More than 1 in 4 football and rugby union fans think not enough being done to prevent concussions in the professional game
With the impacts of concussion in professional sport becoming increasingly clear, do the public think enough is being done to tackle the problem?
New research by Ipsos in the UK shows more than one in four football and rugby union fans do not think enough is being done to combat concussions in professional football and rugby union.
In a nationally representative poll of 2,051 British adults aged 16-75, Ipsos interviewed 921 football fans, 519 rugby union fans and 447 fans of cricket. In total, more than one in four football fans (28%) thought not enough was being done to prevent concussions in football. Meanwhile, 29% and 20% of rugby union and cricket fans thought not enough was being done in rugby union and cricket respectively.
However, overall more fans of each sport though enough was currently being done with around one in four thinking that efforts to prevent concussions were actually going too far. For example:
- Among football fans, 45% thought the right amount was being done and 18% said too much. 28% said not enough.
- Among rugby union fans, 46% said the right amount was being done, 18% said too much and 29% said not enough.
- For cricket fans, 54% said the right amount was being done, 19% efforts were going too far and a roughly equal number (20%) said not enough was being done.
Keiran Pedley, Director of Research at Ipsos, said:
These results show that whilst most football and rugby union fans think that either enough is being done to prevent concussions, or too much is being done, many think there is a problem. More than one in four supporters of both sports want to see more action taken to prevent concussions in the professional game, so the relevant authorities should not expect the pressure to act to disappear any time soon.
Technical note:
- Ipsos UK interviewed a representative quota sample of 2,051 adults aged 16-75 in Great Britain. 921 of the interviews were held with respondents who described themselves as football fans, 519 described themselves as rugby union fans and 447 described themselves as cricket fans. Interviews took place on the online Omnibus using the Ipsos.Digital platform on 5th April 2022. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.
