Richmond gives away more frees for pushes in the back than any other team. Do their colours play a role?Al Paton,
Herald Sun
August 23, 2018 11:12amIS THIS the secret to Richmond’s horror free kick record this season?
Despite sitting two games clear on top of the ladder the Tigers have clearly the worst free kick record in the competition, giving away more free kicks than any other team (486) and 110 more frees than they have earned this year.
Damien Hardwick singled out missed frees to Jack Riewoldt after a 15-27 tally against Essendon last Friday night, but the answer could lie in Richmond’s famous colours.
An alert listener to Richmond’s official Talking Tigers podcast alerted the team to a 2012 study by the University of Florida.
“Teams that wore black jerseys were penalized more, significantly more, than teams wearing other coloured jerseys,” researcher Gregory Webster said.
The finding was based on an analysis of more than 50,000 NHL games over a quarter of a century.
Webster told NPR that the higher number of penalties could be a result of black jerseys being more visible on the ice, but that didn’t explain why they copped a worse deal than other teams with dark colours.
He theorised that humans were trained from a young age to see black as a more aggressive colour.
“There is this very strong cultural association that comes through in how we think about colours in terms of white being associated with good and black with bad,” Webster said. “Many of us are raised from childhood with some of these associations. And over time, we develop a kind of cognitive bias. That’s been shown time and time again in social psychology.”
One obvious argument against the idea is that Essendon, which also wears mostly black, ranks seventh for free kicks awarded this year. Collingwood (second) and St Kilda (10th) also seem unaffected.
But Talking Tigers host Matthew Richardson reckons he has the slam dunk evidence for the dark jumper theory: Richmond wore its mostly yellow away strip in last year’s Grand Final — and won the free kick count 24-19.
WORST OFFENDERS: WHICH FREES ARE YOUR CLUB GIVING AWAY?STATS for push in the back frees this year support the NHL theory. Richmond has given away 111 frees for in the back, 16 more than the second-worst team (GWS) and 50 more than West Coast.
THE Tigers are one of five teams to have given away more than 100 frees for holding the man (101, three fewer than worst offenders Sydney and Port Adelaide). The Crows are the most law-abiding team in this category, penalised just 67 times.
THE Western Bulldogs have been penalised five times this season for running too far. The next most is two (Melbourne, St Kilda, Fremantle, Sydney, Gold Coast) and six teams haven’t given that free away at all in 2018.
SYDNEY is the worst offender by far when it comes to high tackles, giving away 115 frees. Next worst is Gold Coast (97) and Adelaide again ranks No. 1 with just 65 frees conceded.
COLLINGWOOD has been pinged just three times for deliberate out of bounds this year. Gold Coast and GWS have given away a deliberate out of bounds free 18 times each.
MELBOURNE is the worst team at throwing the ball, giving away 24 frees compared to Carlton’s nine.
ALASTAIR Clarkson’s famous coffee with Gillon McLachlan didn’t have much effect. Sydney has been penalised for an illegal block just 11 times this year, 12 fewer than Carlton. Hawthorn has been pinged 14 times.
GEELONG has been hit hardest by holding the ball frees, caught 119 times. West Coast again fares best with 87 frees against in this category.
PORT Adelaide has been pinged four times for kicking in danger, the most of any side.
Source: Champion Datahttps://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/richmond/richmond-gives-away-more-frees-for-pushes-in-the-back-than-any-other-team-do-their-colours-play-a-role/news-story/0797bd4977dab1a19dbd9045ba3a061b
