Abstract:
Aggression is a common phenomenon, the visible and expected behavior of players on the field of play. The purpose of this study was to compare the aggression level of football players' in relation to their playing positions in among Bet King Ethiopian Premier League. In this research a cross-sectional research design was applied. The Buss-Perry self-administered survey of close-ended aggression questionnaire was used to study the levels of aggression in four subscales (physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostile) of players. The study selected 9 clubs simple randomly from16 clusters (clubs), and include all players (18), from each selected team after applying inclusion criteria. Therefore, (n = 162) football players were participated as a sample size. In this research, the variable/ subscales of aggression levels were measured using specific tools. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA with post hoc, Pearson’s correlation, and simple linear regression. The ANOVA findings show significant differences in physical aggression, anger, and hostility, aggression subscales, but the verbal aggression was not significant. Players in the positions of outside midfielders and strikers were more aggressive in anger and hostile behavior than in other positions of players. Furthermore, physical aggressiveness was a significant difference between the center back, full back, and offensive players. Center-back and fullback players are more aggressive than offensive midfielders. The mean difference between holding midfielders and goalkeepers was also significant. Holding midfielders were more physically aggressive than goalkeepers. The finding may be that the differences found, according to the playing position, were related to the needs of the players regarding the actions they performed. The specificity of playing positions and the orientation of their competitive activity influence the level and peculiarities of aggressive players. Based on the findings, this research recommends that as aggression is the result of heightened arousal levels, coaches should create more empirically-based anger and aggression management programs to help Bet King Ethiopian Premier League players deal more effectively with their emotions and provocative behavior on the field. It is also useful in any future research to attempt and predict how to control aggressive behavior, including different cultures, genders, ages, league levels, and different sporting codes for coaches and sports psychologists. Keywords: aggression, anger, phenomenon, playing position