More than half of Australia’s basketballers are under 25 years old with 298,000 aged under 18 years old and a further 285,000 aged 18-24 years old. Amongst their older peers a similar number are aged either 25-34 years old (186,000) or aged 35-49 years old (199,000). Only 23,000 Australians aged 50 and over play basketball.

Australian basketballers profiled by age and gender

Analysing basketball participation in Australia by State shows that Victoria remains the home of basketball with over 340,000 Victorians playing basketball – more than a third of the national total.

There are just under 300,000 basketball players in New South Wales and nearly 150,000 in Queensland and almost 120,000 basketball players in Western Australia.

There are fewer than 100,000 basketballers spread around the smaller States and Territories of South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and NT.

Commenting on the findings, Roy Morgans’s CEO Michele Levine said: “Although basketball doesn’t enjoy the same media profile as several rival sports, there is no question the sport is extremely popular with Australians with nearly 1 million Australians now playing basketball regularly or occasionally.

“Basketballers come in all shapes and sizes but the sport is dominated by men with over two-thirds of Australians playing basketball being men (667,000) compared to just under a third who are women (324,000).

“Perhaps unsurprisingly Victoria is the home of basketball with over 340,000 Victorians playing basketball regularly or occasionally significantly more than any other State. I say unsurprisingly as Melbourne is the World’s (yes that’s right – the World) leading city when it comes to NBA Number 1 draft picks in the 21st century.

“Melbourne has produced 3 NBA Number 1 draft picks this century – more than any city in America or indeed elsewhere in the world. These NBA Number 1 draft picks include Ben Simmons (2016), Kyrie Irving (2011) and Andrew Bogut (2005).

“Bogut in particular is making an effort to give back to the sport that provided so much for him and has recently returned to the local NBL competition, that began early in October, to play for the Sydney Kings – a club without a finals appearance since returning to the league in 2010.

“Of course acknowledging Australia, and Melbourne, as great basketball nurseries for professional players isn’t always the most important factor when considering basketball in Australia. Far more important is understanding who the almost 1 million Australians playing the sport are and what sets them apart from other Australians,” Levine said.

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