title: An analysis of home advantage in the English Football Premiership.
abstract: Home advantage has been examined across different sports. Pollard provided evidence of this phenomenon in association football (soccer). This present study further considers the prevalence in the English Football Premiership, a division created from the former Football Association First Division in 1992. Archived data were obtained for the First Division seasons 1984--5 to 1991--2 from the Football Statistics Archive and for the English Football Premiership (1992--3 to 2002--3). Chi square analysis confirmed home advantage from season to season since 1984 (p<.05). Analysis of variance compared Pollard's findings and data for the English Football Premiership (1992--2003), as well as the intervening period (1984--92). Home advantage was significantly lower in these more recent periods. Possible factors contributing to the apparent decline in home advantage were highlighted.
authors.affiliation: School of Education and Training, University of Greenwich, London, SE9 2PQ. s.thomas@gre.ac.uk
authors.forename: Sion
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davies
mesh_terms: D005538:Football; D006801:Humans; D012931:Social Environment; D006113:United Kingdom