Germany and Euro 1996: Footie's role in fewer suicides. Under the tagline "Major tournaments seem to have a major effect on suicide numbers," Simon Kuper delves into the interesting, and somewhat unexpected, finding of an epidemiological study on the relationship between football and suicide rates. In the study Kuper cites, there was a statistically significant decrease in the number of suicides during major international football tournaments, such as the World Cup.
The question now is: Is this relationship merely a correlation, or does it point to causation?
Per Kuper:
"Football gives meaning to many fans' lives. it makes them feel part of a larger family of fans of their team....That shared experience makes isolated people - high suicide risks -feel more connected to others. And this lifesaving connection is strongest during World Cups."
Thus, the study's statistical findings in conjunction with the above functional explanation work towards establishing a causal relationship between footie and decreased suicide rates.
Furthermore, in the study, a team's World Cup success did not have bearing on the decrease in suicides. In other words, it didn't matter whether a team won their games or not, the important part was making the finals and the sense of belonging that that achievement cultivated in the nation's population at large.
And this sense of belonging, fostered during the tournament, had a residual effect, decreasing suicides far beyond the the tournament's conclusion.
Again, per Kuper:
"When a country played in a football tournament, suicides fell - not just during the tournament itself, but for that entire year. Even after the team got knocked out, suicides stayed lower. That's probably because the uniting effect of the tournament lasts for months afterword."
To find out more about this study and other Kuper musings on football, check out his new book Why England Lose, co-authored with Stefan Szymanski.
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