(Statement by Todd Deacon, General Manager, Sweeney Sports)
Australian cricket captain, Ricky Ponting, again tops the list of the most marketable Australian sports stars.
His Sweeney Score*, a measure of athletes’ appropriateness to endorse organisations and brands, puts him one point ahead of another national captain, the now-retired Olympics swimming team skipper, Grant Hackett.
The latest results are contained in the 2008 winter edition of the Sweeney Sports Report. The Report, the tenth in the series, complements the summer edition, which has been conducted for the past 22 years, and reports which have covered the past five Olympic Games. They are recognized as Australia’s most comprehensive and authoritative sports and sports sponsorship reports (survey details follow).
Highlights of the 2008 winter results (table, page 3) are:
Cricketers’ top rankings. Reflecting the world dominance in recent years of Australia’s cricket team – the winter survey was completed before the recent test series losing tour of India - six cricketers are in the top ten places and eight in the top 20. Ponting’s top placing – he first claimed it last winter from now-retired swimming super star Ian Thorpe – recognises his success as a sportsperson and in leading Australia’s highest profile sporting team.
Retireees rank highly. Eight of the 12 top-ranked stars are retired. They are former cricketers Adam Gilchrist, Glen McGrath, Steve Waugh and Shane Warne and Thorpe, former tennis champion Pat Rafter, former Olympic runner Cathy Freeman and, since the Beijing Olympics, Hackett. Former world champion boxer Kostya Tszyu is in equal 20th place. Their continued high rankings indicates that super-stars generally continue to command public respect long after their playing days end.
Super-stars can lose favour. Although he tied third in this year’s British Open, Greg Norman has faded from the leader board, posting the biggest rating loss during the year. Given that he had previously retained a high ranking despite not having competed regularly for some years, the cause was very likely his
*’SweeneyScore’ is a sponsorship appropriateness ratio in which the proportion of people who rate a sportsperson as being worthy of endorsing brands and organisations is compared to the proportion of people who are aware of that individual.
Public, bitter divorce settlement with former wife, Laura, and his re-marriage to former tennis champion Chris Evert.
Historically, Sweeney Scores tumble when sporting personalities become involved in personal controversy. Shane Warne, Mark Philippoussis and Jelena Dokic have all suffered in the rankings because of attitudinal and behavioural issues.
But Warne has repeatedly shown that subsequent “good behaviour” can result in restoration to popularity, this year breaking back into the top ten after being 16th last year and 34th in 2006.
The future ranking of cricketer Andrew Symons may well suffer because of his recent troubles which led to his temporary suspension from the Australian team.
Newcomers rate highly. World motor-cycling champion Casey Stoner and triple Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice have made strong debuts on the 84-person list. Stoner is ranked fifth and Rice 17th. Other newcomers to the list include AFL premiership player Gary Ablett junior, Ablett (equal 30th) and Olympic swimming gold medallist Eamon Sullivan (equal 39th).
Reward for effort. Tour de France runner-up, Cadel Evans, finished just outside the top 20 after posting the year’s biggest gain of 13 points. Olympic triathlon gold medallist, Emma Snowsill, recorded the second biggest gain – 10 points- to lift her ranking from 78th to equal 65th.
Spread of sports. The rich talent in Australian sport is indicated by 11 different sports being represented by the 23 top-ranked players.
About the survey
The Report is the tenth winter edition of The Sweeney Sports Report which has been conducted for 21 years by Sweeney Sports, the sports and sponsorship arm of market research company Sweeney Research. The Report is recognised as Australia’s definitive sports industry study.
The winter survey covered 22 of the major sports played or covered by the media from April to September. Interviewing was completed just before the AFL and NRL grand finals.
Computer assisted telephone interviews were conducted with 1000 Australians in the six State capital cities and Canberra. Half the respondents were male and half were female with one third in each of the 16-29 years, 30-44 years and 45-65 years groups.
During analysis, the results were weighted by age and sex within each city so that the overall findings are fully representative of the populations.
To read more about this press release, please download the PDF by clicking on the link below.
For information about the Sweeney Sports Report, please contact Todd Deacon on todd.deacon@sweeneyresearch.com.au
