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International Statistical Institute, 55th Session 2005

An International Reference List of for Statistical Purposes

Bruno ROSSI MORI Italian Olympic Committee, Coni Servizi, Statistical Monitoring of Largo Lauro De Bosis 15, 00194 Rome, [email protected]

1. Seeking a coordinated Monitoring of Participation in Sports

The sports system is centered on human activities which are called “sports”… Statisticians must consider the different sports which are practiced in a country, both while measuring participation of citizens in sports and while analysing facilities and other services provided, economic issues etc. Theoretical definitions of sport don’t help in surveys, when citizens give free answers from their own point of view: the feelings about sports differ from time to time and from place to place. Ten years ago, this topic was focused in the 1995 ISI Session and now some steps forward may be shown. Actions for a better Monitoring of Participation in Sports were developed among European countries, aimed at improving sport policies within the cultural policies at national and local level: • The Leadership Group for Cultural Statistics (LEG) implemented within the European Union (1999 report) some basic principles established by UNESCO in the ‘80 (Framework for Cultural Statistics - FCS) • The Compass action in sport was welcomed by the CDDS (Committee for the Development of Sport) within the Council of Europe (1996), while at the same time the LEG group for Cultural Statistics decided not to deal with sport in the first steps, and appreciated the fact that Compass was doing it. The Compass working group edited a book (1999), opened a website (www.sportcompass.net) and was recognised as ad hoc working group of the International Association for Sports Information IASI (2002). IASI is recognised by the IOC and by ICSSPE.

2. The COMPASS action What is the “Compass” action in the sport field? • It seeks the Coordinated Monitoring of Participation in Sports. • It makes accessible shared statistical criteria and comparable data through the website. • It was promoted in 1996 by the Italian Olympic Committee, by UK Sport and Sport England. Several key-contacts, who are managing surveys in ten European countries, are now cooperating. • The measurements concern the sport field described by the “Council of Europe” definition, as intended in every country. • Compass is based upon national surveys, promoted by public bodies. • For the breakdown of the overall participation data, three main components are considered by the partner countries: quantity, quality and organisation of activities. International Statistical Institute, 55th Session 2005

• A certain level of methodological accuracy is needed for being included in the “cross- national tables”, but every relevant survey is being reported in “national” pages. • The surveys acknowledged by Compass recognise sports through their names. For more detailed comparisons a shared reference was established.

3. The IASI-Compass International Reference List of Sports

In order to develop comparable statistics, statisticians need at least a shared list of sports as a reference at international level. A reference list of worldwide recognized sports is being set up on the basis of IOC and GAISF recognitions, and may be flanked with national additions, in order to reach the best conditions for cross-national comparisons. It is now being proposed to the concerned international bodies for acknowledgements. The first List (CILS-02) was set up in 2002, adapting the Classification Scheme of the International Olympic Committee – IOC (which was designed for filing results of sports events).

Table 1. The 88 names of sports appearing in the CILS-02

1 Aeronautics 31 61 Roque 2 32 Flying Disc 62 3 Aquatics 33 63 Rugby 4 34 64 5 Athletics 35 65 6 Automobile Sports 36 66 Sepaktakraw 7 37 67 Shooting 8 38 Hockey 68 Skating 9 39 69 Skibob 10 40 70 11 41 Ju-Jitsu 71 Sleddog 12 Billiard Sports 42 72 Soft 13 43 73 14 Bodybuilding 44 74 Sports for Disabled 15 45 Life Saving 75 16 46 76 17 47 Minigolf 77 18 Bridge 48 Modern 78 19 Canoe / Kayak 49 79 20 50 and 80 Tennis 21 51 81 22 52 82 23 53 Pelote Basque 83 24 54 84 25 55 Power Boating 85 Water Skiing 26 Dance Sport 56 86 Weightlifting 27 Draughts 57 87 28 Equestrian 58 88 29 59 Rink-Hockey 30 60 Roller Sports

CILS-02 contains 88 sport names, originating from 5 clusters: - Sports recognised by IOC (71) as - Olympic Summer Sports (cluster n. 1: 28 sports) - Olympic (n. 2: 7 sports) - “Discontinued” Olympic and Non- (n. 3: 36 sports) - Sports for Disabled (n. 4: temporarily seen as 1 sport) - Other sports recognised by the General Assembly of the Int. Sports Federations (n. 5: 16 sports) International Statistical Institute, 55th Session 2005

The List was released on the Compass website, at the attention of the Compass partners for comparisons with the national lists, for validation and implementation. In the 2005 edition Sports for Disabled must be better considered and at least three sports must be added from the GAISF list (group 5): Football, Go, Sports . “National” sports will be added aside upon proposals from the countries. However, the field of Sport for All is melting progressively with leisure physical activities and “movement for health”. Many countries developed surveys measuring the energy expenditure in working or leisure time. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was released under the auspices of the World Health Organisation - WHO. A bridge between the two methods is envisaged in the future. At present, the International reference list may be used for reorganising data from existing surveys, in order to produce rankings by sport. The Italy‘s Institute of Statistics, in cooperation with the Italian Olympic Committee and the University of Rome La Sapienza, Dept. of Statistics, produced a classification (LISPO) of the Italian terms used in the Istat 2000 survey questionnaires, which is matching with the CILS-02. This step brought into evidence that a part of the physical activities mentioned as sports were not fitting in the sport names. In Italy, about 1/3 of citizens say they play sports and about 1/3 say they play some leisure physical activities without recognising them as sports. Out of the citizens who say they play sports about 1/3 take part in competition, and 2/3 don‘t compete. Some of the non-competitive activities can be included in some sport headings and some not. Therefore a provisional solution was found, by grouping those activities in close connection with some specific sports, linked but distinct from them. The similarity may be in movements or in venues that are to be used. Examples of it are in aquatics, gymnastics, cicling, athletics and so on. The example of “Aquatics“ is shown.

Table 2. Aquatic and Underwater Sports in the Italian Classification of Sports (LISPO) derived from the CILS-02.

Names of sporting SPORTS activities mentioned in GROUPS FAMILIES CODES (and linked activities) the Italian 2000 questionnaires

Aquatic Aquatics 1.11 -.AQ Aquatics () Nuoto and Pallanuoto Underwater Sports Tuffi Nuoto Sincronizzato

1.27 - LS Life Saving Salvamento

Underwater Sports 1.44 - UW Underwater Sports Attività Subacquee Nuoto Pinnato Orientamento

Subacqueo Pesca Subacquea

Other Activities Aquagym Acqua-Gym in Water

This method allows good comparisons between the countries, because the content of the figures may be clearly shown. Of course, each country remain free to assemble sports in families for more synthetic readings. Italy and used different assembling criteria, therefore the more synthetic data may be not comparable. The real is to compare sports, and trends in sports. International Statistical Institute, 55th Session 2005

The following table 3 is the first of the otputs which may be drawn. Each item of table 3 is one sport of the International CILS list and data are calculated following the national classification LISPO derived from CILS (as shown in table 2). From this point ahead, the Compass criteria allow the creation of participation profiles for each single sport, which may be useful for all the pleople concerned with it. Each sport may contain competitive and non competitive participation. The non competitive participation in each sport is melting – as said before - with other similar activities (aquatics, gymnastics, cicling, athletics have linked activities which may increase considerably the relevant figure) which may be seen or not as sports. The analysis of this complex system must of course go on.

Table 3. The ten major sports in Italy (and other related activities) following CILS-02

MAJOR Activities played by 100 SPORTS Other linked activities inhabitants IN ITALY

1. FOOTBALL / 7,6 2. AQUATICS 6.0 Other activities in water 0.2 3. GYMNASTICS 3.8 Other gymnastic, fitness e physical culture activities 2.4 4. SKIING 3.6 5. CYCLING 2.3 Other pedal activities 0.7 6. TENNIS 2.2 7. ATHLETICS 1.7 Other footing and jogging activities 0.8 8. VOLLEYBALL 1.7 9. BASKETBALL 1.1

10. BODYBUILDING 0.9

REFERENCES

Cultural Statistics in the EU, LEG Final Report (1999). Under the auspices of Eurostat International Physical Activity Questionnaire website: www.ipaq.ki.se Physical Activity (2003). Special Eurobarometer 183-6 / Wave 58.2 (Fieldwork 2002) Sports Participation in Europe. Compass (1999). , UK Sport - Compass website: www.sportcompass.net

RÉSUMÉ Une Liste de Reference des Sports reconnus comme tels partout dans le monde a été proposé par le group de travail européen nommé Compass, au but de faire avancer la coordination des enquêtes nationales sur la pratique sportive des citoyens.