Sports in Iran: Athletes or Fans?
Sports and physical activities are one of the most important issues that people in urban areas care for based on their own tastes or styles; an issue which is significantly important to be reviewed.
Analyses show that only 38 percent of the over-15-year old population in Iran’s urban areas was engaged in sports activities last calendar year. EMRC has conducted a research, asking the respondents: “Have you had any sports activities over the past 12 months?”
Some 61 percent of the respondents have given a negative response against 39 percent who have said yes. Time per capita of sports activities in this target population has been one hour per week.
Of course, the per capita varies depending on different social and economic classes. For example, at the AB socio-economic category, the per capita effective time of 57 percent of those doing sports activity hit 1.7 hours. In this regard, at C1 social and economic class the per capita effective time of 49 percent was 1.3 hours.
However, the lowest per capita effective time of 28 percent belonged to the DE social and economic class; a class whose per capita effective time spent on doing sports activity has been only 0.6 hours.
Such statistics show that people’s placement in different social and economic classes has had a significant impact on their attitude towards sports.
Role of Lifestyle in Sports Activities
In this study, the lifestyle of those doing sports activities in the target group showed a decrease of 25 percent last year compared to its preceding years.
This decline has occurred gradually over the course of many months; a decline, which is sharper among women according to the statistics. Based on the findings of the research women have included less sports activity in their lifestyle than men.
Of course, the entire target group in this survey has said that they have been engaged in sport or physical activities at least once a week.
Also, from among the target population who regularly did sports and physical activities during the last year, 29 percent were men and 24 percent women. On the whole, 26 percent of Iranians have regularly included sports and physical activities in their life schedule.
Degree of Sports Activities Effectiveness in Community
People under the age of 30 years are more interested in doing sports and physical activities in the Iranian society. Statistics related to this age group indicated this group showed the highest desire for sports in the past year. It is important to note that people in this age group do sports with more discipline.
In the age group of under-30, however, the age group of 15 to 17 year old held the record for doing sports and physical activities in Iran. The over-50-year-old age group had the least amount of sports and physical activities.
How Do Fans Pursue Sports News Stories?
The issue of sports is not something just limited to those who do physical activities. In fact, a stratum of the society somehow follows sports events and news stories. Statistics show that last year 54.3 percent of people in Iran followed sports events and news.
Last year, Iranian sports fans got most of their information through television and it captured the attention of 50 percent of the audience.
Television has still maintained its first place during the past five years; a position that has changed considerably for other media, especially magazines and newspapers.
In 2012, newspapers and magazines were the second media used to follow sports events and news with effectiveness of 22 percent. However, in spite of maintaining their second place over the past five years, they have experienced a significant reduction in their effectiveness.
In 2017, the Internet played an important role in these pursuits. It seems audiences are replacing print media with online media to follow the news; a substitution that the print media have realized and tried to change the information dissemination procedure and have a stronger presence in the online media
The printed media that resist this change will definitely rank lower in the ensuing years.
Which Sports Are Popular?
In this study, the target group responded to the following questions: “Which sports you like?” and “Which sports you follow through TV?” Their answers to the questions and their ranking of sports fields are the interesting part of this research. Soccer is the record-holder among the fans followed by volleyball, wrestling and basketball.
During the one-year period ending October 2017, these sports fields had the highest rating respectively among the sport events and news covered by television.
The places held by volleyball and basketball are remarkable in this ranking.
This suggests a change in the attitudes of audiences towards sports fields; a change that has led to the decline in the status of the popular Iranian sports field i.e., wrestling in the past year.
Sports Activities in Iranian Provinces
Statistics and research works always provide data that serve as tools for accurate planning; the data that show us in which provinces of the country, Iranians spend more time on doing sports or pursuing sports news.
Residents of Khorasan Razavi, Kerman, Fars, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Kermanshah, Kurdistan and West Azarbaijan provinces have had the largest share in doing sports. In these provinces, more than 28 percent of the people have devoted time to doing sports and physical activities.
Also, the study showed less than 26 percent of people living in Tehran and Karaj were doing sports and physical activities.
Also, Golestan, Mazandaran, Gilan, Khorasan Razavi and Kerman provinces have had the highest number of sports events followers. In these provinces, more than 60 percent of people followed sports news.
On the whole, this research can help those involved in sports activities to do planning and disseminate information appropriately; a contribution that will help increase attention to sports in the future.
Related News
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home/plusar/domains/dnaunion.com/public_html/en-us/wp-content/themes/dnaunion/functions.php on line 192
Warning: in_array() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/plusar/domains/dnaunion.com/public_html/en-us/wp-content/themes/dnaunion/template-parts/content/content-single.php on line 104
Warning: in_array() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/plusar/domains/dnaunion.com/public_html/en-us/wp-content/themes/dnaunion/template-parts/content/content-single.php on line 104
Warning: in_array() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/plusar/domains/dnaunion.com/public_html/en-us/wp-content/themes/dnaunion/template-parts/content/content-single.php on line 104
