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They found that when this was the case, referees were 50% more likely to hand out red and yellow cards.
Managers often complain that their players suffer because of their reputations.
Earlier this season, Leeds boss David O'Leary said that striker Alan Smith was discriminated against by referees because of his reputation for aggressive play.
Committing fouls
The team from Staffordshire University split referees into two groups and showed 50 video clips of incidents from games involving a team in a blue strip.
Both groups were given written instructions but only one was told that the "blue" team present in all the clips had a reputation for committing fouls.
For each incident, participants were asked to indicate if they believed a foul had occurred and what action they would take if refereeing the game.
The research, conducted by Marc Jones and a team at Staffordshire University, showed that when referees were told of the blue team's reputation they came down much harder on them.