England players suffer from stereotype they can鈥檛 win penalty shootouts, research聽suggests
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It鈥檚 one of the strongest stereotypes in world sport: England鈥檚 national football team is bad at . Trotted out whenever England find themselves in the knockout phases of an international tournament, this time-worn stereotype always seems most pronounced when England are to face Germany.
That rivalry has featured two agonising penalty shootouts, both of which have ended with English heads in English hands as the Germans wheel off in celebration. With England set to take on Germany once more on June 29, in the round of 16 knockout phase of , it appears parts of the country have already breathed a collective sigh of resignation. If the game鈥檚 to be decided on penalties, the stereotype dictates, England will .
suggests that the notion that England are poor at penalties may have an effect on England鈥檚 players, making them perform worse when it comes to taking a spot-kick. This means that perpetuating this stereotype isn鈥檛 just inconsequential pundits鈥� patter 鈥� it may actually prevent England鈥檚 players from performing well when they step up to the spot.
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It鈥檚 true that, across the World Cup and the Euros, England are poor and Germany are impressive at . England have won just two of the eight shootouts they鈥檝e encountered, while Germany have won six of the seven they鈥檝e participated in. England鈥檚 tally is one of the worst in world football, while Germany鈥檚 is one of the best.
And of course, there鈥檚 history here too. England lost to Germany on penalties in the semi-final of , just six years after England met the same fate, against the same adversaries, at the . England have never beaten Germany when their knockout clashes have been decided from the penalty spot.
The stark contrast in fortunes between the two sides has fuelled the stereotype that England are terrible at penalties, and that facing Germany from the spot is particularly perilous. , and even have helped cement this stereotype into footballing folklore.
Stereotype threats
Far from harmless melodrama, research suggests this stereotype may hurt England鈥檚 chances in future penalty shootouts. That鈥檚 because of what鈥檚 called a 鈥溾�� 鈥� the fear people have that their performance will confirm negative stereotypes about the group to which they belong.
When girls are solving maths problems, for instance, have shown that they perform worse if they鈥檙e reminded of negative stereotypes about women鈥檚 maths abilities beforehand. The fear that they鈥檒l conform to that stereotype takes up some of the brain鈥檚 bandwidth, reducing and limiting their ability to solve the problem. has shown that those who are highly skilled and highly invested in their performance see the most impairment from a stereotype threat.
In sporting tasks, though, stereotype threats seem to operate differently. That鈥檚 because expert sporting skills become highly automatic with practice, and are likely optimised when they鈥檙e performed outside of conscious control. The is one such skill.
Penalty-taking appears to be disrupted by a stereotype threat because athletes divert their attention to monitoring their step-by-step performance, interrupting the automatic execution of the skill. So, in contrast to the working memory notion above, stereotype threats in sport may actually affect performance 鈥� not because they shift attention away from executing the skill, but because they encourage too much attention on it.
Sporting stereotypes
Stereotype threats have been studied across various sports, including , , , and even and tasks.
For example, white men competing in basketball see their performance suffer when they鈥檙e reminded of a stereotype that 鈥溾��. Women perform worse than men at when reminded of a gender stereotype about natural athletic ability. And in football, studies have found that female players perform worse at and when they鈥檙e told beforehand that women are bad at football.
Adding to this body of research, we鈥檝e the national stereotype that England are awful at penalty shootouts. Our research participants unanimously agreed that 鈥渃ompared to the rest of the men鈥檚 football world, England are terrible at penalty shootouts鈥�.
The English footballers in our studies scored fewer penalties when they were reminded of this national stereotype. But when players were encouraged to question the stereotype, they performed better 鈥� they worried less about 鈥渕essing up鈥� and were able to take their penalties unburdened by England鈥檚 years of penalty woes.
Quashing the stereotype
Our findings suggest that questioning the penalty stereotype could prove key if the current England team are to overcome their poor record in penalty shootouts. To do this, fans and the media should resist perpetuating the stereotype that England are uniquely terrible at penalty shootouts.
The media should avoid the constant mention of penalties, and fans should avoid groaning at the thought of a shootout. If the players believe that 鈥渆veryone thinks we鈥檙e going to lose on penalties鈥�, this negative stereotype may well encourage the players to explicitly monitor their performance, with a subsequent breakdown of their natural, automatic skill.
Meanwhile, it鈥檚 important that players and coaches actively question and resist the negative stereotype. Players could, for instance, remind each other that they score penalties all the time when playing for their club teams, so there鈥檚 no reason to believe they can鈥檛 do the same in international football.
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There鈥檚 one potential positive to the penalty stereotype. Our has shown that negative feedback from an opposing side can often motivate athletes, who are driven to 鈥減rove them wrong鈥�. With more than happy to reference England鈥檚 poor penalty shootout record, the England team could harness this feedback, showing that a loss on penalties 鈥� if it comes to that 鈥� isn鈥檛 inevitable after all.
, Professor in Sport, and , Associate Professor of Psychology & STEM Division Head,
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