The document discusses the phenomenon of home team advantage in sports. It identifies four key factors that contribute to this advantage: rule factors, learning factors, travel factors, and the crowd factor. The crowd factor, which motivates the home team and subconsciously influences officials, plays a major role. Home teams tend to experience less anxiety and more confidence and motivation when playing at home due to the psychological impact of the crowd support.

1. HOME TEAM ADVANTAGE
SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY
BY JEREMY MUTTON (3060868)

2. INTRODUCTION
• Home team advantage is a phenomenon in sport that isn‟t quite
understood.
• Four factors are believed to be responsible for this advantage [1]:
- Rule factor
- Learning factor
- Travel factor
- Crowd factor
• Considered the second most important indicator of a potential result
after „quality of the opposition‟.

3. HOME TEAM ADVANTAGE
• Defined as “the consistent finding that home teams in sports
competitions win over 50% of the games played under a balanced
home and away schedule” [2].
• It works by affecting the psychology of players, both positively for the
home team and negatively for the away team.
• Home advantage increases with crowd size, but plateaus at a certain
size [2].
• Good examples of home advantage include France in international
soccer and India in cricket.

4. STATISTICAL EXAMPLE

5. THE RULE FACTOR
• Play a minor role in home team advantage.
• Relates to sports where the rules can advantage the home team, such
as in Major League Baseball.

6. THE LEARNING FACTOR
• Plays a minor role in home team advantage.
• Relates to the familiarity with local conditions (including background
noise).
• Most powerful when the away team has to play on an unfamiliar
surface or acclimatize to a new environment.

7. THE TRAVEL FACTOR
• Plays a minor role in home team advantage.
• Relates to the fatigue and disruption of familiar routines of the away
team.
• Most powerful when towards the end of season and when the away
team must travel long distances (ie. Internationally).

8. THE CROWD FACTOR
• Plays a major role in home team advantage.
• The crowd has two major effects:
-Motivate players through verbal support
-Subconsciously influence the officials to favour the home team

9. HOME TEAM DISADVANTAGE
• Some sporting teams can actually experience a home team disadvantage.
• This generally occurs if the players experience excess pressure or the crowd
are unsupportive.
• Could also be due to a dilution of the normal effects of home team
advantage.
• Evidence of a reduced home advantage when a team moves to a new
stadium [3].

10. PSYCHOLOGICAL STATES
• Players experience less anxiety and tension, and more confidence
and motivation when playing at home [4].
• Self-fulfilling philosophy.
• Placebo effect of playing away (believe it will be harder).

11. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS/ FUTURE
RESEARCH
• In sport, the practical applications of this are self-explanatory.
• Minimising the seats available to away supporters is a known method
for creating a positive atmosphere for the home team.
• Home team conditions should cater for the teams particular
strengths, such as green/bouncy wickets in Australia.
• Future research should be tailored towards methods of keeping
athletes psychologically motivated and confident away from home.

12. CONCLUSION
• The phenomenon of home team advantage has been extensively
observed but not always understood.
• The four factors contributing to a home team advantage are rule
factors, learning factors, travel factors and crowd factors.
• The largest contribution comes from crowd factors, especially
influencing decisions made by the officials.
• All these advantages work by affecting the psychological state of the
athlete, putting them into a positive frame of mind.

13. REFERENCES
[1] Nevill AM, Holder RL. Home advantage in sport. J Sports Med. 1999 Jun;
28(4):221-36.
[2] Courneya KS, Carron AV. The home advantage in sport competitions. J
Sport Exerc Psychol. 1992 Jan; 14(1):13-28.
[3] Pollard R. Evidence of a reduced home advantage when a team moves to
a new stadium. J Sports Sci. 2002 Apr; 20(12):969-73.
[4] Terry PC, Walrond N, Carron AV. The influence of game location on
athletes‟ psychological states. J Sci Med Sport. 1998 Jan; 1(1):29-37.