Football Fans Prefer Their Other Halves To The Beautiful Game

There he is, gone again, football boots in hand. He leaves us questioning if he'd actually prefer to kick that white ball around the field than be with us?

No worries ladies, the latest research says he doesn't.

Some men believe football is life, so they will no doubt be disgusted by the results that show men care five times more about their wives than their favourite football teams.

The University of Bristol thought it would be interesting to measure the stress levels of men when cutting up pictures of their team and their partners.

Despite the Newcastle United fans telling the researchers they had as much love for their team as their wives, results showed they were far more stressed when destroying a photograph of their partner.

However, many of the men may have had too strong a psychological connection with the photographs, because when it came to the voodoo dolls, some of the footie fans seemed completely fine with poking their loved one with needles.

The group of men had to choose between sticking needles into voodoo dolls of their favourite soccer player and injuring them for the next game, or their partner and making them sick for the next week.

Some fans had no problem bidding their wife to bed for a week if it meant their favourite player would be in top form for the next match.

The professor of Biological Psychology at Bristol University, Marcus Munafr, said the data collected did strongly support the idea that when it comes down to it, men will choose their partners over their favourite team.

“What we set out to do was measure it in a scientific way and particularly focus on using techniques which allowed us to find out what they, the fans, were secretly thinking even when their actions may have been telling a different story.”

The study was commissioned by the sports brand Puma.

Roger Harrison, of the company, said; “As football fans we often hear about fans who suggest their team is more important than their girlfriend or spouse, so we decided to have some fun and put it to the test. Amongst the Newcastle United participants, who are known for being some of the most loyal and passionate fans in the world, it was clear to see supporters chose their wives over the team.

“In a game of two halves it seems it’s the other half that wins.”

Great play on words there Harrison! Now what we're looking for is a similar study on Irish men's loyalty for their GAA county colours... we've a feeling the results may be a bit more dangerous...