THE PERCEPTION OF AGGRESSION IN SOCCER AND ITS POTENTIAL IMPACT UPON PERFORMANCE

Abstract

The aims of the study were to provide an insight into the different factors that drives an athlete to be aggressive and what effect they perceived this to have on their performance. The study consisted of semi-structured interviews (n=6) with Cardiff Metropolitan men’s football team (M age = 20.67, SD = ±0.516). The qualitative analysis revealed that frustration was strongly associated with aggression and furthermore linked with the frustration-aggression hypothesis proposed by Dollard and his colleagues (1939). This is linked with one of the main findings from the current study where the participants proposed that many different factors made them frustrated including losing and when they were having a bad game. It was furthermore indicated that aggression was a direct result of frustration that occurs because of failure or goal obstruction. Another key finding from the current study was the importance of routine; the participants stated that variables such as poor travel arrangements and pre-match preparation disrupted the usual routine, which furthermore had a negative effect on performance. Finally, the present study supported the notion that aggression is a multivariate phenomenon and affected by a variety of factors such as frustration, environmental cues, and individual interpretation of the situation. However, the correlation between aggression and performance was indistinct and future research needs to address this to eliminate the ineffectiveness. Strengths and limitations were reported and areas of future research were proposed that would benefit any further studies on a similar topic.