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News Archive Release
Monday, 11 January 2010
BMI: Cricket One
of the Fastest Growing Mass Participation Sports
Proteas fast bowler Makhaya Ntini remains the most popular cricketer among the
youth of South Africa, according to the latest BMI Junior SportTrack report for
2009, which lists him as the fourth most popular sportsman in South Africa.
Ntini , who was bowled over by the support from his many fans, said: “I truly
appreciate the public’s support. They have always been behind me throughout my
career. I was touched by the support I received during my 100th Test
celebration. They can be assured I will always give my 100% every time I play.”
A number of cricketers have again been voted into the list of most popular
sports stars among the youth including Graeme Smith who moved up the ranks from
9th in 2008 to 6th in 2009. Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy also
made it into the Top 20. Cricket had no less than six stars in the list, with
only soccer performing better with nine stars in the top 20.
Cricket participation has shown solid growth over the past year among juniors
aged 13-18. The annual growth rate of 3.9% means that cricket remains one of the
fastest growing mass participation sports in the country.
There are currently 572 000 cricket participants at all levels of participation
within this age group in South Africa making it a top five sport among the more
than 40 sports codes BMI measures and reports on in their annual Junior
Sporttrack report. Cricket remains the second highest participation sport among
boys behind soccer, still managing to remain ahead of rugby.
The highest growth is at club level, which has grown by almost 5% year on year,
while school participation has grown at 3.4%. There has been a marked increase
in coloured participation (9.9%) while black youth playing cricket also
increased significantly (4.6%).
Commenting on the latest BMI Junior SportTrack Report, CSA President Dr
Mtutuzeli Nyoka said: “Our vision is to make cricket a truly national sport of
winners and to this end we will continue to work at all levels to ensure that we
get closer to our goal with every effort and we encourage all communities to do
something today that will shape tomorrow.
“Cricket builds character and the youth of today can benefit greatly from taking
up this great sport. We have heroes like Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis who
have made names for themselves in world cricket and they certainly stand out as
role models along with Graeme Smith and the rest of the Proteas team.”
A successful Proteas season (2008/09) resulted in growth in spectators as well
among juniors aged 13-18 years old with a total following of 2.84 million.
Cricket remained the second most popular sport among junior spectators behind
soccer.
While the overall spectator numbers among these juniors declined by over 2% in
2009 compared to 2008, cricket was one of only 12 codes to show growth,
increasing by 3.1% year on year, with the highest percentage growth coming from
white and Asian youth.
CSA CEO Gerald Majola said he was encouraged by the support for cricket shown by
the youth.
“CSA is actively pursuing the emerging market of supporters and we are delighted
with these encouraging statistics. The youth are asking CSA to communicate in
new and innovative ways and this has translated in improving spectator numbers
among our young supporters.”
Kass Naidoo
Communications Intern
Office: (011) 880 2810
Mobile: 082 813 4078
Email: lerato.malekutu@cricket.co.za
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