Parents of young cricketers, footballers and basketball players are now paying more than $500 a year on average for their children to play, plus more on equipment, according to a national survey highlighting Australia’s most expensive codes, as state governments pledge hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure sport is not just for the wealthy.
But new research from the University of Sydney has found subsidising families’ sporting costs through the use of government vouchers alone is not enough, after two prominent recent examples – including a high-profile New South Wales scheme – failed to increase sport participation at scale.
