Sports Events and Domestic Violence

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Ronaldo lost his last match at the FIFA World Cup and announced his retirement as a player (and here’s a small smirk from me and other feminists thinking that his last game was a loss). Most of the world still celebrates him as a hero.

Few are willing to call him an abuser. The news story about his retirement after the last lost match is titled ‘Ronaldo absolved of blame [for Portugal’s World Cup exit]’. I would add: he’s also absolved of blame for everything else.

Just like most men, he benefits from a baseline of trust that he is a ‘good guy’, and the trust is compounded in his case because he’s the football hero of millions of boys and men all over the world. The fact that the allegations of rape against him weren’t investigated further and he reached an out-of-court generous settlement with his victim doesn’t mean the initial accusation was false.

As we all know from public data, only around 5% of reported rapes actually end in a conviction. And only 30% of rapes are reported in the first place. But the way the Ronaldo case was covered in the media¹ is very telling if you want to understand how deeply ingrained misogyny is in a patriarchal society.

The hero was glorified, the victim was villified and accused of being a prostitute, a stooge, a gold-digger and a hateful woman who just wants to see everyone’s idol dragged through the mud. The victim blaming and shaming was way more intense than the usual drivel you get when a high profile man is accused of rape.

Another famous footballer, Brazilian goalkeeper Bruno Fernandes de Souza, was found guilty and convicted of kidnapping his ex, murdering her and feeding her to dogs, but got out on technicalities and he still plays football today.

But the footbal-and-misogyny problem goes deeper than that, beyond a few individual cases.

Every time a major sports event approaches, like the FIFA World Cup which is still ongoing right now, or the UEFA European Championship, the Super Bowl, the Rugby World Cup, or the Cricket World Cup, etc., domestic violence organizations begin issuing warnings. Police departments increase staffing, women’s shelters prepare for an uptick in emergency calls, and advocacy groups circulate safety plans on social media.

To many people, these warnings seem counterintuitive. What could watching a football match possibly have to do with violence against one’s partner? But there’s more connecting sports events and domestic violence than you might think. That connection is male entitlement.

Unfortunately, the connection has been documented repeatedly across multiple countries, sports, and research methodologies. A growing body of scientific literature suggests that domestic violence reports increase during major sporting events, particularly following emotionally significant matches. While sports themselves don’t cause abuse, they create circumstances that elevate the risk posed by men who are already abusive.

Because men are totally not the emotional gender, right?

Here is what the evidence shows.

What the Research Says

We only have direct research on the connection between sports events and domestic violence from the Anglo-Saxon world, but that’s enough to establish a quasi-universal pattern.

England

The landmark study for England is authored by Kirby, Francis & O’Flaherty (2014), The impact of football matches on domestic abuse in Lancashire.

The researchers examined several years of police records and found:

• domestic abuse incidents increased by approximately 26% when the England national team won OR drew;

• incidents increased by approximately 38% following an England loss.

Importantly, the increase was greatest after emotionally significant matches rather than routine fixtures.

And before any troll asks, yes, the study included very important statistical controls (seasonality, holidays, weekends, etc.) that help prove the connection between football matches and domestic violence beyond a shadow of a doubt.

United States

For the United States, one of the best-known scientific papers is by Card & Dahl (2011),