FOOTBALL managers could use testosterone measurements as a tool to select players after research revealed that enhanced levels of the hormone may explain why Premiership teams perform better at home.

A study found that players had more testosterone running round their bodies when playing at home, increasing both their drive and performance.

It is thought that levels of the hormone increased because of an instinctive desire among the home players to protect their territory. The effect was marked during derby matches.

Now one Premiership club in the northwest is talking to the researchers with a view to using testosterone measurements as a selection tool.

They think players who show the sharpest rises in the hormone before a match will show greater determination on the pitch. Reaction times and metabolic rates may also improve.

Those low on testosterone could — depending on their role on the field — be sent to the physiotherapist to discuss tactics on how to raise both their game and their natural levels of the hormone. It could include a ban on lovemaking the night before a match.

Scientists involved in the research say testosterone may be the biggest reason why teams perform better at home.

Almost 70% of Premiership victories are won at home and this is usually put down to the support of the crowd. But the crowd noise monitored by psychologists was too low to have any match-winning impact.

Instead, players’ testosterone levels were found to be up to 50% higher when playing at home, rising from an average of 100 picograms per millilitre of blood on a non-match day to 150 picograms an hour before a home game. This level rose to 167 when the teams were playing arch-rivals at home, compared with 120 when playing away.The effect was particularly marked in goalkeepers..

Nick Neave, of the department of human cognitive neuroscience at Northumbria University, which carried out the research, said: “What was interesting was that although forwards had the highest levels all the time, goalkeepers had the biggest increase. On the training ground their testosterone levels were quite low, but when they were playing at home against close rivals they were extremely high.

“It may be that as the pressure to defend your territory increases, your testosterone shows this biological surge.”

Not all footballers are convinced. Gordon Banks, who playing in goal during England’s 1966 World Cup victory, said: “I don’t think I felt any sexier trying to guard my goal than I did at any other time.

“I think all goalkeepers have the same feeling that the penalty area must be protected as it is their territory, but it is a mental thing rather than an increase in hormones.”

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