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Golf kicking football to one side

Mon, 9 Jul 2007 - 03:14 GMT

Golf could become the number one sport for British men, a new survey has revealed, with more than half the UK population teeing off on a regular basis.

As football becomes ever more corporate and expensive for the fans, a new trend seems to be emerging which shows that more and more British blokes are turning their backs on the pitch and heading for the fairway with their mates…

Over half of men (51%) aged between 20 and 50 now own golf clubs and claim to play regularly (more than once a month), whereas only 42% of the men in the same age group say they play football more than once a month. Even stranger, less than a third of these respondents claimed to own football boots.

The survey, carried out for the Quinn Direct British Masters, asked men all over the UK about their sporting interests and found that, for men aged 30 and over, golf scores even better: 65% aged over 30 play golf at least once a month, while less than a quarter in this age group say they play football regularly.

When asked what sporting star they most admire, footballing legend David Beckham did receive a healthy thumbs up with 36% of the votes – but he was pipped to the post, as a larger share of the vote (39%) went to golfing supremo Tiger Woods.

And can you blame people? The average price of a season ticket at Chelsea and Arsenal is well over £1,000 – whereas a season ticket at the legendary Belfry Golf Resort costs under half that. Football strips change faster than the weather, while classic golf brands maintain longevity in style. And with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Catherine Zeta Jones and T4’s Steve Jones regularly pictured teeing off, the game has got pretty sexy. Our very own Premiership footballers are often seen putting the world to rights on the golf course too!

General findings of the survey, which was carried out online in the week commencing 2nd July 2007:

• 51% of men aged between 20 and 50 play golf once a month
• 42% of men aged between 20 and 50 play football once a month
• 40% of all the men asked follow the major golf tournaments
• 65% of men aged over 30 play golf once a month
• 20% of men aged over 30 play football once a month
• Johnny Wilkinson was voted third most admired sports star, with 17% of respondents nominating the rugby legend

Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler, Managing Director of promoters International Sports Management said, “Golf is a great spectator sport with some larger than life characters now drawing in the younger fans. This has had a knock on effect and more and more men are playing the game as well, which is fantastic as it is great game, both to watch and to play.”

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