Headerers

Would be just our luck that we become the most prolific team in history at scoring with headers then F.I.F.A ban heading altogether!

FIFA would love to ban headers. Every rule change they make is to help smaller, Mediterranean style teams and to make it harder for the Northern European style of football.

Well spotted Spiess. 5.4% increase in headed goals this season (extrapolated of course) Interestingly enough the average height of the team has decreased 2.4%. I’ve only taken the seasonal averages back to my first season in 1973 though.
This obviously skews the figures because historically each generation gets taller. Back in 1883 they were probably all under 5 feet tall.
Bullshitin on football forums is also up 20%.

Thanks. My figures show that in 1883 players took the field at 5' 2''.

(But studs were longer then, of course)

That’s actually incorrect. Studies have shown that black and white images look smaller comparatively than colour. As we can see from the photographic evidence at the time, life was black and white until around the middle of the next century.

Given this issue, experts have suggested the average height of the Rovers team in 1883 was 6 foot 8 inches.

An interesting observation which I saw as a challenge, so here are a couple of theories garnered from an internet search (make of them what you will):

In the early part of the last century it was very common for men to wear hats and so slicked back hairstyles were common, often with central, or just off centre, partings. Fuller and longer hairstyles don’t really appear until the post war era so there are distinct looks that can be associated with different decades. As men don’t tend to change their hairstyles very often, if at all, throughout their lives we come to associate certain styles with older people and project that onto imagery of younger people with the same style. The same applies to facial hair which goes through phases of being in and out of fashion but is generally accepted as a sign of maturity.

Whilst a good percentage of us now while away our working lives inside offices and other buildings, previous generations were likely to spend more time out of doors and thus expose their skin to more sun damage. Along with higher alcohol consumption, which removes fluid from the skin and increases the appearance of wrinkles, both effects can be contributory to premature extrinsic ageing.

So there you have it. A dapper young footballer with an alcoholic alfresco lifestyle is a prime candidate for belying their true age in a sepia tinged reproduction.