Category Archives: Sport

The Daily Telegraph recently reported — in their “Science News” section, notice — a story headlined “Secret of match success: Suits for the dugout, tracksuits for training”. According to the byline, “sports coaches who wear suits on match days and tracksuits on training days are more likely to get the best out of their teams, according to new research”. The story is illustrated with a gallery of professional football managers wearing suits and/or tracksuits. Overall, readers would be forgiven for assuming that the study in question involved: (a) data on the clothing habits of successful and unsuccessful sports coaches; (b) data on differences between attire of coaches across match days and training days; (c) data on the success of teams in terms of their sporting performance; (d) data on the full range of other measurable factors known to contribute to the sporting success of the teams in question; (e) some statistical analysis of the associations among (a), (b), and (c), while controlling for (d); and/or (f) a study sample comprising real coaches and real teams. Hmmm. Actually, the study referred to had none of those features. Continue reading →