Is Home Where The Heart Is?

Is Home Where The Heart Is?


By Daniel Ferguson

I'm a Nottingham Forest fan and I've always found we play better at home. Even look at Sunderland this season: they've only lost to Liverpool and Fulham at home. Does playing at home really make a big difference, is there more chance of winning?


The City Ground

Home Advantage?

Factors such as travel, familiarity and crowd support have their influence but just that feeling of playing at home connects us: to the fans, to the team, to the sport. This feeling influences our psychological state including our emotions and anxieties which in turn effects our body and energy (Courneya and Carron, 1992). In 2015/16, it was revealed that home teams won over 55% of their games across sports such as NFL, basketball and baseball. Why is this?

Familiarity 

Home feels like home right? It's something we are used to. Potentially it means our family and friends are more present, we have more of a routine and simply less factors creating a disadvantage as we are well adjusted to the environment. For instance, when we are away from home, things can be very different: in terms of pitch, stadium size, nutrition etc.

Travel

When players travel away they typically have to stay in hotels as opposed to their genuine home and a journey away can take many hours. It's been found that NFL teams crossing time zones from West to East had impaired performance (Jehue et al, 1993). We have all experienced a long car journey which can quickly become very uncomfortable, sometimes this is the last thing an athlete needs.

The Crowd

Home teams have more success when in the presence of a crowd with positive behaviours. We see players and managers say in interviews after games sometimes that the crowd were the, 'twelfth man' and this can be so true at times. Can you remember a time you were in a home crowd where everyone was getting behind their team and you felt collectively you were having an impact. We even see that connection with players and fans when players lift the crowd up too.

On the flip side...

Teams can actually perform better away. Everton are joint second in the league with Manchester City when it comes to away form this premier league season so far. A home fan base could actually invite pressure with an increased expectation to perform.

Overall, typically being at home results in an advantage, however, this is dependant on the team and fan base, with some teams actually performing better away. So, is home where the heart is?



Find Daniel Ferguson on:
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Instagram: @danferguson_sp
Twitter: @DanFergusonSP

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