Tall Tuesday: Taller Soccer Players Penalized More Often

I recently heard a story on the radio about a study finding that taller players were given a penalty in the majority of ambiguous fouls. I don't think of soccer as being a tall person sport because of the footwork involved. So when I heard the story I pictured a 5'9" player getting a penalty over a 5'5" player, figuring only a goalie would be over 6' tall. My stereotype was shattered when I learned that there are several tall players out there. The tallest being Jan Koller of the Czech Republic who stands 6'7.5" tall.

Updated for Illustration Friday:

Quoted from the study, "Results indicate that respectively taller people are more likely to be perceived by referees (and fans!) as foul perpetrators and their respectively smaller opponents as foul victims." If the referee were taller than both players, perhaps his perspective would change and his judgements would be more balanced. Perhaps that's why a judge is seated higher than everyone else in a courtroom. It makes it more difficult for him to be intimidated by others and to be perceived as a "higher" authority.