Do referees who are short punish players more than referees who are not so short do? A new study by Ig Nobel Prize winner Minna Lyons and colleagues probes that question. The study is: “Referee Height Influences Decision Making in British Football Leagues,” Dane McCarrick, Gayle Brewer, Minna Lyons, Thomas V. Pollet, and Nick Neave, […]
Tag: football
Sports Celebration Injuries – update
If you thought that ‘Score Celebration Injuries’ (SCIs) were restricted to soccer players – think again. A 2017 report in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 57(3 ): 267-71, reviews the medical literature on the subject, reporting that of the 62 SCIs that they found, only 22 involved professional soccer players. “A total […]
Possible Effect of the World Cup on Births
The World Cup brings more than passing excitement to the world. This newly published study suggests that the World Cup also brings, eventually, a change in the world population: “The sex ratio at birth in South Africa increased 9 months after the 2010 FIFAWorld Cup,” Gwinyai Masukume and Victor Grech, Early Human Development, epub 2015. […]
On Biting in Sport(s)
The clip above shows (amongst others) the now-famous 2014 FIFA World Cup biting-incident featuring Luis Suárez. One might ask, and indeed some have, what are the ethical and philosophical implications of such an act? Bearing in mind that : “A prohibition against biting an opponent is not included in the rules of most contact sports, […]