The table compares the percentage of UK residents interested in different types of sports from 1990 to 2010. Overall, golf and particularly football, despite experiencing a slight fall, both remained the most popular sport among people in the UK, whereas judo was cited to be the least popular, with the most pronounced decrease over the period. While cricket and swimming attracted a somewhat comparable proportions, it was rugby that gained traction, becoming the third most-liked sport.
Football was by far the most favored sport throughout. At the outset, 59% of the residents were interested in football, a figure that saw a slight decrease to 57% in 2000, followed by a marginal decline to 56% by the end of the period. Golf followed a similar pattern of decline, with the figure dropping from an initial 28% to 26% – nearly half the figure for football – though still remaining the second most-favored sport. Meanwhile, Judo attracted the lowest percentage of people, with its figure almost halving to 4% in 2010 from 9% in 1990.
Swimming, on the other hand, followed an upward trajectory. Starting the period at 15%, the figure rose to 18% in the following decade, before eventually slipping down to 16%. Cricket and rugby attracted the equal proportion of people initially, standing at 12%, though the former remained unchanged at 12% in 2000 – mirroring the figure for golf – before edging up to 14%, Rugby, by contrast, experienced the sharpest rise, doubling from 12% to 24%, thereby ranking third at the end of the period.