Singapore, ASEAN’s most developed nation is renowned for its high degree of organization, not only in terms of hardware (e.g. infrastructure, transport systems and urban planning), but also in terms of its software; its people and social services directed towards them, like education and healthcare.
It therefore isn’t a big a surprise that Sports in Singapore has been firmly embedded in socio-economic policy, irrespective whether it regards competitive or recreational sport; or whether it’s for the nation’s reputation or the health of its inhabitants.
Hence, Singapore’s impressive new Stadium and Sports Hub are not coming out of the blue, but were created deliberately in the context of a Sport’s Culture for all Singaporeans summarized as “Live Life. Breathe Sports”, a slogan based on the country’s Vision on Sports:
“Sports is a celebration of a healthy and spirited lifestyle. It ignites passion, builds character and bonds Singaporeans. Together, all of us in Singapore will strive to be active in sports for health, for vigour and for life”
As a consequence of this vision, Singapore aims at achieving a variety of goals, addressed to active and passive sports participants, the sports industry and the nation, a/o:
> Teaching every child at least four sports
> Building up spectatorship at live sporting events and attracting more volunteers
> 2 in 3 Singaporeans taking part in sporting activities at least once a week by 2015
> Attaining medal glory in Olympics and regional Games
> Maintaining the position among the top 10 sporting nations in Asia
> Nurturing a steady stream of world-class Singaporean athletes
> Contributing S$2 billion to GDP in 2015
> Developing the sports industry as a growth sector to anchor value-added and export-oriented sporting events
With this in the back of our mind, the question arises what the most popular sports actually are, in Singapore. That, of course depends on active versus passive participants, whether one ask women or men, or whether it regards individual sport activity versus team sport. A 2011 survey among Singaporeans actively participating in sports shows that of the top 10 rankings, the top 3 are occupied by individual sports (jogging, swimming and walking), exercised by some 32% (or over 1 million) of the island’s population of 13 years and older. A substantial downfall of more than 10% compared to 2005. This was followed by 2 team sports (badminton and football). Together with basketball (ranked no. 7), these three team sports gathered 385,000 participants. Gym workout (no. 6) and Physical workout/Training and Home exercise (no. 9) accounted for 180,000+ participants, while cycling (no. 8) and tennis (no. 10) attracted respectively 97,000 and 48,000 partakers. Among the more traditional sports, still within the top 15, Qi Gong, Taiji Quan and Yoga were named.
