How David Beat Goliath

There's a sound biblical precedent for the theory that the underdog can sometimes win against all odds.

With the 2002 Football World Cup around the corner, few gamblers will be putting their money on either of the joint hosts, Japan or Korea winning the tournament. Even so, history again shows us that the home team seems to have a clear advantage in football as well as in most other sports.

Researchers at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle believe testosterone could be the key to the elusive home advantage. The team took saliva samples from professional football players in the UK before a home game and compared them with samples taken before an away game. Results indicated testosterone levels rose by 50% prior to the home game, but showed little change before away games or training sessions.

Previous explanations for the home advantage have included greater crowd support, familiarity with the home ground and even referee bias. However, the University of Northumbria team believe the answer lies in the basic animal instinct to protect our home territory.

"When animals defend their home territory they fight hard and are more likely to win - even if they are smaller than their enemy", explained Dr Nick Neave, leading the study.

"What was really interesting was that, when we looked at the positions of the players, the goalkeeper during training had some of the lowest levels of testosterone. But for home games their levels were much bigger because they are actually defending their territory - they are the last line of defence".

So next time you have to resolve a conflict, make sure you're on home territory and stand your ground.

And good luck to everyone in the world cup. With Japan and Korea all fired up, we'll probably need it.

Friday, 24 May 2002