West Germans lose interest in sport

According to a study recently published by the B-A-T Leisure Research Institute, the West German sports movement is facing a double downward trend. The proportion of active German citizens who play sport at least occasionally has fallen significantly compared to the second half of the 1980s (1987: 45% - 1994: 38%). At the same time, interest in sporting events is also waning among the rest of the population who are not active themselves. The proportion of interested sports spectators in West Germany fell from 31 per cent in 1987 to 26 per cent today. And a good third of the population no longer want to know anything about sport at all and no longer want to take part in sport (1987: 24% - 1994: 36%). This is the result of a recent representative survey of 2,000 West Germans aged 14 and over, comparing the years 1987 and 1994.

The "no sports" approach is taking place on a broad scale and has now reached all population, age and occupational groups. "The change in values in the world of work is obviously also linked to a change in the importance of sport," says Prof Dr Horst W. Opaschowski, Director of the B-A-T Institute. "Sport is - subjectively speaking - becoming less important in life. Other leisure activities such as media, consumption, culture and tourism are moving up the personal hierarchy of values." Even the sports-loving labour force cannot escape this pull of the brave new world of leisure. There is evidence of a trend "away from the pub, sport and garden" and "towards shopping, leisure parks and eating out".

There are major differences between men and women. One in five men (22%) has no interest in sport, while the proportion of women who give sport the cold shoulder is more than twice as high (46%). Sport is obviously still a male domain, not only in real terms but also mentally. As one is not simply born with an interest in sport, the gender-specific differences are essentially a result of upbringing, but also a consequence of the sport on offer, which takes more account of men's interests than women's interests.

A German-German sports comparison, which for the first time with the 94 survey now presented by the B-A-T Institute shows no serious differences, is just as large in the federal states (35%) as in West Germany (36%). The percentage of people taking part in sport is slightly lower (NBL: 35% - ABL: 38%), which in turn is offset by spectators who are not active themselves but are interested in sport (NBL: 30% - ABL: 26%).

This east-west German commonality is also reflected in the ranking of the most popular sports. Cycling, swimming and gymnastics are ahead of jogging and football in both the new and old federal states. Only swimming (NBL: 7% - ABL: 12%) and tennis, which is practised by 6 per cent of West German athletes but only by 1 per cent of East German athletes, show significant differences. Both are certainly more a result of a lack of sports facilities than different interests.

Trends and dream sports: tennis, golf and flying

Dream sports do not stop at age limits: young people dream of playing golf just as much as the over-50s. And gliding exerts the same fascination on 40-year-olds as it does on 65-year-old retirees. The answers to the question about dream sports nevertheless yield some surprising results: Tennis is and remains "the" dream sport for all age groups. Declining television ratings and spectator numbers at tennis tournaments have apparently not affected the desire to play tennis themselves.

Tennis leads the 94 ranking of dream sports by a wide margin for both women and men with 12 per cent each. An end to the tennis boom does not yet appear to be in sight, as three times as many women and twice as many men would like to play tennis as currently play this sport - a desire that is shared by all age groups, but is particularly pronounced in the middle generation of 30 to 40-year-olds. Even in comparison to 1987, when the B-A-T Institute also asked about dream sports in West Germany, there was no decline in the proportion of potential tennis players.

Women's other sports preferences centred on horse riding, swimming, skiing, golf and sailing. For men, football, golf, car racing, sailing and gliding were mentioned most frequently. However, there has been a significant decline in interest in most of the more cost-intensive dream sports compared to 1987. For example, the proportion of mentions of horse riding, skiing and sailing has halved. Only interest in golf remained stable. Around one million women and 1.8 million men would still like to pick up a club

Parachuting, hang-gliding, gliding and diving are of above-average interest to the younger generation. For the adventure-hungry generation of 14 to 29-year-olds, these sports offer a special mix of thrills and self-affirmation. It is also remarkable that the 40 to 49-year-olds show a particular interest in car racing. They want to do it again: Torn between "midlife crisis" and the "post-parental phase of life" (the children are leaving home), they are looking for a borderline experience in which they can calculate the risk and keep the steering wheel in their own hands.

Sporting events: Entertainment value more important than club interests

Sporting events today are increasingly a mixture of show, sponsors and spectacle. Spectator sport is developing into sport consumption, which turns the fan into a consumer. The consumer consumes commercialised entertainment, uses and consumes it - like the hopper on television and the shopper in the shopping centre. "Local patriotism" or "national pride" play almost no role here (6%). The fan base is made up almost exclusively of young people. Every second 14 to 19-year-old (49%) attends sporting events out of interest in the club. Personally, it is more important for many spectators to simply be among people. Spectators could just as easily satisfy their needs in the cinema, at a folk festival, in a shopping centre or at an open-air concert.

Most women never go to sporting events (56% - men: 33%). More women could only be attracted as spectators if sport was taken less seriously and attendance was more fun. Fun and entertainment are the most important visitor motives for women. One in five women particularly emphasises the social aspect. And for women, spectators can sometimes be more interesting than sports stars. Experiencing the spectators' enthusiasm up close or being among like-minded people - the atmosphere can sometimes be more attractive than the sporting performance.

When men attend sporting events, they are consistently highly motivated and also have higher expectations of their attendance. Above all, they identify more with the sports programme. Their specific interest in the club is twice as high (36%) as that of female visitors (18%) and their expectations of excitement and thrills are almost three times as high (26% - women: 9%).

The leisure competitors of sport

As we move into a new millennium, we are already seeing the signs of an age of experience, in the wake of which sport is having to contend with largely unexpected competitors outside its own camp - with cinema, shopping and pub culture, with tropical bathing landscapes on the doorstep and paradisiacal dream beaches in the distance. The "sports offer system" is increasingly confronted with the problem of squaring the circle: After all, leisure sports enthusiasts are both city strollers and department stores' customers, cinema-goers and pub-goers, car drivers and holiday travellers. And they are all looking for new leisure experiences. Will Germany no longer be a sporting country in the future because most German citizens will find the cultural scene, consumer temples or the collective leisure park more interesting?

Hint

The script "New Trends in Leisure Sports" is available immediately from the BAT Leisure Research Institute, Alsterufer 4, 20354 Hamburg, for a nominal charge of DM 24. We can provide journalists and editorial offices with a review copy on request.