There has been a significant drop in the numbers of young men playing soccer in Ireland, according to a Sport Ireland report into participation levels in sport across the country.
The 2017 Irish Sport Monitor found that 22.6% of males between the ages of 16 and 19 are playing soccer compared to a figure of 30.7% in 2015, a drop of 8.1%.
The report found that the top four most popular participation sports are, in descending order: personal exercise (gym-related activities essentially), swimming, running and cycling.
Soccer, despite its dip among teenage males, is placed fifth and remains the most popular competitive team sport.
Gaelic football is the eighth most popular participation sport - right behind golf in seventh - and the second most popular team sport.
Hurling/camogie is the 12th in the list, with rugby not being included in the top 12 sports listed.
The 2017 report also found that, while males remain more likely to participate in sport than females, the gender gap is now narrower than at any point since the Irish Sports Monitor was first conducted in 2007.
Since 2015, there has been a decline in the proportion of males participating in sport while female participation rates have increased.
Overall, 45.3% of men participate in sport compared to 40.8% or women, a gap of 4.5%. To put this change in some context, the gap was 15.7% in 2007.
Beyond the age of 45, females are more likely to participate in sport than males, though between the ages of 20 and 44, the gap still favours men considerably.
The report again found a significant income gap, with those on higher incomes considerably more likely to participate socially in sport than those on lower incomes.
