Study in Scarlet (Well, Red)

Team sport players better their chances of winning by wearing scarlet vests and shorts. Or so a study claims.

Team sport players can better their winning chances by wearing scarlet vests and shorts, says a body of scientific research quoted in the journal New Scientist. In 2008, when sports psychologists in Munster, Germany, had experienced referees judge taekwondo bouts, they observed that in close matches, red competitors were awarded more points. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, evolutionary biologists studied the impact of colour on sporting outcomes in boxing, taekwondo and wrestling (where red or blue are the randomly assigned outfit colours). Competitors in red kits won over 62 per cent of the time in close bouts. ‘Skill and strength being equal, it’s red that tips the balance,’ says the report. In a soccer study in 2008, red teams finished higher in the league.  Among primates, red rumps and faces communicate dominance. That’s why when ruby-faced apes in fields and sporting arenas wear crimson, they get special referee benefits.

New Scientistscarletsportswear