Red card for refs

A new survey has shown what most football fans thought they knew anyway – that the referees’ decisions are influenced by geering from the crowd

The survey tallies closely with research conducted by Professor Alan Nevill, of the University of Wolverhampton, whose studies of football crowds and referees show that home advantage is huge and that referees are affected by their environment.

Nevill’s study showed that crowd noise influenced referees’ decisions to favour the home team. It was suggested that whenever a home player commits a foul, the crowd’s reaction is capable of activating a “potent stressor” that might increase the level of uncertainty or indecision of the referees. The research indicated that the home team was penalised approximately 16% less than when compared with no noise condition.

The national survey of 2,517 football fans was conducted by The Football Fans Census on behalf of the Science Museum’s Dana Centre. It revealed that 98% of fans think that referees are influenced by crowds, and that 69% of fans believe the crowd at their club has some influence over referees’ decisions. They also thought that big clubs get the most favourable refereeing decisions because of their crowds – with Manchester United being perceived by the majority of fans to be the most favoured club.

David Elleray, former international football referee, rejects the notion that crowds play a part in top referees’ decisions and says that referees are able to ignore external influences on their decision-making.

For more scientific insight into the beautiful game see the June issue of Laboratory News.