Women in England dread the aftermath of football matches, it has been claimed. An analysis of statistics from crime reports from the West Midlands – with a population of 2.8 million – show that in the three hours following a major game, domestic violence against women will spike.
Anna Trendl – a graduate of the ELTE University of Budapest – is currently researching the topic at Warwick University as a PhD theme. She says that the phenomenon is not singular to England: a 2011 study in the United States also showed that if the home team suffers an unexpected defeat, reported cases of family violence will rise by 10 percent.
Another British study looking at the aftermath of England’s 2014 World Cup matches showed that when England lost, domestic violence rose by 38 percent and if the match ended in a draw, violence was also up by 26 percent. Yet another study – this time looking into the effects of match results from two popular Scottish teams – showed that team results had no impact on domestic violence – except when the two teams faced each other.
While she hasn’t yet finished her study, Trendl says two things are already clear: one – when England wins, there is a massive 60 percent rise in men’s violence against women in which the men involved consumed alcohol. The other is that the effect is short-lived and restricted to the three hours following the game.
She also said that independently of these research results, a British NGO against domestic violence ran a poster campaign ahead of the World Cup, which said “If England get beaten, so will she”.
Title image: National Centre for Domestic Violence poster
