LFC Passion

According to researchers at Durham University wearing the colour red in sporting events means that you may have an advantage over your opponents. The researchers claim the effect could be down to a deep-seated evolutionary response that works subconsciously to put opponents on the back foot. They believe that wearing the colour red could suppress the opposition’s testosterone or boast the testosterone of the individual wearing red. They claim that more studies need to be conducted on the matter before any firm conclusions can be made.

This has interested me and the first thing that came into my mind was that if you look at all the football cities in England you will find that usually the team wearing red has been a lot more successful in terms of winning trophies. In Liverpool I think it is fair to say that we have been more successful than Everton. Manchester is the same with the red team winning more than the blue team. Also north London has Arsenal and Tottenham and Arsenal have been the more successful of the two teams. Another thing to note is that England won the World Cup playing in red and most fans seem to prefer to see England playing in the red kit than the white.

The researchers have found that the theory also works in amateur boxing as it was found that boxers wearing red had won significantly more fights than those wearing blue. They claim that wearing red might tip the balance if two opponents are similarly matched in terms of ability. They wonder whether there should be some kind of regulation on what colour clothes sportsmen can wear. One thing to note here is that one of the researchers is a Chelsea supporter so he probably has his own agenda. Maybe he should do some research into the advantage some teams have because of their geographical location.

They couldn’t possibly stop sportsmen wearing red I mean I couldn’t imagine Liverpool playing in any other colour. Of course if these finding were proven accurate then you have to understand that in football I don’t think there is any rule regarding what colour a teams home kit has to be so all teams could just change their home kits to red if they wanted. I have no doubt that these findings will be well received in every city by fans of the team that has had to put up with watching their red rivals winning more than them. Also as a Liverpool fan I welcome these findings because a certain Bill Shankly changed the Liverpool kit to all red whereas before they used to wear white shorts. On doing so he claimed that the all red strip would frighten the lives out of Liverpool’s opponents. People found it quite funny but maybe he was right all along. When you think about it red is a very strong colour.