Domestic abuse and football

In the past weeks, the following graphic poster has been shared frequently on social media:

Poster made by the J. Walter Thompson agency for the National Centre for Domestic Violence.
Poster made by the J. Walter Thompson agency for the National Centre for Domestic Violence.

The small print is pretty small; it reads: “if England get beaten, so will she. Domestic violence increases 26% when England play, 38% if they lose”.

Tomas van Dijk, a journalist working for the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant contacted me this week. He’s writing a piece factchecking these numbers and asked me for my opinion.  As these numbers, 26% and 38%, are taken from a paper from 2013, he suggested to look at this years data as well. Furthermore, he noted that it is known that there is a relation between temperature and domestic violence (more violence when it is too warm), so he asked if I could have a look at the role of temperature as well.

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