Baron von Richthofen (aka the Red Baron) arguably the greatest fighter pilot of all time painted his plane in the vividest of red hues, making him visible and identifiable at great distance. An aggressive pronouncement of dominance to other pilots, but is it the colour that inspires greater performance or coincidence that red appears to perform better? This study explores the effect of the colour red on sporting performances in a team sport, through empirical analysis of match results from the Australian Rugby League spanning a period of 30 years. The results do not provide empirical evidence that teams with predominately red jerseys enjoy a ceteris paribus advantage over those wearing other colours. On the contrary, our multivariate analysis shows that teams wearing red experience a large negative relationship with victories.
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