Chris Cook recently reported on the life expectancy and health outcomes of populations around English Football League clubs on the BBC web site. Why? He wanted to explore the commitment fans were making when chanting they were "Forest till I die" (you can insert whatever team you wish - my team is Nottingham Forest).
He calculated neighbourhood statistics of the nearest 100,000 people to each club ground including male life expectancy, obesity and binge drinking rates. By his own admission the research was frivolous and fraught with error and uncertainty, not least because the population near a ground is highly unlikely to be representative of actual supporters. Consider Manchester United...hardly any of their fans even come from Manchester. And we're talking averages...people's individual lifestyle and behaviour are not accounted for.
The serious point he was making is that health trends vary markedly and major health inequalities in the UK population persist. The difference in life expectancy for those in the best areas is 9 years longer than those in the worst. Supporters of Crawley Town are making the most effort to support their club...Birmingham City fans not so much.
This map simply illustrates Cook's research. The background is an interpolated surface of life expectancy. Green represents above average for the country, Red below average. Click on the location of each ground to see the breakdown for the club.
Report, analysis and data by Chris Cook via BBC News
Map by Kenneth Field (@kennethfield)
Esri, HERE, Garmin, USGS |
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