Football, alcohol, and domestic abuse

We study the role of alcohol and emotions in explaining the dynamics in domestic abuse following major football games. We match confidential and uniquely detailed individual call data from Greater Manchester with the timing of football matches over a period of eight years to estimate the effect on domestic abuse. We find that a football game changes the dynamics of abuse throughout the day. We first observe a decrease in incidents during the 2-hour duration of the game suggesting a substitution effect of football and domestic abuse. However, following the initial decrease, and after the game, domestic abuse starts increasing and peaks about ten hours after the game. We find that these effects are the strongest for early games and are driven by male perpetrators that had consumed alcohol. We find that football games lead to changing the dynamics from earlier to later periods in the day consistent with displacement effects, yet in the case when games are early and the perpetrator is alcoholized, football games lead to a cumulative increase in abuse. Unexpected game results are not found to differently affect domestic abuse dynamics. •Football games change the dynamics of domestic abuse victimization on game day.•On average, domestic abuse between current partners peaks 8 to 10 hours after the game.•These effects are driven by games with an earlier kick-off and when the perpetrator is under the influence of alcohol.•When games are early and the perpetrator is under the influence of alcohol, football games lead to an overall cumulative increase in domestic abuse.•Earlier games allow perpetrators a longer period of drinking, leading to a peak in domestic abuse by alcoholized perpetrators in the late evening.