Goalkeepers Who Wear Red Save Twice As Many Penalties -Study

A new research reveals that strikers are
A new research reveals that strikers are A new research reveals that strikers are twice as likely to miss the net if the goalkeeper is in red.

The colour‘s primeval links with danger and dominance appear to put the striker at a disadvantage, causing him to perform worse, according to Daily Mail, quoting sports psychologists.

Dr Iain Greenlees, a reader in sports psychology, and researcher Michael Eynon at the University of Chichester looked at the performance and the expectation of success in a unique experiment.

They asked 40 university footballers to take penalties against the same goalkeepers wearing blue, green, yellow, and red strips.

Each striker took a total of 10 penalties against a goalkeeper wearing either a blue, yellow, green or red shirt.

Footballers were asked to estimate how many penalties out of 10 they would score and give a confidence rating for their estimate.

The researchers found that, although there was no difference in how many goals a striker thought he would score, the fewest number of goals were scored against a goalie in red where there was a 54 per cent success rate.

This was followed by a 69 per cent success rate against a goalie in a yellow shirt, with no difference between blue and green where success rates were 72 per cent and 75 per cent.

Altogether seven and a half penalties, on average, succeeded when the goalie was wearing a blue, yellow or green shirt. But only five went in the back of the net when the goalkeeper was in red.

This suggests the striker was only half as likely to get past a red-shirted goalie.

The findings were presented Friday at the British Psychological Society‘s annual conference in Stratford on Avon.

The psychologists believe the colour red may have an unconscious influence on the perception of failure by strikers, causing them to feel more anxious.

Greenlees said ‘We have evolved to associate red with danger dominance or anger - there is a biological basis fror this explanation.

‘Red is also a cultural signal for danger, it‘s used in traffic signals and other areas to alert to a threat.

‘At times of great stress we will pay more attention to threats in our environment, and red is more distracting which can affect the performance of the striker.‘

Greenlees said there was another possible reason - wearing a red shirt might boost the performance of the goalie because ‘he feels more dominant‘ and even change his levels of testosterone.

He said ‘These findings lend support to the idea that red clothing could give a sportsperson or team a small but meaningful advantage in a competitive encounter.

‘It also has implications for sports in which a competitor is assigned a coloured corner randomly, like boxing and martial arts in the Olympics.‘

Greenless hoped the findings might help England in some small way this summer.

‘If you are looking to leave no stone unturned then there is potential in putting red somewhere in the kit colour, in gloves or even shoes‘ he added.