Football makes fans less happy

Football makes fans less happy The pain felt by football fans after a defeat is more than double the joy of winning, according to researchers at the University of Sussex. The team analysed three million responses from 32,000 people on a smartphone app called Mappiness, which periodically asks users how they are feeling, what they are doing, where they are and who they are with. By combining this rich data with GPS locations of football stadia and times and results of football matches over three years, they were able to pinpoint football fans and monitor their mood in the build up to and after matches. Even though in-match mood levels were not analysed, the study suggests that the cumulative effect of being a football fan is "overwhelmingly negative". By quizzing people in the moment via a random ping on their phone, the app reveals a much more accurate snapshot of momentary happiness than traditional research techniques, in which responses can be filtered through rose-tinted glasses. On average, fans were 3.9 percentage points happier in the hour following a win, dropping off to 1.3 and 1.1 points in the second and third hours. A defeat, meanwhile, caused a drop in happiness of 7.8 points in the first hour, and 3.1 and 3.2 points in the second and third hour.