Revealed at last: The real reason Cristiano Ronaldo missed that penalty at Upton Park
Last updated at 16:34pm on 22nd January 2008


If Manchester United lose their Premier League title by a couple of points they could well blame the flashing advertising boards at Upton Park.



It was there that Cristiano Ronaldo blazed a penalty wide instead of putting United 2-0 up against West Ham last month.

See the video of Cristiano Ronaldo missing the penalty below





And late in the game, headers from Matthew Upson and Anton Ferdinand made the usually lethal Ronaldo pay for his glaring and inexplicable miss.


However, research has now discovered that the miss might not be so inexplicable after all.

A top neurologist has claimed that animated perimeter boards could affect results of matches and has called upon the Premier League to undertake "a detailed study to prove or disprove the subliminal effects of the boards."

Dr Bahador Bahrami of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College, London cites Ronaldo's miss at West Ham on December 29 as just one instance of a player possibly being distracted by the animated LED boards.

He has suggested that the Portuguese star's concentration may have been disrupted by the LED advertising board behind the goal - which at the time was bookmaker JAXX – West Ham's online betting partner – which was moving to the left, the same direction that Ronaldo aimed his shot.

He said: "Studies have shown that if you are reaching for something, the human brain corrects for background movement, so you could end up missing the object you are aiming for.


"If the player's brain was attempting to focus on the ball and ignore the moving image in the background as he took the shot, this could have had a similar effect."

However, the subliminal effect of West Ham's sponsor has been played down by JAXX themselves.


"I'd love to say that we set the whole thing up, but this is a simple animated graphic that has been in use all season at more than one Premiership club," said Mark Irvine, Managing Director of JAXX UK.


"From my own experience as a football fan, I know that LED boards can be divisive as some fans find them distracting but, even if this is true, it's the first time I've heard of a result actually hinging on an animated logo.

"It would be interesting to take the concept one step further, perhaps with home clubs flashing up 'Shoot to the Left!' or 'You're Gonna Miss!' as away players prepare to take a penalty. I'm not sure what the FA would make of it though."


The use of noise and visual displays to intimidate opponents is nothing new. It is not unknown for teams to artificially raise the decibel level.


The NFL's Super Bowl-bound New England Patriots recently accused the Indianapolis Colts of pumping artificial crowd noise into the RCA Dome during key points of their AFC clash to prevent the offence hearing their quarterback Tom Brady's play-calls.


After an investigation, NFL chiefs said the allegations, refuted by the Colts, had no foundation.

But with so much at stake, Dr Bahrami has called upon Premier League chiefs to undertake further study into the possible effects of LED boards: "In order to prove or disprove the subliminal effects of the boards, a detailed academic study would be necessary, looking at how players react in different situations through the course of the game," he added.


"The Premier League may then wish to consider its conclusions."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...779&ito=newsnow

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I actually find the LED advertisment boards are too distractive compared to the traditional advertisement boards. Not only the LED boards are very bright, it is also animated. For example, the Jaxx.com advertisement, it shifted from left to right and made Ronaldo very difficut to aim for his penalty kick. The penalty miss may cost Man Utd the title.

What do you guys think? Should the LED Advertisement boards be banned?

This post has been edited by Golden: Jan 23 2008, 03:13 AM

hhaha.. nonsense... what a stupid excuse..if he did blame the led boards...redicilous ma... just like old time.. when beckham missed penalty kick, blame the earth moving!! (anyway the ball did move a bit a moment he kicked it) huhu

Do other players having such problem as well?

those are just excuses
ronaldo kicking the penalty the same way as the advertisement board is just coincidence
if he cant concentrate on his game then he doesnt deserve his wages and isnt a quality player
the fact is,penalties do not give you 100% chance of scoring and to blame it on advertising boards after missing would be pathetic

loser excuse ...haha

This post has been edited by vutsi: Jan 23 2008, 03:39 AM

well said!

haha...man utd fan's excuse for not scoring...lol

Nonsense...

why blame ronaldo and the fans ?? did ronaldo actually said it ?? or is the person who wrote the article a man utd fan ??

Why, in CL, they cannot use the led advertisement boards?

poor board.

if ronaldo can retake it back im sure its gonna be a goal
its just another useless theory

he didn't blame the board lah.

it's just what people think.

We'll leave this thread for some time.

Even Man Utd fans are voting 'No' to the poll, which is actually nothing much to talk about.

Just to make things clear, it is NOT CR who complained about it. Its the neurologist who claim it affected CR

What's next? Are they going to say the stadium light somehow affected those who missed their long range shots?

If the penalty taker is concentrate enough then I guess it will be no different where its a LED board or traditional board?

This post has been edited by alien2003: Jan 23 2008, 10:08 AM

alasan semata-mata

NATO
(No action talk only)

LOL

typical loser..rofl

noob, ronaldo doesn't blame the led but is some LCC people

Well, this surely beats the "We can't pick up our players as we were wearing grey fiasco after the 6-3 drubbing by Southampton."
As for man utd fans, you should be proud... it is a measure of how often you lose that losers like this try to gain cheapo publicity by coming up with a hundred million excuses for you!

edit: typo thanks to FauxHawk

This post has been edited by madmoz: Jan 23 2008, 09:53 PM

what is the purpose of this thread, totally insignificant to the performance of the team on the field. blame the field, the grass, the weather, the fans, the opposition and now the boards.