Effect of Colour on Performance in Sports
Sukhpreet Singh Aujla
University of Victoria
Word Count- 1238
Can players perform better by changing the colour of their jersey? Psychologists have always been fascinated by the impact of colours on performance and their impact on humans' minds. There has been a lot of research done in the field of impact of colour on sporting performances and especially the impact of colour red. Studies show that the players wearing red won more frequently than expected than players wearing blue at the Olympics in boxing, taekwondo, freestyle wrestling, and Greco-Roman wrestling (Rowe 2005). I argue that teams wearing red in soccer have an unfair advantage as it gives them the psychological upper hand over opponents. Their opponents perceive it as a sign of dominance which in turn leads to a better performance from the red team.
Red colour enhances human performance in sports (Hill & Barton 2005)., and, as I will show, wearing red is consistently associated with a higher probability of winning in sports. In the 2004 Olympic Games, contestants wearing red won more than players wearing blue in four sports (boxing, taekwondo, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling). If colour had no effect on performance, the number of winners from both colours should have been quite similar. But, in all four competitions, players wearing red outperformed players wearing blue by a considerable margin (Hill & Barton, 2005). An analysis of the results of Euro 2004 international soccer tournament also showed the signs that wearing red leads to an advantage for the team (Hill & Barton 2005). The analysis compared the performance of five teams, all with red jerseys, against their results when wearing other colours. The results showed that all five teams performed better when they played in their red shirt. Hence, colour of sportswear may affect outcomes in sporting contests (Hill & Barton 2005).
The colour of sportswear has been shown to influence the outcome of a number of different combat sports. But, does the effect of colour extend to team sports? Since 1947, teams wearing red in English football have been champions more often than expected based on the proportions of clubs wearing red. "Across all league divisions, red teams had the best home record, with significant differences in both percentage of maximum points achieved and mean position in the home league table" (Attrill et al., 2008, p. 1).
Not only does the colour of the jerseys has an impact on the opponents, but studies have shown that it also has an effect on the officials Hagemann (2008). It proposes that perception of colours triggers a psychological effect in referees which can lead to bias. Due to the importance of the referees' decisions, wearing red can lead to an advantage for the team or player wearing that colour (Hagemann, 2008). It further argues that "Competitors dressed in red are awarded more points than competitors dressed in blue, even when their performance is identical" (p. 769). This can also explain why the effect of clothing colour is stronger when competitors have similar abilities than when there is a large difference in their abilities. The decision of referees can be the deciding factor when the athletes or teams are of similar capability, but when one athlete or team is superior, then the decisions do not make a huge impact. I argue that referees are responsible for the advantage to the athletes wearing red and I support the use of electronic decision-making aid for the referees in sports so one team does not have an advantage over the other just because of the colour of their jersey.
As teams are allowed to choose their home shirt colour, it would be beneficial for the teams to opt for the colour red in their home games and have an advantage over the other team. (Allen, M. S., & Jones, M. V. 2014) conducted a study and showed that teams wearing red in their home games had an average league standing of 6.72. In contract, teams wearing blue in their home games had an average league standing of 11.51, teams wearing white had an average standing of 10.97, and teams wearing any other colour had an average standing of 12.32 Allen, M. S., & Jones, M. V. (2014). This shows that teams wearing red finished significantly higher than teams wearing any other colour which further supports the idea that teams wearing red have an unfair advantage.
Teams wearing red do not have an inherent advantage in competition, but because they seem attractive to supporters and sponsors alike, they are able to raise more finances to further their development (Attrill 2008). I disagree with this as recently, the source of financing for football clubs has recently shifted from fans and sponsors to individual benefactors and corporations. Individual benefactors do not actually care about the attractiveness of a team or the colour of the jersey of the team, they buy teams just as an investment or even to satisfy their love for the game.
Even though it is suggested that teams wearing red have an advantage over other teams, it still needs to be determined as to why they have an advantage. More work is still required to determine whether it is playing against red, wearing red, or both which lead to an effect on performance. Hagemann (2008), suggest that it is not the impact on the opposing team, but because of the psychological impact caused by the shirt colour on the officials that leads to an effect on performance in sports. I argue that humans, like other primates, had the tendency to interpret red as a sign of danger in competitive situations (Hill & Barton, 2005; Moller et al., 2009). "When facing an opponent wearing red, people display greater levels of threat, are less optimistic, and display greater avoidance behavior. This suggests that wearing red leads to a change in the behavior and perceptions of the person who views someone wearing red.
This paper argued that in soccer and other sports teams wearing red get an unfair advantage over their opponents. The opponents perceive the team wearing red as dangerous and dominant, which leads to a better performance from the team wearing red. In addition, teams wearing red also impact the decisions of the referees and can lead more calls in favor of the red team. Further steps need to be taken to ensure that teams do not get an advantage or disadvantage, just by wearing any particular colour. In conclusion, I would like to state that to reduce the advantage or to even eliminate it completely, a number of steps need to be taken. Every team could be allowed to wear red coloured jerseys for a predetermined number of matches, so they do not have an advantage over their opponents.
References
Allen, M. S., & Jones, M. V. (2014). The home advantage over the first 20 seasons of the English Premier League. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology,12(1), 10-18.
Attrill, Martin J., et al. "Red Shirt Color is Associated with Long-Term Team Success in English Football." Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 26, no. 6, 2008, pp.577-582.
Hagemann, N., Strauss, B., & Leißing, J. (2008). When the Referee Sees Red …. Psychological Science, 19(8), 769-771.
Hill, R. A., & Barton, R. A. (2005). Psychology: Red enhances human performance in contests. Nature,435(7040), 293-293.
Rowe, C., Harris, J.M., & Roberts, S.C. (2005). Sporting contests:
Seeing red? Putting sportswear in context. Nature, 437, E10.