In a guest article, sport psychology specialist Zane Winslade looks at the principle of Home Advantage in crucial matches ahead of Ireland v England this weekend.
After the complete annihilation of the Scots, England now sit one game away from claiming the All Blacks’ record of 19 test wins in a row. And so us kiwi fans pin our hopes on the Irish to end the English freight train at Lansdowne this weekend, just like they ended our streak in Chicago last year.
The men in green carry with them the distinguished “home advantage.” It’s something that is often highly valued by fans and the media alike but what actually gives people this sought-after advantage?
I mean, it would be naive to claim that it doesn’t exist, but yet surely on a physical level, a grass pitch with two sets of posts is an even playing field no matter what else is built around it or who else is screaming at you. Same field. Same ball. Same conditions for both teams. Right?
If we put aside the effects of long distance travel, the phenomenon of the home advantage is predominantly psychological (be that with the referee or the players) and if you look at the Sport Psychology research, it paints a picture that one might expect: Higher winning percentages exist when teams play at home. It doesn’t matter the sport… No real surprises there. Except, when we look at a different type of situation. The type of game where outcomes matter. In these games, it’s been shown that playing at home doesn’t offer the same performance enhancement magic. This is still in debate, but home advantage during playoff games, or big games, games like, um, one where you’ll break a world record, win a grand slam or win a championship, can actually become home disadvantage. That’s where you often get my favourite type of failure – the choke (favourite from a psychology perspective, not because I love watch peoples dreams implode!).
The home choke might occur because the supporters are too expecting of a result, and this places an extra expectation and pressure on the people out in the middle. If you think of the overly vocal parent supporter it can kind of make sense. Imagine you’re a kid throwing a lineout ball and your dad is standing behind you. You’re consciously aware he is there, watching, cheering, or just lingering. Yeah, he wants you to succeed and he might let you know it through his voice. But is this perceived by you as an expectation on yourself to perform, and if so, is this expectation on you adding to the pressure you feel and making it harder to do your job?
This brings me to the point of England’s situation, the away advantage. If they were playing at Twickenham, the players might have experienced an extra pressure and expectation from the vocal English crowd. Not saying they wouldn’t overcome that, but we can’t always assume the home crowd is the 16th man on the pitch.
I mean, look at their record in the Rugby World Cup 2015 (Yes I am a New Zealander so I have to point that out as much as possible).
But then look at the All Blacks in 2011, they won that final, but geez, they didn’t make it easy for themselves! It could have gone either way really and some would argue the home advantage influenced the referee and that was a deciding factor.
Here’s the fact: Big games with big outcomes are not easier because they’re played at home. They’re not easy away either, if there is a lot riding on an outcome we can’t always assume the home advantage trumps everything. Research from 60 years of World Series Baseball showed that when a team was close to winning, i.e. they needed to win the last game to win the series, they only won at home 39% of the time. The data collected from NBA basketball also found similar results. We don’t have much from the rugby side of things but you’d imagine the psychological effects of playing at home are similar, regardless of the sport.
So before we talk up the Irish home advantage, spare a thought that maybe this could actually be an advantage for the English. Minimal travel and the benefit of not having the sounds of swing low sweet chariot reminding them that the entire English population is expecting them to win this game. The only problem is the Irish definitely won’t be experiencing much expectation or pressure from their end. They’re playing for the sole purpose of denying England a world record and a back-to-back grand slam. Motivation enough for sure, but also nothing to lose from their perspective, which is a dangerous, dangerous team to mess with.
By Zane Winslade
www.flowsportonline.com
FlowSport – Enhancing your mental game
Really interesting article… can definitely see how home advantage weighs heavily on a team.
Though for a counter point – England v Wales 2013. A pretty similar situation and one when home advantage was not just a 16th man, but a 17th and 18th too…
Whilst home advantage clearly energised the Welsh, I would put that performance down to crap selection by a naive coaching team who had given Wales a sniff of the championship due to a dire performance a week earlier to Italy, at home. Oh a complete d*ck of ref didn’t help either.
Hahah that is definitely another interpretation of what happened!
It will be interesting to see if EJ is able to make the right selectorial, tactical and psychological tweaks to make the winning difference this time in Dublin.
He managed to adapt, think on his feet and react in all the other games with ruck gate, 14-man gate and injury gate to boot.
I think he is a ‘hungry’ coach because of his lack of Aussie caps (deemed too small a player) and his failure in the 2003 final. He is a coach with something to prove, the time to do it in won’t come around again and he has painful ghosts of the past to banish! It all makes a great recipe for success! Plus he has bags of coaching experience (Japan has to merit a mention)
Something tells me he can pull it off on the day!
England by 10.
It would so be ironic if Ireland halted both Eng and NZ’s winning runs on the same number! Hopefully that won’t happen though
The away advantage didn’t work too well in 2011 and 2013.
Yes there’s occaisions where the pressure and expectation can suffocate and not elevate a player or team, but on balance (note the RWC ranking points system has an offset for the home team) you’d rather be at home!
Interestingly the RFU is considering a fourth autumn fixture against the ABs. Nice to make it a run of 22 or even 23!
Not sure setting up a match with NZ is a smart way to try and extend your winning record……
Interesting article and well written but i’m not convinced you can swing it as far as “away advantage”.
Ireland still have a psychological home advantage and England still will have a degree of jitters about finishing the job however those jitters will be significantly less than if they were playing at home.
In essence i think that equates to a lack of away disadvantage rather than an away advantage
First time I have heard a kiwi admit Joubert’s role in handing the 2011 World Cup to the home nation!
He’s a psychologist; he’s just trying to gain your trust and get you to like him!!
Haha, that’s the most you’ll get though. I’ll admit “it could have gone either way…”
Still thing we earned and deserved it ;)
Is Zane coming back on here for Q&A?
I’ve got a couple of questions and would appreciate his thoughts:
1. Interesting stats from baseball and basketball, then you mention there’s not much data for rugby. I would have thought obtaining that data would be relatively straightforward and I’d definitely be interested to see if the same pattern is observed. I’m not volunteering to go and do the research…
2. The anecdote about dads watching their kids is illuminating. I wonder if there’s any solid research to back this up and consequently any recommendations for how best to support your kid at sport. I’m sure many of us believe that being there in support is a positive thing, but it’s useful to bear in mind that that might not always be the case.
I’d also like to show any research you have on this to one of the dads at my son’s football team, (OK wrong sport, but mutando mutatis the same rules apply). Constantly giving advice to his kid and to most of the others if he can get away with it. The bloke definitely means well, but it’s clear to all of us that he causes more confusion and uncertainty than anything else. Pisses the coach off no end too!
Stroudos, I am not sure that there is much research on the effect on pressure against relative performance in children but there is a lot of research on the continued participation of children in their sports.
Put very simply, the biggest reason children give up sport is because they stop enjoying it, and the biggest reason they stop enjoying it is because of the pressure they feel from adults (pressure to perform and/or to win).
Anecdotally, as a coach of (too) many years I have no doubt that parental pressure, implied or explicit, does not improve performance.
Agree with this Blub. It is so important that parents show kids why they might love a game rather than focus on success. Encouragement without pressure is the right approach.
As they say, the most important part of youth sport is the conversation in the car ride home.
Great answer here. Just read something recently that quoted a youth sport statistic that said 37% of kids didn’t actually want their parents at the game!
http://www.wtol.com/story/34524524/out-of-bounds-parents-actions-in-the-stands-hurting-the-integrity-of-the-game
Good article Zane. I was particularly drawn to the comment that the officials “earn only $60 to $70 per game”.
I believe that Rugby refs in England earn nothing below league Level 5.
Over the course of this season I have witnessed some horrendous haranguing of refs during my U16 team’s matches. Sometimes from coaches, who are blatantly trying to influence decisions.
Just commenting to say that i have noticed the insightful nature of revent articles on this blog. Far greater levels of thought recently, i’m very impressed??
Thanks for the comment, appreciate it :)
We have a great team of contributors at the moment, and it’s all their work.