Changing Preferences in Sports                                                                                   Back

Apart from conducting regular surveys and polls on politics and lifestyles of the people, Gallup Pakistan pays particular attention to sports. Several questions pertaining to various sports have been a regular feature of Gallup’s surveys as by doing so, it has been able to highlight some interesting trends.

Football is perhaps the most popular game in the world but unfortunately, it has failed to gain the same acceptance in Pakistan. However, more and more people seem to be taking interest in this sport over the past few years. 16% percent of the people questioned at the beginning of 2006 claimed that they take a lot of interest in the game while 32% said that they watch football in a survey conducted later that same year.

In fact, Gallup Pakistan carried out a special survey during the Football World Cup last year. During this World Cup, people were asked about their interest in the sport. 6% replied that they took a lot of interest in the game, the percentage of people who claimed to be somewhat interested stood at 22%, another 22% said that they took a little interest while 50% stated that they were not interested at all. Similarly, 5% had viewed all of the matches of the World Cup, 15% had viewed some of them, 29% had watched a few of them and 59% had not watched any of them. Respondents were also asked about their favorite teams and the largest percentage stood in favor of Brazil (15%). 16% of the people questioned even went on to predict that Brazil would win the World Cup.

On the other hand, it seems like cricket players will be losing some of their fans. When questioned in 2007 about their interest in cricket, 25% of the people stated that they took a lot of interest in cricket, 36% were somewhat interested in the sport and 16% were a little interested while 23% were not at all interested. The same question was asked back in 2006 as well. In 2006, 34% of the respondents indicated a lot of interest in the game, 36% said that they were a little interested and 30% were not at all interested. While these figures do not suggest any major shifts in the people’s liking of the game they are nevertheless, a crude indicator of the changes in their attitudes.

Hockey is another sport which makes it to the top of the favorite sports’ list. In 2006, 18% of the respondents stated that they took a lot of interest in the game and 39% claimed that they liked to watch it. In fact, 46% had watched the Pakistan-India hockey series held in 2006. Another beloved sport is wrestling. While 21% of those questioned claimed to take a lot of interest in the game, 39% stated that they enjoyed watching it. 6% of the respondents also said that they really liked tennis while 20% of them stated that they watched tennis games on the television.

Other well-liked sports included badminton, squash, boxing and swimming. In 2006, the percentages of people who indicated a lot of enthusiasm in them stood at 6%, 5%, 6% and 7% respectively. There were several pleasant surprises in the favorites list as well as some people also pointed out games such as kabaddi, athletics, golf and boating as their favorites. 6% of the people really liked athletics and swimming while 3% took a lot of interest in golf. 8% said that they had a keen interest in boating.

Unfortunately, however, the overall interest in sports seems to be declining gradually. In 2007, 24% of the respondents told Gallup that they were very interested in sports, 40% were somewhat interested, 16% were a little interested and 21% were not at all interested. Although encouraging, these numbers are lower than those observed in 2006. In the beginning of 2006, 32% claimed to have a keen interest in sports while 67% said that they had some interest. Only 1% of the respondents claimed to have no interest in sports whatsoever.

These surveys and polls were conducted by Gallup Pakistan, an affiliate of Gallup International, on a sample of over 1100 respondents in urban areas of all four provinces of Pakistan. This sample was statistically selected across all ages, income groups and educational levels. The error   for a sample of this kind is estimated to be +/- 5% at a 95% confidence level.

No to Non-Segregated Marathons                                                                               Back

Non-segregated sports and particularly, the combined marathon for men and women held in Lahore has been very controversial topic lately. Gallup Pakistan has sought to gather information about the people’s opinion on this issue through its regular surveys.

The fact that the marathon has been the centre of a hot debate was confirmed through these polls. In January 2007, 76% of the respondents had heard about this issue and 46% had read about it. Those who were aware of this controversy were also posed the question, ‘Some people opposed this marathon, while others were in favour of it. What is your view point?’, In return, 23% indicated their approval, 63% said they opposed it while 14% were unsure. The people were also asked if they would like such a marathon to be held in their area. In response to this query, 26% of the people replied in affirmative and 70% claimed that they would not want such an event to be held in their locality. 4% said that they did not know.

This attitude of the pubic seems to be a persistent one. The exact same questions were asked at the beginning of 2006 and the data obtained was very similar to that observed in 2007. In reply to the question, ‘A marathon race for both men & women was held in Lahore recently. Have you heard or read about this?’, 66% of the respondents said that they had heard or read about the issue while the remaining were not aware of it. Amongst those who had heard about the marathon, 28% were in favour of it while 64% opposed it. Similarly, 70% asserted that they would not like such an event to be arranged in their area, 25% said that they would like to have such a marathon in their locality while 5% did not offer an opinion

 These surveys and polls were conducted by Gallup Pakistan, an affiliate of Gallup International, on a sample of over 1100 respondents in urban areas of all four provinces of Pakistan. This sample was statistically selected across all ages, income groups and educational levels. The error   for a sample of this kind is estimated to be +/- 5% at a 95% confidence level.