Czech television mainly leads hockey, football was up to eighth, due to women’s lack of interest

Czechs like to watch ice hockey, skiing and athletics. This was shown by an extensive survey of attractiveness organized by the National Sports Agency (NSA). Football was up to eighth, mainly due to women’s lack of interest. Respondents considered bowling and skittles to be the most attractive for running. Most Czechs do not play sports, at least once or twice a week 38 percent of respondents exercise.

The survey was conducted last October on a large sample of 5,000 people over the age of 15. There were 105 sports on offer, representing national federations. People had to assess the degree of attractiveness from a spectator and active point of view on a scale from zero to ten. The results of the survey were one of the parameters that the NSA took into account when assessing the amount of subsidies for sports associations.

From the point of view of spectator attractiveness, ice hockey won among men and took second place in the ranking of women, who consider figure skating to be the most attractive. He thus had a relatively balanced support between the sexes, in contrast to football, which was third for men, but did not even reach the top 15 for women. “I was surprised. I thought it was the most watched. But according to this survey, women are not watching football at all. It is also a signal for the football environment to make football and family fun, following the example of England and others,” Milan Hnilička.

Football, like other team sports, has not made much of an impact in the ranking of attractiveness for the actual practice of sports. He was there until the seventeenth. Bowling won in the joint evaluation of athletes and non-athletes. “The reason may be that it is an activity on the border between sport and entertainment,” said NSA Vice President Ivo Lukš.

Of the “classic” sports, people consider tennis, cycling, which came first for men, and skiing to be the most attractive. Volleyball was the best of team sports in seventh place, with table tennis and swimming ahead of it. “Individual sports play a leading role. It shows the direction in which society is heading. Another factor is the availability of sports grounds for some sports,” Hnilička commented.

The long-term goal of the NSA is to move the Czech population. Most Czechs do not play sports at all or only suddenly. Less than two-fifths of people perform regular activity at least once or twice a week. “It’s a problem. If we want to compare ourselves with countries in Europe, 80 percent of the population in Scandinavia, for example, does sports,” Hnilička said.

Men are more active than women and activity decreases with age. In the category over 45, only 30 percent of people play sports regularly. “There is a big problem here, because this group then makes it more expensive for the health care system,” Hnilička pointed out. Lack of exercise increases, for example, the risk of diabetes and heart attack.

The impacts of the survey results on individual unions will not be significant. “We wanted to maintain continuity, so we set certain boundaries in which we operate. For football, this means that it will not have a significant increase. But in terms of membership and the extent of competitions, it is such a phenomenon that there should be no reduction in support from parties of the state, “Hnilička explained.

State policy also plays a role. “We see a large underfunding of team sports as such, which bring together the most members. We need them systematically,” added the former hockey goalie.

The survey should be regular. “It probably won’t be every year, but we would like to do it every two years so that we can follow the trend,” said Hnilička.