Soccer leads the pack as South Africans’ favourite sport

This resonates with results from another countrywide study, according to which 42% of the adult population believes that Bafana-Bafana will reach the quarterfinals of the soccer world cup. These results are from Markinor’s quarterly KayaBus and TeleBus surveys.

In the KayaBus survey, conducted in November 2006, 3 500 respondents were interviewed face-to-face in-home, representing the adult population in South Africa. Two out of every five (42%) South Africans believe Bafana-Bafana will reach the quarterfinals of the 2010 soccer world cup. Almost half of blacks (47%) has faith in Bafana-Bafana performing well at this event, while a third each of Indians (32%) and coloureds (31%) believe Bafana-Bafana will make it to the quarterfinals. Three out of five Whites (58%) are of the opinion that Bafana-Bafana will not progress to the quarterfinals.



Young South Africans (16-24 year old) have the most faith (51%) that Bafana-Bafana will reach the quarterfinals of the 2010 soccer world cup, with a decrease in faith as age increases. Only a third (31%) of people 55 years and older believes that our team will reach the quarterfinals.

In the TeleBus survey, a total of 1 500 respondents, representative of the adult population with home telephones in South Africa, were telephonically interviewed in March 2007. Due to the low penetration of private landlines in South Africa, respondents were thus mainly from the affluent groups in the country.

Looking at the results in more detail, almost twice as many landline owners enjoy watching soccer (36%) than watching cricket (19%) and rugby (18%).



Different race groups enjoy watching different sports. Soccer is most favoured among blacks (67%) and rugby the most favoured among whites (32%). More than two out of five Indians prefer watching cricket (42%). Coloured South Africans spread their viewing preference over all three major sports codes.



In general, South Africans are optimistic about the country’s readiness for 2010. Almost half (45%) of adult South Africans who have private landlines, believes that South Africa is prepared. On the other hand, a quarter (23%) believes that South Africa is not adequately prepared to handle the 2010 soccer world cup. Black South Africans are the most optimistic, and the least optimistic group is white South Africans - where less than a third believes that South Africa is ready for 2010.




Not surprisingly, soccer supporters believe most strongly that South Africa is ready for the 2010 soccer world cup, with two-thirds indicating they think we are sufficiently prepared for this event. Cricket supporters stayed neutral with three in every ten (29%) indicating the country is “somewhat ready”. A third of rugby supporters feels South Africa is not at all ready to host the 2010 soccer world cup.