The two charts illustrate the average monthly spending by British parents on their children’s sporting activities between 2008 and 2014 and the number of British children who took part in three different sports over the same timescale.
It is clearly shown that parents are spending more on their children’s sport each year. At the same time, the number of children taking part in sports has also increased over the 6-year period, with football remaining more popular than athletics and swimming.
There was a steady rise in parents’ monthly expenditure on children’s sport, from an average of around 20 pounds per month in 2008 to over 30 pounds per month in 2014. Throughout the six years, football continued to be the most popular of the three sports, although the number of British children participating in this sport increased only slightly each year. On the contrary, athletics was the least participated sports in 2008, but displayed the most considerable growth in children participation among the three sports. By 2012, athletics had already overtaken swimming as the second most participated sport of the three.
In short, not only had parental spending on children’s sports increased during this six-year period, but so had the number of children participating in football, athletics and swimming.