Athletics Ireland release club membership stats for the end of Nov 2017

Athletics Ireland have just released the membership stats as of the end of November 2017. As we approach the end of the year, growth in club membership really slows down as most people just wait until January and join for a complete year.

In terms of adult membership in clubs in Cork, Leevale AC are now the largest club in Cork with 244 members jumping ahead of Mallow AC (235) who were the largest club in 2016.

The chart below shows the 15 Cork athletic clubs with 100 or more members, up from 12 at the end of 2016.

The chart below shows the smaller clubs with between 20 and 100 adult members...

As always, numbers aren't everything. Some clubs like East Cork AC are more involved in the serious side of running and their numbers are small as a result. The charts above just show the relative sizes of each club, not how good or bad they are.

The charts also don't show non-AAI clubs like Happy Feet and the Wibbly Wobbly Wonders who are very successful with their own programmes. There are also plenty of other running groups with no affiliation.

While the overall view of adult membership in clubs is positive, there are some areas of concern when you dig into the stats. For example, the number of adults in Cork athletic clubs is up 5% on this time last year. However, the number of Senior members (i.e. adults aged 34 and below) is down 3.1%.

And this isn't a new phenomenon. Every year for the last few years, adult membership has been getting older and older.


The full figures for all the clubs in the country can be seen on the Athletics Ireland website.