London Irish triumph in London rugby clubs’ "battle of the fans"
Aviva and the University of Bath’s quest to find the Aviva Premiership’s “most passionate fans” continues
Harlequins and Saracens edged out their rivals London Irish and London Wasps respectively in an epic Aviva Premiership weekend. However, while they might have lost out on the pitch, Irish and Wasps fans can take pride from the fact that their fans have been scientifically shown to be more passionate than their opposition on the day.
Premiership Rugby’s title sponsor Aviva has partnered with the University of Bath to scientifically investigate which Aviva Premiership Rugby club has the most passionate fans to settle the debate once and for all.
The research team undertook a variety of experiments on a sample set of 48 fans (12 from each club) who applied to take part. Their anxiety and testosterone levels were measured, as well as their heart rate throughout the match.
The university has devised an equation for passion, which is calculated from the interaction of four variables:
1) fan loyalty (commitment to the team)
2) fan match evaluation (before and after the match)
3) fan psychology (mood and anxiety levels)
4) fan physiology (hormone and heart rate changes)
The results are weighted alongside an independent review of the match by a former England player, to allow all 6 ‘crunch’ matches, and 12 sets of supporters, to be compared. So far, 8 clubs have now been analysed, with 4 left to play.
Here is a summary of the fans’ results from the London derbies:
The figures from each test section were combined into a passion equation and then scaled so all four categories have a possible maximum of 100.
London Irish fans were more passionate than the Harlequins fans and the Wasps fans were more passionate than the Saracens fans. Overall the London Irish fans just edge it, but currently lie 2nd in the Aviva Premiership Passion Table, behind Gloucester.
The project continues on March 30 when Newcastle Falcons host Sale Sharks, and finally Worcester v Exeter on April 14. At the end of the season, the Aviva Premiership Passion League Table will be revealed on www.avivapremiership.com/passionate
A researcher from the University of Bath said: “Aviva’s ‘Most Passionate Fans’ project represents an interesting opportunity to examine fan’s passion scientifically. There will always be arguments about how this can be done, but we believe we have devised the most objective way to identify and quantify passion.”
Louisa Cheetham, Senior Sponsorship Manager at Aviva, said: “Our most passionate fans project shows that rugby truly is a fans game. Aviva want to get fans as close to the action as possible, and this experiment does just that. The two matches last weekend between the four London clubs were close affairs, and that is reflected in the results of the experiment. It’s interesting that the two losing clubs showed more passion!”









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