Plenty of birthday boys will be hitting the fields this AFL pre-season, according to Queensland University of Technology research which found the date of your birth influences your chances of becoming a professional sportsperson.
Senior research fellow Dr Adrian Barnett from QUT's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation analysed the birthdays of professional Australian Football League players and discovered a disproportionate number had their birthdays in the early months of the year, while many fewer were born in the later months, especially December.
The results of his research, which focus on the seasonal patterns of population health, will be released in the book Analysing Seasonal Health Data published by Springer today.
Dr Barnett said a child's future health and fitness could be affected by their birth month.
"Children who are taller have an obvious advantage when playing AFL," Dr Barnett said.
"If you were born in January, you have almost 12 months' growth ahead of your classmates born late in the year, so whether you were born on December 31 or January 1 could have a huge effect on your life."
Dr Barnett found there were 33 per cent more professional AFL players than expected with birthdays in January and 25 per cent fewer in December.
He said the results mirrored other international studies which found a link between being born near the start of the school year and the chances of becoming a professional player in the sports of ice hockey, football, volleyball and basketball.
"Research in the UK shows those born at the start of the school year also do better academically and have more confidence," he said.
"And with physical activity being so important, it could also mean smaller children get disheartened and play less sport.
"If smaller children are missing out on sporting activity then this has potentially serious consequences for their health in adulthood."
Dr Barnett said this seasonal pattern could also result in wasted talent, with potential sports stars not being identified because they were competing against children who were much more physically advanced than them.
He said a possible solution was for one of the sporting codes in Australia to change the team entry date from January 1 to July 1.
Analysing Seasonal Health Data was co-authored by researcher Professor Annette Dobson from University of Queensland.
Media contact: Rachael Wilson, QUT media officer, 07 3138 1150 or rachael.wilson@qut.edu.au.
