England’s WC football matches directly linked to domestic violence, finds study

London: Domestic violence rates rose by an average of 30 percent each time England won or lost their games during the 2010 World Cup, but draws had little impact on the statistics, according to a new study by statistician Professor Allan Brimicombe and BBC News journalist Rebecca Café.

These findings were published in the October issue of Significance, the magazine of The Royal Statistical Society and the American Statistical Association. The data, for the period covering the 2010 World Cup and the same period in 2009, was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which enables members of the public to request official information from public bodies. The figures showed that when England drew 1-1 against the USA in the World Cup, domestic violence fell by 1.9 percent and when England drew 0-0 against Algeria it rose by 0.1 percent. And England``s exit from the World Cup, after losing 4-1 to Germany, was accompanied by a 31.5 percent rise in domestic violence. The research aimed to test the validity of an analysis carried out by the Home Office that showed that domestic violence had risen during the 2006 World Cup. Professor Brimicombe concludes that the Home Office findings were right in some respects but fell short in their analysis in other respects. Professor Brimicombe explains: “Our research shows that increased levels of domestic violence are associated with national football matches, but only if there is a definite win or lose result. The failing of the earlier Home Office analysis was that it ignored the outcome of the match, which as we have seen is crucial.” “The percentage differences that we found are so great that we believe we have established a strong case for linking wins and losses, but not draws, to increased domestic violence,” he said. “I hope that the findings will encourage improved education around the links between major sporting events and peaks in domestic violence and greater awareness of the risk,” he added. ANI