Home advantage in Gaelic football: the effect of divisional status, season and team ability

ABSTRACT

Evidence suggests that home advantage (HA) is present when home teams win over 50% of home games played. This study investigated the effect of divisional status, season and team ability on HA within Gealic football. The sample included 1973 matches from 32 teams over a 9-season period. HA was calculated based on the number of points gained at home conveyed as a percentage of total points gained (Pollard and Pollard, 2005). A linear regression analysis was utilised to control for ability by adjusting HA (Pollard and Gómez, 2007). In this study, HA (57.4%) is present and significantly greater (P < 0.001) than the null value of 50%. HA within Gaelic football is comparable to other team-based sports. Despite a decline with the last decade, HA has stabilised and remains above the proposed 50%. Team ability would appear to have a significant influence (P < 0.05) on HA, while season and divisional status does not. Future research should investigate further causes of HA (i.e. crowd, travel and familiarity) including their impact (if any) on HA within Gaelic games.

KEYWORDS:

• Gaelic football
• home advantage
• divisional status
• ability
• season

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.