It's a life of solitude, loneliness and boredom - meet the average sporting widow.

Women up and down the country are being deserted by their partners for almost a YEAR of their lives - in favour of sport, a new survey has revealed.

The average woman has to put up with their man watching sport for almost three hours each week - the equivalent of more than six days each year.

But the poll, by leading sports shoe brand HI-TEC, also revealed that the average bloke spends almost an hour and a half a week - three days of each year - playing sport as well.

That's a total of more than nine days spent without their partner each year because of their sporting hobbies.

Not surprisingly, football takes up the most of men's time, followed by rugby and golf.

But 12 per cent of women say their partner uses sport as an excuse to spend more time in the pub - because they go there to watch sport.

For some women, the amount of time their partners spending paying or watching sport is a huge issue - more than one in 20 have dumped their partner for spending too much time watching and playing sport.

One in ten have rowed with their partner about the amount of time they spend on the playing field while 22 per cent of the 2,000 women polled, have argued about the amount of time spent watching sport.

But not all women get annoyed by their sporting widow status - 41 per cent use the time to relax at home.

A supportive 13 per cent will go and watch their partner on the sports field or watch a sport with him.

But bringing up their concerns with their partner isn't always the best idea - one in ten say their other half just watched and played even more sport to wind them up.

Only 14 per cent say their partner actually listened to them and cut down on their time spent on sports.

A spokesman for HI-TEC said: ''Women now have proof that men really do spend a long time watching or playing sports.''

Top 10 sports men spend the most time watching or playing

1. Football
2. Golf
3. Rugby
4. Formula 1
5. Snooker
6. Cricket
7. Swimming
8. Superbikes
9. Darts
10. Tennis