Sport England
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Research shows satisfaction is high in grassroots sport

New research published by Sport England reveals a high level of satisfaction amongst people taking part in grassroots sport.

Regular participants from over 40 sports gave an overall satisfaction rating of 80.3 out of 100 across ten areas - including coaching, exertion and fitness, officiating, facilities and value for money.

The sporting satisfaction survey1 is a new piece of research that will provide real insight to national governing bodies of sport, enabling them to drive improvements for their customers. 44,390 people across England took part in the survey.

Increasing satisfaction lies at the heart of one of Sport England’s strategic outcomes – sustaining participation – because the quality of the sporting experience on offer is a key factor in attracting and retaining participants.

The headline results2 (available by clicking this link) show that the sports with the highest overall satisfaction scores are taekwondo, orienteering, judo and golf. Survey respondents were recruited among three different types of participant for each sport:
  • General participants
  • Affiliated club members
  • Talent pool (a sample of athletes in the sport’s talent pathway).

The results show that satisfaction is higher among affiliated club members than general participants, suggesting that being part of a club enhances the sporting experience.

Mihir Warty, Sport England’s Director of Strategy and Research, said:

“This annual survey will help us to unlock the DNA of sporting participation by revealing what motivates people to take part, the issues they face, and the key drivers that will influence them to continue and do more.

“The more we can help national governing bodies of sport to understand what motivates and matters to people playing their sport, the more able they will be to respond to the needs of existing customers and encourage new participants.”

The survey was carried out on behalf of Sport England by Ipsos MORI, whose Research Director, Julian Misell, said:

"The high satisfaction scores recorded by many sports are very commendable indeed. While we might expect regular sport participants to be broadly content with their experience, this is the first time this has been measured on such a scale.

“Where we hope this unique survey will be of particular value to the individual sports is in identifying those areas where action is required to help further enhance the sporting experience."

The survey will provide a robust measure of the progress made by each sport in improving satisfaction and enable us track the achievement of national targets for the national governing bodies of sport in which we have invested.


1 The ‘Satisfaction with the quality of the sporting experience survey’ was conducted between March and May 2009. The survey will be repeated annually, with the same panel of people. Respondents were aged 14 and over.

2 More detailed results and analysis will be published in July, following workshops with the national governing bodies of each of the sports covered by the survey.

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