NORTH WALES Police has warned men not to “become swept up in the excitement” of the World Cup. If they do they could endanger “the welfare of their family”.

Why? Because the police believe that men who get excited about football are more likely to beat up their partners. The North Wales force today kicks off an initiative to “show domestic abuse the red card”, with more officers on standby to deal with cases of abuse.

Clive Wolfendale, deputy chief constable of North Wales, cited “research” that showed a link between football matches and domestic abuse. But such research simply doesn’t exist, as the women’s charity Refuge noted in a statement last week.

The World Cup isn’t the only event to be targeted in this way. There have long been baseless claims that watching the US Super Bowl leads to violence — in 1993 the NBC television network broadcasted a public service announcement on domestic violence in the middle of its match coverage, showing a well-dressed man sitting in jail saying: “I didn’t think you’d go to jail for hitting your wife.”

Researchers have tried every which way to find a link between sport and violence in the home. One 2003 study from Indiana University claimed to find a slight connection between NFL football fans’ expectations that their team would lose, and domestic violence three days after the game. The study explained this on the basis of “frustration” that could “finally boil over”, but admitted that the “relationship between NFL football games and domestic violence” is “quite complex”. No kidding.

If North Wales Police really believes that domestic abuse is just about getting carried away then it should lay on tai chi classes. But simply telling men to “calm down” is no way to cut crime. Ultimately, the police force’s approach lets wife- beaters off the hook. If the message is that domestic abuse is the result of an excess of excitement, and that any football lover could do it, aren’t we providing them with an excuse?

This approach is also insulting to women who seem to feature in police awareness campaigns solely as helpless victims of male passions. Women aren’t all silent victims, waiting in dread for their partner to come home. We get passionate and worked up too — some are even getting a bit excited about the World Cup.