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.
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:
- Lance Armstrong cheating scandal
- Ball tampering
- Melbourne Storm Salary Cap breach
- Cricket Sledging in general
- 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:
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
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
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
How do you feel about the scandal?
*This poll was conducted among a nationally representative proportion of people aged 18+ across Australia:
