Academics have proved what football managers have been moaning about for years - that Premiership referees are inconsistent and favour home teams.
After studying more than 2,500 English Premiership matches between 1996 and 2003, researchers discovered that referees were statistically more likely to award yellow and red cards against the away team.
The researchers also found evidence of inconsistency between referees - with some referees significantly more likely to punish players than others.
The study, which will be published in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, took into account home advantage, game importance and crowd size.
The team, from the universities of Bath, Otago in New Zealand, St Andrews and Wales, Bangor, hope that their research will give the football authorities the firm evidence they need to help improve football refereeing.
Dr Peter Dawson, a lecturer in Economics at Bath University, said: "The decisions made by referees can influence the result of games and their actions can have important financial consequences for the clubs and individuals involved.
"Managers have been right to highlight inconsistencies and controversial decisions in games, but without a proper analysis of refereeing decisions over a period of time, their comments look like the usual post-match gripe, especially if they are on the losing side.
"The evidence we have collected and analysed provides a firm factual foundation that will help football’s authorities debate what positive action they might take to ensure fair and equitable refereeing of matches in the future.
"This could include encouraging referees to avoid what is presumably unintentional home team bias in their decision making, and examining the extent to which corrective action is allowed to vary between officials."
The study also revealed that underdogs tend to receive more red and yellow cards than favourites.
The number of offences tended to be higher in matches between evenly-balanced teams, in matches with end-of-season outcomes at stake and in matches with higher attendances.
Home teams appeared to play more aggressively in front of larger crowds.
But the research found no evidence that the behaviour of either teams or referees is any different when the match is televised.
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