Grassroots sport participation is dropping in the U.K., according to the figures provided by Sport England in its latest Active People Survey, which measures the number of people taking part in sport across the nation and in local communities.
Almost a quarter of million people stopped taking part in regular activity during the six-month period from October 2014 to March 2015. During this timeframe, 15.5 million people did some kind of sport once a week, every week, namely 222,000 fewer than in the previous six-month period.
Swimming, the most popular sport in the U.K., with more 2.5 million people taking part weekly, has seen a drop by 144,200 in the last six months. The keepfit and gym sector has also shown a significant decline, with the number of participants down by 153,000, the first drop in numbers since Sport England started measuring the sector.
However, the latest figures do show improvements in the running sector, up 63,000 to 2.1 million a week, as well as in tennis, up 38,200 to 422,400 a week, and basketball, up 21,800 to 152,900 a week.
Team sports also performed satisfactorily, with 2.7 million people altogether playing once a week in sports including football, both codes of rugby, hockey and netball.
The number of people performing sports activities once a week in the 16-25 year-old group has remained stable at 3.8 million.
People from black and ethnic minority backgrounds playing sport have increased by 37,600 to 2.9 million.
The number of disabled people who practice sport has gone down to 37,300 overall, due largely to the drop in swimming and gym.
However, some sports that are popular among disabled people, such as football, tennis and running, are seeing positive increases.
Finally, the gender gap in sport has been reduced slightly, with 6.86 million women playing sport once a week compared with 8.63 million men. As reported, Sport England is investing heavily to get more women to practice sports.
