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Originally Posted by munchkin  this is probably due to the amounts that people shell out for kit, tournaments and club fees... i know that because it's a sport which you can't really make a living out of in this country, parents of the ethnic variety are less likely to invest. |
I think this probably hits one of the nails on the head: costs versus returns. Excluding club, association and the ever-present insurance fees, ball sports tend to have minimal kit outlay - mostly protective gear that can be lent by the club if needed. Can you feed the family (or your town!) at the top of the game: David Beckham or Johnny Wilkinson vs Laurence Godfrey or Alison Williamson? Then there's what people seek to get out of the sport - finesse, target and precision sports aren't really an efficient way to vent youthful exuberance and energy.
My fencing and shooting clubs have similar percentages of non-white members to archery - though as fencing is probably seen as less of an "adult sport" (deadly projectiles) it benefits from a number of children being interested at school age and dragging their family along. Which is great: ~25% of our beginners courses are children under 15 (usually under 12).
Media and cultural coverage count for a lot, too. With the new Robin Hood series on telly, I'm sure it will attract more new members. Regardless of how much it gets slated by purists who "know better".
Some kind of umbrella campaign might help, too. How is a beginner to know if they want to do target, field, 3D, or whatever subdivisions and variations exist within each. It might be easy to say that it's easy enough for them to search for it, but that's missing the point entirely... and leaves them prey to the inter-Association rivalry that I'm sure exists in a sport with the kind of passion I've seen in just this forum.
And don't forget the stigma of hunting that goes along with archery. Nobody who's been here more than a week can say it doesn't - just refer to the
recent bowhunting poll. Some ethnic and religious groups steer well clear of sports that appear to glorify killing - and that could be impacting archery, regardless of whether the fear is based in reality.