Football literally a matter of life and death for some fans, says report

POOR performances by your favourite football team may prove to be literally heart-stopping for some fans.

A report found a significant increase in the number of heart attack and stroke deaths among male supporters whose sides have just suffered a home defeat.

Dr Bill Kirkup examined the frequency of the deaths over five years in Leeds, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland. He found home defeats for local teams led to a 30% rise in the number of male deaths from heart attacks and strokes on the day of the match.

The most extreme example was in Sunderland whose long-suffering fans have seen their side relegated this season where the rise in deaths was 63%.

Cities where teams have had a little more success suffered lower, but still significant, increases 19% in Newcastle, 18% in Middlesbrough and 17% in Leeds.

Dr Kirkup co-authored the new study, A Matter Of Life And Death: Population Mortality And Football Results, with fellow researcher David Merrick, of the Yorkshire and Humber public health team.

The pair believe emotional and psychological stress prompted by a negative result can trigger the potentially deadly conditions among football fans and estimate the true figure might be even higher than 30%.

That is because they were able to look only at the whole population around each club some of whom would not have been interested in the match score. Deaths in women were not related to results.

Dr Kirkup said: "We have found a consistent link between football results and deaths from heart attacks and strokes. Our results are new, but not surprising. People are at risk through smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise but a heart attack or stroke can be precipitated by a trigger factor such as anger, frustration or low mood.

"Our results remind us that, to many, football is much more 'a matter of life and death' than it is 'only a game'."