Quote: af " Never understood why it confers such an advantage in soccer.'"
Traditionally, home advantage has been significant in RL, too.
I did a simple check of the 80/81 season: 16 teams in the top division, 270 games. I may be a little out, but counted 62% of games were home wins and 35% away wins (167h, 94a, 9d). I believe this approximate ratio is pretty much representative of the entire history of the sport up to the beginning of full-time RL. I have no idea of the ratio in the SL years (shouldn't be difficult for someone sufficiently interested to do a count). 13 rounds of a season is getting towards statistical significance, and it's interesting to speculate why it is happening.