SEEING RED

Does colour itself matter? For many years, red was considered the sporting colour of choice – think of Tiger Woods winning fifteen major golf titles in his trademark red shirt. A highly influential academic article in Nature magazine examined several combat sports at the 2004 Athens Olympics and found that across two-thirds of weight classes (in sports where colours are randomly assigned), red had more winners than blue. Other studies examined English football teams playing in red at home over many decades and claimed a small but subtle statistical anomaly. Why? The colour red plays a large role in signalling superiority throughout the animal world, which is thought to influence people, too.

However, a paper released in January 2022 suggests that the various hypotheses are flawed, and red does not have any statistical advantage (although the same study also suggested that players wearing black might be more likely to receive penalties from referees). So, colour-wise, it’s probably best to go for whatever you like.

Red is also considered a lucky colour in many countries (notably China), so it’s unlikely to go out of fashion for sportswear anytime soon.