Play In RED

Talal said:

It's not the suppliers but the sponsor the agreement is with. Trouble with having different ones I guess. 

fenaddick said:

Genuinely mad to me that people think this makes a difference to players. Yes we all like to see Charlton play in red but do you really think any of our players care or would play any differently? 

I don’t want to over-egg the findings, because there are some studies that have not found a positive red bias, so it’s not clear cut. But I would note that those studies I’ve seen (I can’t claim to have looked at them all) which haven’t found in favour of red seem to have centred on women’s sports or less aggressive sports like basketball.   

Here’s a brief summary of the main findings: 

• Atrill et al (2008), undertook a longitudinal study of English football results over a 55 year period found that teams playing in red ‘significantly outperformed their non-red neighbours’.
• Greenlees (2010), found that penalty takers had less success when facing a goalkeeper wearing red.
• Hill and Barton (2005) found that in combat sports (Boxing, Taekwondo and Wrestling) where participants were randomly assigned red or blue colours, 55% of bouts were won by those in red. They found that where there was a significant points difference, the colours made no difference, but where there was a close match the colour was enough to influence outcomes. A different study, Dijkstra and Preenen (2008) studied another combat sport (Judo) where participants are randomly assigned blue or white and found no difference between these colours. 
• Ilie et al (2008) replicated Hill and Barton’s study, but for virtual combat and found similar results – indeed the % advantage for red was remarkably similar. 
• Sorkowski and Szmajke (2011) found that 'the colour of the used stimulus might significantly influence perceptual efficiency and, therefore, the results and performance of individuals'. In their study red targets were more easily hit, which relates to the point made by Weegie above about successful passes.
• Feltman and Elliot (2011) found that, ‘wearing red enhanced perceptions of one's relative dominance and threat, and viewing an opponent in red enhanced perceptions of the opponent's relative dominance and threat’.
• Recours and Briki (2015) studied video gamers and found that participants ‘exposed to an opponent in red reported a higher level of cognitive anxiety’. 
• Mentzel (2021) found that cyclists had higher maximum heart rate values when wearing red than when wearing blue.

And here’s one that might relate to our giving away a penalty yesterday (though, given the height of Anderson’s hand I doubt it):

• Frank and Gilovich (1988) Analysed records from NHL and NFL matches and found that referees were significantly more likely to award penalties against teams wearing black.  

Finally, I did find one study where wearing red was seen to be a disadvantage. Although that in itself does help validate some of the other studies:

• Krenn (2014) found that when referees were showed videos of tackles from behind, they were more likely to judge players harshly if they knew the player was wearing red than when they were shown the same videos in monochrome. This discrepancy was not apparent with any other kit colour.  

Of course, the outcomes aren’t going to be so massive that it’s immediately obvious that red has an advantage. If that were the case, there’d be no discussion and every team would insist on playing red whenever they could. However, even very subtle changes in perception and aggression (these seem to be the two underlying reasons) may produce positive outcomes over a long period of time. Surely the mere fact that red advantage is a possibility should make it worth trying. After all, the difference of one more goal scored or one less conceded over the course of a season could turn out to impact our team’s divisional status the following season. It would be stupid throwing away this potential advantage.

Even if there was no advantage in wearing red though, I’d still want us wearing it every match. Because ultimately the real argument isn’t about sporting advantage it’s about sporting identity. We are Charlton and we play in red. Red is our primary colour and we should always play in red whenever we have the chance because it is part of our heritage. It is one of those things that gives us consistency. Players come and go. Managers come and go. Although most fans make a lifetime commitment, even they come and go, as evidenced by the roll call yesterday. One of the very few things that can, and should, remain constant forever is our club colours. There is never a good excuse for changing or diluting them.