SPECTACULAR INCREASE IN SPORTS PRACTICE IN SPAIN

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1 SPECTACULAR INCREASE IN SPORTS PRACTICE IN SPAIN EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL CLASS ARE MORE IMPORTANT FACTORS THAN AGE A n analysis of the real sporting Behaviour of the population of Spain is marked by very general coordinates. The information from the survey refers to people who go in for any form of sport in varying degrees of intensity. There are no strict criteria technically. Someone who goes for long bicycle rides at the weekend or spends a couple of hours a day jogging will be included as practising a sport. The measure relates to people who engage in a physical activity with the intention of practising a sport. Encouraging lasting habits. By Josep Prats In the last quantified study of the sporting habits of the Spanish, which was made by the Ministry of Culture, it emerges that more and more people are going in for sport. It shows that the social and economic factors are stronger than even age and sex, and that political ideologies are largely irrelevant. One anecdotal conclusion is that housewives have little interest in sports. Table 2 shows the evolution in percentage terms of the practice terms of the practice of sport over the last decade 1975 to 1985, to the specific which was when the count was made. The first figure to highlight is that 19% of the adult population practises a sport, and another 17 % practises two or more. The total estimate of 34 % of active sportsmen shows a clear increase compared with the figures for 1970 and Over the ten years, the number of sportsmen has risen from 22 % to 34 %. Although the figure itself is optimistic, it cannot be said that sport is a majority pastime in Spain, since 53 % of the population has never gone in for a sport, and % have given it up. MAJOR FACTORS The degree to which people practise sport varies greatly depending on which population group is examined. Table 1 shows the influence of social and demographic factors. First conclusion : men (46 %) go in for sports more than women (23 %). Male sporting activity is double that of women, which demolishes any non-sexist view. In any event, age discriminates more than sex. The practice of sports among young people of to

2 1. SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS Socio-demographic characteristics Sex Male Female Age (years) Over 50 Education Below primary Primary Vocational training Secondary Intermediate University Marital status Single Married Widowed or separated Occupational activity Working Unemployed Retired Student Self-employed Ideological scale Left Centre Right Occupation Senior management Middle management Skilled worker Labourer Region Andalusia Castille-Leon Catalonia Galicia Madrid Castilla-La Mancha C. Valencia Basque Country Other regions Much Some Little ne THE SPORTING HABITS OF THE SPANISH (I) Quantities expressed as % 335

3 A future Olympic champion? Prince Felipe de Borbon, Honorary President of COOB 92 s General Assembly, is in soling training with a view to the Olympic sailing selections. 2. HOW SPORTS HAVE EVOLVED ( ) Participation in sports One sport Several sports sports longer practise answer 2 Quantities expressed as %: is fairly high at 62 %. From then onwards, however, there is a slow but steady decrease, to 28 % of year-olds. Above 50, only % remain faithful to a sport. The level of education of the population also has a strong influence. Of those who do not even have primary education, only 11 % go in for sport. The scale of participation increases gradually among those with vocational training and secondary school certificates,up to the ranks of those with a university education, whose degree of participation is 59 %. At this point, several factors must be combined to establish the real dimension of the figures given so far. If we analyse the figures on the basis of age and education, we can draw some very valuable conclusions. If we assume that education is an indicator of the social and economic status of the individual, we find that young people in the lower classes go in for sports less than those in the upper class. In other words, the factors associated with a difficult social and economic situation are elements that hinder sporting activity. 3. SPORT AND EDUCATION EDUCATION Go in for sport 1. Primary 2. Secondary 3. Intermediate 4. University Quantities expressed as %. AGE The third table reflects clearly the effects of the social situation, which parallels education. t only is the percentage of sporting activity lower among young people with primary education or less in the - year-old group- relative to the other levels; we also see people dropping sport to a much greater extent after in this class. Only 23 % of people of this age with lower education (and, concomitantly, 336

4 of lower social class) go in for sports. Among university students of the same age, 61 % go in for sports. More figures of this nature : continuing the parallelism between social class and education, the third table shows us that the practice of sports by people with a university education over 40 (46 %) is higher than that of lower-class young people of to with a low level of education. The philosophical message to be drawn from this is clear : social factors are more important when establishing the practice of sport than is age itself. like brother, like sister... Keeping sport in the family : Emilio Sánchez won the silver in the men s doubles in Seoul with Sergio Casal (right) and his 17-year-old sister has just carried off the French Open at Roland-Garros. 337

5 retired (19 %). The most curious figure on this scale is the minimal importance of sport for housewives : a miserable 11 %. José Luis Doreste, gold medal in yachting in Seoul here with Javier Gómez Navarro, Spanish Minister of sports. Sergio López, bronze in the 200 m breaststroke in Seoul. SYMPTOMATIC: SENIOR STAFF PLAY MORE SPORTS THAN LABOURERS IDEOLOGY Coming back to table 1, we can also see significant details. Single people, at 53 %, go in for sports more than married people, for whom the figure is only %. Likewise, students, at 63 %, are more addicted to sporting activity than the unemployed (40 %), the employed (39%), and the Under occupational activity we see the same proportions already mentioned between populations with very different educational levels. Senior managers practise sport much more (53 %) than labourers, who appear in the statistics with only 20 %. It can be seen clearly from these figures that sport, sadly, is not within the reach of everyone, and the more affluent classes have much greater facilities for practising sport. Another curious conclusion that must be drawn is that political ideology has hardly any influence on the practice of sport. While table 1 reflects the fact that left-wingers are more sportive, at 40 %, that those of the centre and right (33 %), this may simply be because the members of left-wing groups are younger than those of right-wing groups, which means that the difference in the percentages is not due to ideological causes. Finally, we should mention that Catalonia, the Basque Country, Madrid, Castille- Leon and Valencia are the communities with the highest rates of participation in sports. J. P. (to be continued) Reprinted from Barcelona Olympica. 7, with kind permission. 338