The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a deterrent for participation in organised sport, according to new findings from Sport Australia’s AusPlay and Community Perceptions Monitor surveys.
However, the pandemic has driven up rates of participation in socially-distanced sports and recreational activities, which appears to be driven by women.
The report shows that while the pandemic had resulted in a dip in participation for some sports, there had been a rise in others.
For example, an estimated 253,000 more Australian adults participated in golf in 2020 compared with 2019, while 185,000 more participants played tennis.
However, restrictions on junior sport had resulted in the percentage of children who played organised sport outside of school at least once a week dropping from 55 in 2019 to 43 per cent in 2020.