40% of urban South Africans voted soccer as their favourite sport, with rugby (20%) and cricket (11%) coming in second and third respectively. Tennis comes in in fourth place (5%) with Boxing taking fifth (with a slightly higher percentage of female fans).
Other sports in the South African favourite sports line up include: gymnastics; netball; ice skating; athletics (track); golf and volleyball.
Soccer fans voted Siyabonga Nomvete as their favourite player. He outpaced his competitors to score 11% of the total votes; Jabu Pule came in second (9%) and Lucas Radebe in third (6%).
For rugby supporters, Joost van der Westhuizen leads the pack with 15% of the votes, Bob Skinstad shines in second place (7%) and Breyton Paulse scores third place with 4% of the votes.
Amongst cricket fans, Jonty Rhodes and Shaun Pollock share first place with 22% of the votes each, Lance Klusener and Mark Boucher share a close second with 18% of the votes, and Hansie Cronje is voted in at number three with 8% of the votes.
"In order to get an accurate representation of the South African sentiment towards sports and sports stars, we conducted 600 face-to-face interviews amongst urban South Africans. This survey will be repeated quarterly allowing us to track the rise and fall of sporting heroes," explains Brandon Adcock, general manager, Bateleur Business Planning.
Adcock continues: "Answers given are entirely spontaneous, meaning that these truly are South Africa's current sporting favourites."
