World Cup 2010 - England keeper 'should wear red'

   * Source: Global Times
   * [10:33 April 19 2010]
   * Comments

Sports psychologists claim England's goalkeeper should wear red at the World Cup - because opposing players are more likely to miss penalties when faced with the colour.

A study at the University of Chichester found that players missed spot-kicks significantly more frequently when the keeper wore a red shirt compared with blue, green or yellow.

The research saw 40 footballers take dozens of penalties against a single keeper who changed his strip between the four colours.

Only 54 per cent of kicks went in against the red-clad keeper, while success rates against yellow, blue and green were 69, 72 and 75 per cent respectively.

Researcher Iain Greenlees said that people could be distracted by "threatening stimuli", such as colour, in pressure situations. "We have evolved to strongly associate red with danger, dominance or anger and at times of great stress we pay more attention to threats in our environment," he said.

"It is too late to change the whole goalkeeping strip to red but the manager should think about integrating red into part of the kit, in the gloves or boots for example." English keepers generally wear green or yellow.

最新研究：红衣守门员最有可能拦住点球

英国体育心理学会近日称，建议英国足球守门员穿红色球服迎战世界杯，这样可最大限度地降低对方的点球命中率。

此前，英国奇切斯特大学的一项研究显示，当守门员身着红色球服而非蓝色、绿色和黄色时，对方会频频点球失误，出错率会更高。

该研究以40名大学足球队队员为研究对象，测试了他们在守门员穿上述四种颜色球服时射点球的表现及点球成功率的预期情况。

研究结果发现，当守门员身穿红、黄、蓝、绿色球服时，点球命中率分别为54%、69%、 72%和75%。可见，守门员穿红衣时点球最难进。

研究人员伊恩解释道，人们在压力环境下更容易被“威胁性因素”左右，比如颜色。“我们非常容易把红色和危险、主宰或者愤怒联系起来，而在高压之下，我们更加容易注意到周围的威胁性元素”。该研究还表明，在拳击等奥运会项目中，随机抽得红方，会使运动员信心更足。

“但是现在将英国足球队队服改成红色太晚了，不过他们可以将红色元素加入到护腕、鞋子等中去。”伊恩说道。英国守门员以前的球服通常是绿色和黄色。