The National Cricket Census, conducted by independent researcher Street Ryan, currently places cricket as Australias number one participation sport. Street Ryan, who is responsible for similar auditing of Australias other major participation sports, including AFL and NRL, measured participation over the last financial year.
On the back of strengthening crickets pathway from MILO in2CRICKET through MILO T20 Blast and junior club participation, club and community participation jumped 9.5 per cent to 454,657 in the past 12 months. Juniors aged 5‐12 years contributed 59.4 per cent of all 2015‐16 participants.
Club and community participation was spread across 422 associations and 3,741 clubs nationwide.
School and Indoor participation also enjoyed strong growth in the census, achieving 7.5 per cent and 9.9 per cent growth, respectively.
The growing diversity of Australian cricket, has seen a 28% increase in multicultural participation, 40% increase in Indigenous participation and 70% increase in disability participation from the last census.
The release of the 2015-16 Australian Cricket Census coincides with the National PlayCricket Registration Drive, Australian Crickets national participation campaign that calls on Australians to sign up to play cricket in 2016.
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said:
Cricket is clearly the sport of choice for many Australians and were proud to be billed as one of the biggest participation sports in the country.
As another exciting summer approaches, we continue to be focused on growing our sport and inspiring Australians from all walks of life to pick up a bat and ball and play cricket.
Were committed to continuing to invest in the grass roots, as we have demonstrated with a $4 million commitment in launching a Growing Cricket for Girls fund recently.
Last year the National Community Facility Funding Scheme (NCFFS) also invested $1.34 million into 89 community facility projects worth a total value of $11.2 million.
It is pleasing to see major increases in diversity across our sport. Female participants are now nearly a quarter of our playing base and whilst this growth is something that we are particularly proud of, diversity will continue to be an area of strong focus, including the desire to see further increases in multicultural and indigenous participants.
2015-16 National Cricket Census Key Findings
1,311,184 total participants. A growth of 8.5% on 2014-15.
o675,882 school participants
o454,657 club & community participants
o180,645 indoor participants
Club & Community cricket
o30,622 traditional 11-a-side teams
3,139 modified teams
o16% growth in the Junior Participation Pathway
40,245 MILO in2CRICKET
21,600 MILO T20 Blast
83,138 junior age 9-12 yrs
7.4% growth in school cricket
Diversity
o314,936 female participants
Growth of 9% from 2014-15
Women and girls make up 24% of all participants
o187,816 multicultural participants - 28% growth
o36,900 Indigenous participants - 40% growth
o17,492 disability participants - 70% growth
About the Australian Cricket Census
The 2015-16 Census is the fourteenth annual auditing of Australian cricket participation. The Cricket Census has become an important information system for game development, setting targets, and monitoring successes and trends for the long‐term enhancement of Australian cricket.
A participant is defined by the Australian Cricket Census as someone who participates in at least four sessions of a formal cricket program.
The 2015-16 census has been compiled by specialist researcher Street Ryan, with the cooperative efforts of Cricket Australia and each of the eight state and territory cricket associations.
The organisations are responsible for recording the number of programs, teams and registered players within their state/territory for each cricket program area.
Cricket Australias junior participation programs are supported by Nestlé and the Australian Government via the Australian Sports Commission. The Government support aims to get children healthy and active through participation in sport.
Street Ryan is responsible for the collection of participation figures for Australias major sports, including AFL, NRL, ARU, basketball, hockey and golf.
Visit www.playcricket.com.au to find your local club or for more information.
