For South Africans, soccer is still king

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Even with the rise of rugby, spurred by the world champion Springboks, soccer remains king among South Africans.

Unifying sport

According to Clinton van der Berg’s Got Game website, recent research by Statista, a global data and business intelligence platform, indicates that 79% of South Africans have an interest in soccer, with rugby in second place (60%).

With over 5 300 people surveyed, the findings reaffirmed soccer’s role as a unifying sport in South Africa, often associated with national pride and community engagement.

Cricket rounds out the traditional ‘Big Three’ – where there has been little change since the early 1990s – with motorsport also highly rated (28%).

Rugby has no doubt made up enormous ground in recent years thanks to Siya Kolisi and his gladiatorial team-mates who continue to set new standards internationally and enjoy renown as the world’s best.

Perhaps surprisingly, given the drop-off in media attention in the past decade, boxing has retained its broad appeal with 27% of respondents interested in the sport.

With the number of local tournaments dropping off, this is a sign for Boxing SA to put its house in order to feed off the public goodwill.

The “Dricus du Plessis effect” has taken firm hold with Mixed Martial Arts (18%) cracking the Top 10.

The popularity of MMA has swelled ever since Du Plessis’s heroic UFC middleweight title win in January, so too the interest among domestic sponsors who’ve taken long to come to the party.

American Football (NFL) somehow eclipses golf and cycling – perhaps it’s the Taylor Swift influence.

Less surprising is the positive performance of basketball, chiefly on account of its growth in schools across the country.

The NBA culture has long found a home in South Africa where fans are drawn to the cachet and cool of big stars like Lebron James and Steph Curry.