van Quaquebeke, N. & Giessner, S. R. (2008). Attribution biases in foul calls: Laboratory and field evidence for the ''all players foul small players'' heuristic in soccer.  Paper presented at the 24th International Congress of Psychology, Berlin, GER, July 20th-25th.

There is no video-evidence in soccer. Consequently, for ambiguous misconduct, referees have to rely upon heuristics to infer foul probabilities. We propose that one heuristic relates height to aggressiveness. Study 1 revealed that over all fouls of the last seven European Champions League seasons, the last seven Bundesliga seasons, and the last three World Cups (altogether n1=123,857 fouls), perceived foul perpetrators were on average taller than their victims. Further experimental studies (n2=198, n3=327), in which the height of two soccer players chasing

a ball was manipulated, confirmed that participants were more likely to call a foul on taller players.