoming Events
  • Media
  • Education
  • Resources & Links
  • Data

How Many People Play Soccer in Ireland?

26/4/2017

 
By Robbie Butler

How many people play soccer in Ireland? This is a question that I have been asked before, and like most questions that appear straightforward, the answer is very hard to know. In fact, it is impossible to be certain given the many ways the sport can be played. Here’s my best shot.

According to Sport Ireland’s Irish Sports Monitor (ISM) Annual Report 2015, 4.8% of those aged 16+ said they played soccer at least once a week. The population of those 16+ is just over 3.5 million so this gives an estimate of around 170,000 players per week.

To break this down further, I considered the overall context in which sport is played. The ISM provides four categories; on own (42.7% in 2015), organised training (31.3%), causally with friends/family (24%) and organised competition (7.7%).

It gets a little tricky here because I doubt anyone replying to soccer said they played “on own”. This leaves us with three categories; (1) organised training, (2) causally with friends/family and (3) organised competition. I assume that (2) refers to astro football, five-a-side, indoor, and other players of the like, while (3) are FAI registered players. Category (1) (training) needed to be spread across both. The ratio of causal to organised play is 3:1. I split (1) this way. This leave a following breakdown of 24.64% formal players and 75.36% informal players.
​
Based on 170,000 players per week this means there are 128,610 informal players and 42,057 formal players. I would add, this is not 170,000 different people. I suspect almost every registered player also plays informally.

The CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) 2013 figures are more optimistic and suggest 13.2% of those aged 15+ play soccer. Based on population stats, this is 470,000 approx.

The QNHS describes the categories of play as Informal/casual (41.2%), Organised activities (29.7%), Organised competition (28.9%) and Professional/semi-professional (0.2%). If we assume astro, 5-a-side, etc. are Informal/casual and Organised activities, and Organised competition and Professional/semi-professional are registered players, it means 29.1% of players are formally registered, with the remaining 70.96% informal. This isn’t too far off the ISM estimate.

Based on 470,000 players, this means there are 332,757 informal players and 136,576 registered players over 15 years of age. Again, this is not 470,000 different people as I suspect there is large cross-over. These figures are larger than the ISM figures as the latter assumes players are playing on a more regular basis.

I was able to test the accuracy of the 136,576 figure using FIFA’s Big Count Survey from 2006. The report said Ireland had 6,000 clubs. Not all have adults’ teams, and some would have multiple (so this is crude) but the figures would suggest an average of 23 players per club. 

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    About

    This website was founded in July 2013.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    American Football
    Athletics
    Baseball
    Basketball
    Behavioural Economics
    Boxing
    Broadcasting
    Competitive Balance
    Cricket
    Cycling
    Darts
    David Butler
    Declan Jordan
    Drugs
    Ed Valentine
    Epl
    Esports
    Expenditure
    F1
    Fifa World Cup
    Finances
    Funding
    Gaa
    Gaelic Games
    Gambling
    Game Theory
    Gary Burns
    Geography
    Golf
    Greyhound Racing
    Guest Posts
    Horse Racing
    Impact Studies
    John Considine
    John Eakins
    League Of Ireland
    Location
    Media
    Mls
    Mma
    Olympics
    Participation
    Paul O'Sullivan
    Premier League
    Regulation
    Research
    Robbie Butler
    Rugby
    Simpsonomics
    Snooker
    Soccer
    Spatial Analysis
    Sporting Bodies
    Stephen Brosnan
    Swimming
    Taxation
    Teaching
    Technology
    Tennis
    Transfers
    Uefa
    Ufc
    World Cup
    Wwe

Related

The website is not formally affiliated to any institution and all of the entries represent the personal views and opinions of an individual contributor. The website operates on a not-for-profit basis. For this reason we decline all advertisement opportunities. 

Contact

To contact us email sportseconomics2013@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @SportEcon.