Here's some stats that I found interesting.
Which team committed the lowest number of fouls per game (fpg)?
Swansea at 10.6 fpg and the team that was second?
Brentford at 10.7 fpg.
What I found interesting is, as a result of committing the lowest number of fouls per game we ended up with the 12th worst disciplinary record of 77 yellow cards and 4 red cards.
Yet somehow Brentford ended up with the best disciplinary record in the league of 59 yellow cards and 2 red cards. That is a very signifcant difference. There could be number of reasons our fouls were 25% worse than Brentford, or the referees are too random in their decisions.
We could be an isolated example of variability. So I looked at the next two clubs with low rates of fouls. Luton were third best in fpg at 10.8 and Bristol were fourth best at 11.
Luton ended up with the 15th worst disciplinary record with 75 yellow cards and 0 reds, yet Bristol had the 3rd best disciplinary record with 63 yellows and 3 reds.
And finally to top it off the team that commited the most fouls per game at 15.2, thats about one every six minutes for the whole season, Sheffield Wednesday. They ended up with the 10th worst disciplinary record, only two places above us with 82 yellows and 5 reds.
So Sheffield committed 40% more fouls than us over the whole season, yet only ended up with 5 more yellow cards and 1 red card. For that to be anything other than random, we would have to be committing fouls that are 40% more dangerous than SW.
It feels pretty random to me.