2026-04-17T04:04:07Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/requestoai:recercat.cat:10459.1/729312024-12-05T21:57:57Zcom_2072_3622col_2072_479130
The Behaviour of Home Advantage during the COVID-19 Pandemic in European Rink Hockey Leagues
Arboix-Alió, Jordi
Trabal, Guillem
Buscà, Bernat
Peña, Javier
Arboix, Adrià
Hileno González, Raúl
Roller hockey
Coronavirus
Match variables
Performance analysis
Crowd behaviour
The primary purpose of the present study was to compare the home advantage (HA) and
the home team performance in the most relevant European rink hockey leagues (Spanish, Portuguese
and Italian), considering the presence or absence of spectators in the competition venues due to the
effect of COVID-19 restrictions. The sample was composed of 1665 rink hockey matches (654 from the
Spanish league, 497 from the Portuguese league, and 514 from the Italian league) played between the
2018–2019 and 2020–2021 seasons. The HA and match variables comparisons were established using
several negative binomial regression models. Results showed that the effect of HA did not disappear
despite playing without spectators but decreased from 63.99% to 57.41% (p = 0.002). Moreover,
the comparison of the match variables showed that playing with spectators benefited local teams’
performance, especially in the Portuguese and Italian leagues. Playing with spectators favoured
local team performance in rink hockey matches, which is more evident in some analysed leagues.
However, as HA does not disappear entirely without spectators, it is necessary to study other relevant
performance factors that are not directly or indirectly attributable to crowd behaviour in rink hockey
performance analyses.
The study was supported and funded by the Faculty of Psychology, Education Sciences and Sport Blanquerna, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain, grant number PIF20-21-GRIES
2024-12-05T21:57:57Z
2024-12-05T21:57:57Z
2024-12-05T21:57:57Z
2022-02-03T10:01:35Z
2022-02-03T10:01:35Z
2022
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/72931
Reproducció del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010228
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022, vol. 19, núm. 1, 228
cc-by (c) Arboix et al., 2022
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
MDPI