http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/r...report-asserts/

But Giessner, 35, and Dr. Niels van Quaquebeke, 32, two German scientists and researchers at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in the Netherlands, assert in a paper entitled “Height-Related Bias in Foul Calls,†published on the Web on Tuesday (and in the February edition of the subscription-only Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology) that soccer’s tall people usually got the short end of the stick in ambiguous situations when a referee calls a foul. Their research indicates that taller people are more likely to be perceived by referees (and fans) as foul perpetrators and their smaller opponents as the victims.

Click the link to read the whole article.

Try telling David SPeedie that

...and Dennis Wise, Billy Bremner & Johnny Giles

I had the same impression. I thought a lot of time Fellaini or Crouch were adjudged fouling their opponents were because they're so tall and appeared clumsy.

The real point isn't that tall players are more likely to give fouls; it's that there is more evidence to show referees are influenced by natural biases.

It's a basic tenet of human psychology that when faced with a split-second decision in an ambiguous situation, the human mind cannot process critically and relies on mental shortcuts- our stereotypes, biases, even our moods affect our decisions.