Kantar's Profiles Blog

Australian Cricket Ball Tampering: Consumer Reaction

Posted by Eddie Hertz on Mar 28, 2018

The recent uproar over the Australian Cricket team's ball tampering incident has incited many comments from all kinds of punters; fans and non-fans of the game alike. To tap into how Australians really feel, Lightspeed ran an overnight poll among a nationally representative sample size of 300 respondents on the 26 March 2018.Lightspeed Quick Turn Insights - guaranteed results in 24-48 hours. Click here  to learn more! GettyImages-180868820m.jpg

79% of respondents were aware of the incident, and just over half of these considered themselves cricket fans. Even if you are not a fan, chances are you have heard of this incident as an Australian.

Respondents had strong feelings about about the incident: 70% of the Australian's polled who were aware of the incident believe that it has tarnished Australia’s reputation in sport – a big statement. Only a handful of respondents (4%) who were aware of the incident felt indifferent about it, and all but one respondent out of one hundred thought that punishment is needed. 60% of the Australian's polled agreed that all players involved should be stripped of their baggy greens and stand down permanently, and 29% agree the coach should be sacked. Only 31% of people agree that all players involved in the incident should receive a fine and suspension, but should ultimately be allowed to continue playing as part of the team.

We asked the respondents to rank this incident against 4 others to investigate how serious they believed it to be, and here is how they answered: 

  1. Lance Armstrong cheating scandal
  2. Ball tampering
  3. Melbourne Storm Salary Cap breach
  4. Cricket Sledging in general
  5. The ‘Underarm’ incident of 1981

The strongest amount of sentiment and agreement was on the ranking of the first two incidents/scandals – respondents had strong, definite and negative feelings about these compared to the other incidents; this came across in some of the verbatim comments we captured:

australian cricket4.jpg

Other key findings included:

Awareness:

  • 42% of respondents identified as a cricket fan and were aware of the ball tampering incident
  • 37% of respondents weren't a cricket fan but were aware of the incident
  • 21% weren't aware of the incident and most of them weren't fans of cricket, only 3% of these considered themselves fans of cricket
Take away – most everyone, even if they are not a fan were aware of the ball tampering incident

Perception:

  • Only 4% of respondents were indifferent to the incident
  • 7% felt the whole situation has been blown out of proportion, and 10% felt there were bigger things to worry about
  • 70% felt it tarnishes Australia’s reputation in sport
Take away – the majority of respondents felt that it has tarnished Australian reputation in sport

Punishment:

  • Only 1% of respondents felt that no punishment should be given by Cricket Australia
  • 60% of respondents indicated that all players involved in the incident should be stripped of their Baggy Green and stood down
  • 29% believed that the coach should be sacked
  • 31% think that the players involved should be suspended and receive a fine but ultimately allowed to stay in the team
Take away -  a large percent of respondents feel that all players involved should be stood down, everyone thinks there should be some form of punishment

How do you feel about the scandal?

*This poll was conducted among a nationally representative proportion of people aged 18+ across Australia:

australian cricket.png

Topics: Marketing Research Data, APAC

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