A German study has revealed that tall footballers are more likely to be penalised for foul play than their shorter brethren (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/7186179/Tall-footballers-more-likely-to-be-penalised.html) when tall versus short encounters occur. It was suggested that a) referees may be biased in their treatment ('heightism') or b) taller plays might be more aggressive. This puts me in mind of the former story of 47 XYY men who have an extra 'male' chromosome. It was originally assumed that the extra 'dose' of maleness produced hyperaggressive individuals who were likely to turn to violent crime and to finish up in maximum security prisons. The truth turned out to be less impressive (and more in line with referee bias). The extra Y chromosome generally resulted in individuals being excessively tall and often being of subnormal intelligence (so they were easily caught). If such folk were arrested, they were assumed to be dangerous (just look at him!), were often given maximum sentences by courts and were also treated with special care by the prison service. There was no real evidence that they were actually more aggressive. I suspect that the same applies to footballers.
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