Aussie Rules isn't that high, particularly outside Vic. A Ray Morgan survey this year into "regular participation" had:

Soccer 1.8m
Basketball 1.1m
Cricket 960K
Netball 850K
Aussie rules 620K
Rugby league 340K

I'm told the total participation rate for hoops, including casuals, is close to 2mill.

http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/6123-australian-sports-participation-rates-among-children-and-adults-december-2014-201503182151

Extracted from the table at The Top 20 sports played by Aussies young and old, by Roy Morgan Market research:

#1 Soccer
#2 Basketball
#3 Cricket
#4 Netball
#5 Australian Rules*
#6 Rugby League*
#7 Volleyball
#8 Softball
#9 Field Hockey

(* Note that the two football codes' numbers are artificially reduced due to the geographic split in their areas of dominance, while other team sports are national. However, even if combined, AFL and NRL would only rank #3)

Ninja'ed!

A gender split wou;ld also have been interesting. I assume the full (paid) research data would also show the Mix of sports for each year , some kids play 4+ sports, and there is the question of the perameters, can a kid answer yes to basketball if they just play a 3 week internal school "competition" ?

Yeah, I call bollocks.
I've looked at those "surveys," very subjective and very limited data.

According to that table, the top two "sports" are actually swimming and cycling, but that seems to be based on people who go to the beach, and those who own a bike.

Soccer is accessible to anyone and everyone. Girls, guys, pretty much no equipment etc. Even in a country that soccer is relatively unpopular, it still makes sense that participation is top for it. You only need a ball, a grassed area and some goals, with or without a net.
Basketball is very accessible too. In juniors, there's plenty of female and male leagues, not much equipment is necessary. Limiting factor being team sizes (usually 6-8 players) and courts available, which require a dedicated building.
AFL is a very physical sport, so requires a certain kind of person to play. It's also overwhelmingly a male sport. Injuries are quite common too.
Netball is overwhelmingly a female sport. Guys pretty much don't play it at all in juniors competitively.
Tennis is very accessible to everyone, but isn't a team sport, only up to 4 people can play at a time. So numbers are limited.
Cricket is a relatively expensive sport to play and requires a lot of equipment. Pads, bats, balls, bags, gloves, helmets etc. I'm actually extremely surprised that it is 3rd. I thought it would be below AFL, Netball and Tennis.
Rugby is extremely physical. And only played in the Eastern states for the most part.

It makes perfect sense to me that Basketball is second.

I would think the figures quoted are very subjective for all sports.

Like anything statistical, you can make stats say a lot of different things, depends on the criteria, perspective, motives & objectives.


Soccer - has about 1 million registered players, with about another million coming from unorganised soccer.
from http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/soccer-is-closing-in-as-australias-most-popular-sport-20131111-2xcg0.html

AFL Total participation of 1,017,835

from http://s.afl.com.au/staticfile/AFL%20Tenant/AFL/Files/Annual%20Report/2014-AFL-Annual-Report.pdf

Cricket 1,208,360
from http://www.cricket.com.au/news/james-sutherland-cricket-australia-census-results-female-participation-9-percent-cultural-diversity/2015-08-04

Basketball more than 1,100,000
http://www.basketball.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BasketballAustralia_AnnualReport1516.pdf

Rugby 615,809 people participated in Rugby nationally in 2013, from http://sportsbusinessinsider.com.au/news/category/community-sport/australian-rugby-participation-at-an-all-time-high/

I'm not sure governing bodies are the best source of reliable information given inflated figures can mean increased funding. The Aussie rules figure (AFL only has around 750 participants) doesn't really align with the other figures out there for that sport.

If you're talking about ORGANISED participation, in organised comps or junior programs like Auskick, etc, then in WA for boys it would be AFL by a country mile. And Netball for Girls.
Basketball and soccer creep up because they have greater rates of female participation than AFL & Rugby, and because they are ubiquitous.

But then if you base it on how many people have facilities in their driveway, Basketball would be a clear leader.

Football and basketball as 1 and 2, is that a trend that plays out world-wide?

There must be some exceptions, like field hockey and cricket in India for example. Or is it only those other team sports participation rates where you see wide variations based on 'national' preferences?

You've got to figure parental influences as well. Many parents don't want their kid playing Afl or a Rugby code because of the physicality. And before anyone goes on about the nanny state etc... this sort of thing happened way back in the 70s and before.

Walking is number one, but couch sitting is gaining ground I hear...

:)

Playing with a mobile device is racing up the charts too.

Soccer is number one around the club, becuase it was the earliest form of football, spread through Europe and then their Colonies. It's the number one sport in many countries. Its also conceptually easy to play, and easy to have a pick-up game. All you need is a ball, some space, and a basic ability to kick.

Basketball continues to gain popularity due to lack of space. In many large cities, and in the densely populated countries, people have no yards, limited access to parks, and even schools are often hi-rises. A hoop can be slung up just about anywhere, and even a full court is a relatively small footprint. Plus you can set up a court in multipurpose hall, that is used for assemblies, gymnastics, dancing, tennis, etc, etc. Plus the relative speed of a game makes it easier to schedule multiple games when running a league.

In Australia we mostly all grew up with yards, large parks are ubiquitous, and schools have massive ovals and outdoor areas. Hence for us, basketball is a choice from a wide range of options.

I would be amazed if basketball isn't the number 1 participation in the country. Its played all year round in most places where indoor facilities are available. Most football codes are only played for 5 - 6 months and are certainly male dominated.
Most schools now have indoor basketball courts so more kids are playing in school time ( all year round) where as "traditional" aussie schools might do ( on a significant scale) a Footy code in winter and cricket in summer.
Basketball comps are run most nights of the week for social players of all ages, where as most football codes play only on w/ends and there social grades probably don't cover the range of ages as basketball does.