England’s triumph against the Netherlands on Wednesday has led to a mad scramble to watch Sunday night’s Euro 2024 final in company.
Tickets are being sought for spots in pubs and fan zones to watch England take on Spain, and there are even last-minute attempts to get closer to the action in Berlin. Some airlines are putting on extra flights to accommodate fans headed to Germany.
The social benefits of watching the game in a group, obviously include being able to celebrate – or commiserate – with like-minded people. But there are also distinct effects on our bodies of experiencing such an exciting final amid a throng.
Watching any game we care strongly about is tough on the nerves, of course. The stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol tend to soar, causing heart rate and blood pressure to rise in turn.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most passionate fans experience the biggest rises rises in cortisol, according to a study of supporters watching three games during the 2014 World Cup, held in Brazil. (Whisper it, but cortisol spiked highest in Brazil fans when their team lost 1-7 to Germany in the semi-final.)
There are also rises in the male sex hormone, testosterone, in both men and women. “It’s almost tipping you into a war-like mentality,” said Dr Martha Newson at the University of Greenwich, who was involved in the Brazil study.
Being in a crowd of other fans amplifies some of these effects. In a further study, Dr Newson asked US basketball fans to wear heart rate monitors while they watched their team play, either in a stadium or in groups of four people watching it on TV.
Those in the stadium showed more synchrony in the ups and downs of their heart rate than the groups of four watching the game on TV.
“Our findings suggest that the social effects of sports depend substantially on the inter-personal dynamics unfolding among fans, rather than being prompted simply by watching the game itself,” said Dr Newson. “Watching it together, you’re picking up on other people’s body language.”
The benefits of going to see a match live could be long-lasting. Attending any kind of live sports events was linked with higher levels of happiness and feelings of well-being, and lower levels of loneliness, according to a large survey of UK households, published last year.
The apparent boost to mood was modest, but it was roughly the same magnitude as people get from having a job compared with being unemployed, said Dr Helen Keyes at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, who led the research.
“There’s a particular euphoria, or sense of being part of the in-crowd when you’re a spectator at a live sporting event,” said Dr Keyes. “There really is a lot of that feeling of a community.”
Some scientists believe that playing and watching sport helps people bond and strengthen group identities.
“There’s an argument that sport is a proxy for big game hunting or tribal warfare,” said Dr Newson. “Through watching sport you’re fulfilling an ancient need to belong to a group that has your back, whatever the outcome.”
Dr Keyes added: “There’s that primal sense of in-group versus out-group. It’s very natural, and I think watching sports or playing sports is probably the closest we get to that in our everyday lives. It’s a very safe way to experience those emotions that we are doing battle with this other group.”