Soccer: Soccer fans 'suffer more than avalanche victims'

A study says soccer fans who see their teams relegated suffer more mental torture than victims of disasters.

Clinical depression hits more than half of fans when their side drops a division and more than 10% become severely distressed.

A three-year psychological survey showed fans suffer more stress than avalanche survivors or police in the world's murder capital, Johannesburg.

Patients scoring more than 26 on a standard test are classed as having a mental disorder, but some soccer fans averaged 25 and others more than 28. Avalanche victims average 26.8.

The survey was carried out by Dr Philip Banyard, from Nottingham Trent University, who questioned Bolton and Barnsley fans after their teams were relegated from the Premiership in 1998.

He said: "The late Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said 'Football is not a matter of life or death, it is more important than that'. That is not as far-fetched as it sounds.

"On TV we see shots of grown men who are almost inconsolable, in tears and with their heads in their hands. One reason for such stress is the difficulty of avoiding what has happened. Every time they speak to their friends, the subject will be brought up."

The survey follows US figures which show sports results affect the number of women who are assaulted by men.